The Design Futures Council is an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and environment. Members include architecture and design firms, building product manufacturers, service providers, and forward-thinking AEC firms of all sizes that take an active interest in their future.

History

In 1993-94, at the

Smithsonian Castle The Smithsonian Institution Building, located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. behind the National Museum of African Art and the Sackler Gallery, houses the Smithsonian Institution's administrative offices and information center. Th ...

on the East Coast and at the

Salk Institute The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a scientific research institute located in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California, U.S. The independent, non-profit institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vacci ...

on the West Coast, a network of regional and national design firms began sharing ideas, benchmarks, and proprietary financial analysis with each another. They brought successful practice strategies into dialogue with the world of client demands, budgets, innovation, technology, and communications. These architects, designers, and thought leaders were seeking to build better futures for their firms in their roles as partners, leaders, and futurists. James P. Cramer, Hon. AIA, Hon. IIDA, Chairman & CEO of Greenway Group, a Washington, D.C.-based management consulting firm, facilitated the sharing of ideas and experiences within this network. A newsletter with information about profitability, tax considerations, business measures, and capital expenditure decisions was circulated as a result. In the beginning, the group had no name but talked about in industry circles, with references to “that design futures network.” During this time, Greenway Consulting was working with other clients allied to the design professions who became enthusiastic about supporting the network. Those clients included Cecil Steward of the University of Nebraska, Doug Parker of

Steelcase Steelcase Inc. is an American manufacturer of furniture, casegoods, seating, and space solutions for offices, hospitals, classrooms, and residential interiors. It is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. History Originally known as Th ...

Jonas Salk Jonas Edward Salk (; born Jonas Salk; October 28, 1914June 23, 1995) was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. He was born in New York City and attended the City College of New ...

of the Salk Institute, Jerry Hobbs and Paul Curran of BPI/VNU Communications, and Arol Wolford of CMD. In addition, principal leaders from

Gensler Gensler is a global design and architecture firm founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965. In 2021, Gensler generated $1.235 billion in revenue, the most of any architecture firm in the U.S. As of 2021, Gensler operated offices in 49 citi ...

;

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The firm ...

;

Hammel, Green and Abrahamson Hammel, Green and Abrahamson (HGA) is an architecture, engineering, and planning firm that originated in Minnesota. It was founded in 1953 by Minnesotans Dick Hammel and Curt Green (Bruce Abrahamson joined in shortly thereafter). All three of H ...

;

Perkins and Will Perkins&Will is a global design practice founded in 1935. Since 1986, the group has been a subsidiary of Lebanon-based Dar Al-Handasah (Arabic: دار الهندسة). Phil Harrison has been the firm's CEO since 2006. History The firm was estab ...

; CommArts; and two dozen other firms provided leadership vision and energy. The network held meetings in La Jolla, Calif., Washington, D.C., and New York City, solidifying the concept of expanding the group and making the proprietary information available to a broader audience. Greenway Consulting proposed to BPI/VNU Communications that this information-sharing bulletin be published for a subscription fee and be named ''DesignIntelligence''. The first issue was published on May 15, 1995. Shortly thereafter, this leadership network officially became the Design Futures Council. They met in the offices of Greenway Consulting in Washington, D.C., and in meeting rooms at the Smithsonian Institution’s Castle. Invitations for programs and sharing of ideas came from the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to ...

, the American Consulting Engineers Council, the

Industrial Designers Society of America The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is a membership-based not-for-profit organization that promotes the practice and education of industrial design. The organization was formally established in 1965 by the collaborative merger of ...

, the

Aga Khan Trust for Culture The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a family of institutions created by Aga Khan IV with distinct but complementary mandates to improve the welfare and prospects of people in the developi ...

, the

World Future Society The World Future Society (WFS), founded in 1966, is an international community of futurists and future thinkers. History Prominent members and contributors have included Ray Kurzweil, Peter Drucker, Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; Nov ...

, the

International Interior Design Association International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, the

American Society of Interior Designers The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes the profession of interior design. It has chapters throughout the United States and Canada. Throughout all of the associations o ...

, the Design-Build Institute, the Design Management Institute, and many colleges and universities.

Notable Senior Fellows

Fellowship in the Design Futures Council is granted to outstanding individuals who have provided noteworthy leadership toward the advancement of design, design solutions, or the design professions. Senior fellows of the DFC are recognized for significant contributions toward the understanding of changing trends, new research, or applied knowledge leading to innovative design models that improve the built environment and the human condition. They include: *

David Adjaye Sir David Frank Adjaye (born 22 September 1966) is a Ghanaian-British architect. He is known for having designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D ...

, principal, Adjaye Associates * Ray Anderson^, founder and chairman,

Interface Inc. Interface, Inc. is a global manufacturer of commercial flooring with an integrated collection of carpet tiles and resilient flooring, including luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) and nora brand rubber flooring. Company information Interface, Inc. and its ...

* Janine M. Benyus, biomimicry & sustainability expert * Peter Bohlin, founder, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson *

John Seely Brown John Seely Brown (born 1940), also known as "JSB", is an American researcher who specializes in organizational studies with a particular bend towards the organizational implications of computer-supported activities. Brown served as Director of Xer ...

, co-chairman, Deloitte Center for Edge Innovation *

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose scul ...

, Pioneering Forms and Spaces, Santiago Calatrava Architects * Robert Campbell, architecture critic, ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' * David Childs, consulting design partner,

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The firm ...

Clayton Christensen Clayton Magleby Christensen (April 6, 1952January 23, 2020) was an American academic and business consultant who developed the theory of "disruptive innovation", which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. ...

, Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration,

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

Steve Chu Steven ChuU.S. Dept. of Energy * Carol Coletta, president and CEO, CEOs for Cities *

Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature tech ...

, design advocate, author, Film Director * Philip Enquist^, partner, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill * Richard Farson, Ph.D., president, Western Behavioral Sciences Institute * Richard Florida, professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the

Rotman School of Management The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management (commonly known as the Rotman School of Management, the Rotman School or just Rotman) is the University of Toronto's graduate business school, located in Downtown Toronto. The University of Toronto has be ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

Sir Norman Foster ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

, founder and chairman,

Foster and Partners Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide ...

Harrison Fraker Harrison Fraker, FAIA is a professor of Architecture and Urban Design, and the former Dean of the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design. Recognized as a pioneer in passive solar, daylighting and sustainable research, Harrison Fraker was educ ...

, professor,

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

* R. Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller*, engineer, inventor, educator, and architectural innovator *

Jan Gehl Jan Gehl Hon. FAIA (born 17 September 1936, Copenhagen) is a Danish architect and urban design consultant based in Copenhagen whose career has focused on improving the quality of urban life by re-orienting city design towards the pedestrian and ...

, principal, Gehl Architects *

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considere ...

, architect, Gehry Partners *

Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer. His most notable designs include the I Love New York logo, a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Brewery. In 19 ...

, founder, Milton Glaser Inc. *

Paul Goldberger Paul Goldberger (born in 1950) is an American author, architecture critic and lecturer. He is known for his "Sky Line" column in ''The New Yorker''. Biography Shortly after starting as a reporter at ''The New York Times'' in 1972, he was assign ...

, architecture critic, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' * Al Gore, former vice president of the United States *

Michael Graves Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015) was an American architect, designer, and educator, as well as principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Gr ...

, architect, Michael Graves & Associates *

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

, architect, Zaha Hadid Architects *

Jeremy Harris Jeremy Harris may refer to: * Jeremy Harris (politician), (born 1950), American politician, Mayor of Honolulu (1994–2004) * Jeremy Harris (American football) (born 1991) American football cornerback * Jeremy Harris (sailor) (born 1942) British ...

, former mayor,

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

* Craig W. Hartman, design partner,

* Paul Hawken, founder, Natural Capital Institute *

Carl Hodges Carl N. Hodges (March 19, 1937 – April 3, 2021) was an American atmospheric physicist and founder of the Seawater foundation. He was the main driving force behind ideas of using sea canals to irrigate deserts. The idea is to grow sea far ...

, founder and chairman, Seawater Foundation *

Steven Holl Steven Holl (born December 9, 1947) is a New York-based American architect and watercolorist. Among his most recognized works are the 2019 REACH expansion of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the 2019 Hunters Point Library in ...

, architect, Steven Holl Architects * Robert Ivy, chief executive officer of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) *

Jane Jacobs Jane Jacobs (''née'' Butzner; 4 May 1916 – 25 April 2006) was an American-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book '' The Death and Life of Great American Cities' ...

^, urban theorist, author, Educator & Community Activist * Louis I. Kahn^, architect and educator,

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

Blair Kamin Blair Kamin was the architecture critic of the ''Chicago Tribune'', for 28 years from 1992 to 2021. Kamin has held other jobs at the Tribune and previously worked for ''The Des Moines Register''. He also serves as a contributing editor of ''Archit ...

, architecture critic, ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' * Bruce Katz, founding director, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and vice president,

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

Ray Kurzweil Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and ...

, American author, inventor, and futurist * Theodore C. Landsmark, president, Boston Architectural College *

Maya Lin Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memoria ...

, artist and designer, Maya Lin Studio *

Amory Lovins Amory Bloch Lovins (born November 13, 1947) is an American writer, physicist, and former chairman/chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He has written on energy policy and related areas for four decades, and served on the US Nationa ...

, chief scientist and founder,

Rocky Mountain Institute RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) is an organization in the United States co-founded by Amory Lovins dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the field of sustainability, with a focus on profitable innovations for energy a ...

John Maeda John Maeda (born 1966) is a Vice President of Design and Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft. He is an American technologist and designer whose work explores where business, design, and technology merge to make space for the "humanist technol ...

, president,

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

* Bruce Mau, chief creative officer, Bruce Mau Design Inc. *

Thom Mayne Thom Mayne (born January 19, 1944) is an American architect. He is based in Los Angeles. In 1972, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), where he is a trustee and the coordinator of the Design of Cities p ...

, founder and design director, Morphosis * Ed Mazria, environmental advocate and founder,

Architecture 2030 Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

William McDonough William Andrews McDonough is an American architect, designer, and author. McDonough is founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, co-founder of McDonough MBDC, and co-author of '' Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things'' ...

, architect, William McDonough + Partners *

Richard Meier Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings ...

, managing partner, Richard Meier & Partners Architects * Glenn Murcutt, professor and architect * John Ochsendorf, MacArthur "Genius Award" Fellow and associate professor of building technology & architecture,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

Neri Oxman Neri Oxman ( he, נרי אוקסמן; born February 6, 1976) is an American–Israeli designer and professor at the MIT Media Lab, where she led the Mediated Matter research group. She is known for art and architecture that combine design, ...

, professor,

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...

* Adrian Parr, UNESCO water chair and dean, College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs, University of Texas, Arlington * Alexander (Sandy) Pentland, Ph.D., educator and researcher,

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ...

, architect, Renzo Piano Building Workshop *

B. Joseph Pine II B. Joseph Pine (born 1958) is an American author. He coined the term "experience economy". Bibliography *''Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition'', 1992 *''Do You Want to Keep Your Customers Forever?'', B. Joseph Pine II, ...

, branding strategist and author, Strategic Horizons LLP *

Dan Pink Daniel H. Pink (born July 23, 1964) is an American author. He has written seven books; five of them are ''New York Times'' bestsellers. He was a host and a co-executive producer of the 2014 National Geographic Channel social science TV series '' ...

, author and economics lecturer * William Bradley (Brad) Pitt, actor and environmental advocate * Jane Poynter, chairwoman and president, Paragon Space Development Corporation *

Antoine Predock Antoine Predock ( ; born 1936 in Lebanon, Missouri) is an American architect based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the principal of Antoine Predock Architect PC, the studio he founded in 1967. Predock first gained national attention with the L ...

, architect, Antoine Predock Architect *

Witold Rybczynski Witold Rybczynski (born 1 March 1943) is a Canadian American architect, professor and writer. He is currently the Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor Emeritus of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania. Early life Rybczynski was born in E ...

, Myerson Professor,

Wharton School of Business The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

Moshe Safdie Moshe Safdie ( he, משה ספדיה; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author, with Israeli, Canadian, and American citizenship. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible des ...

, architect, Moshe Safdie and Associates * Jonas Salk, M.D.^, co-founder, Design Futures Council; Founder,

* Peter Schwartz, co-founder,

Global Business Network Global Business Network (GBN) was a leading consulting firm that specialized in helping organizations to adapt and grow in an uncertain and volatile world. The firm was particularly well-known for using tools such as scenario planning and also offe ...

* Terrence J. Sejnowski, Ph.D., brain scientist,

Cameron Sinclair Cameron Sinclair (born 16 November 1973) is a designer, writer and one of the pioneers in socially responsive architecture. He currently serves as pro bono executive director of Armory of Harmony, a US-based organization focused on smelting dow ...

, co-founder and chief eternal optimist,

Architecture for Humanity Architecture for Humanity was a US-based charitable organization that sought architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brought professional design services to clients (often communities in need). Founded in 1999, it laid off its staff and ...

Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio. Smith grew up in London ...

, principal, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture *

Alex Steffen Alex Steffen (born 1968) is an American futurist who writes and speaks about sustainability and the future of the planet. He emphasizes the importance of imagining persuasive, positive possible futures: "It's literally true that we can't build ...

, planetary futurist *

Sarah Susanka Sarah Susanka (born March 21, 1957) is an English-born American-based architect, an author of nine best-selling books, and a public speaker. Susanka is the originator of the "Not So Big" philosophy of residential architecture, which aims to "b ...

, architect, Susanka Studios * David Suzuki, co-founder,

David Suzuki Foundation The David Suzuki Foundation is a science-based non-profit environmental organization headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with offices in Montreal and Toronto. It was established as a federally registered Canadian charity on Jan ...

* Richard Swett, president, Swett Associates; former U.S. Representative, New Hampshire; former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark *

Lene Tranberg Lene Tranberg, Hon. FAIA (born 29 November 1956) is a Danish architect, head architect and a founding partner of Lundgaard & Tranberg. History Lene Tranberg was born in Copenhagen in 1956. In 1977, she was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy o ...

, head architect and co-founder,

Lundgaard & Tranberg Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter is a Danish architectural firm, based in Copenhagen Denmark. It is most noted for the Tietgenkollegiet student housing in Ørestad from 2006 and the Royal Danish Playhouse on the Copenhagen harbourfront from 2008 ...

* John Carl Warnecke, architect and contextual design advocate *

Alice Waters Alice Louise Waters (born April 28, 1944) is an American chef, restaurateur, and author. In 1971 she opened Chez Panisse, a Berkeley, California restaurant famous for its role in creating the farm-to-table movement and for pioneering Calif ...

, founder,

Chez Panisse Chez Panisse is a Berkeley, California, restaurant, known as one of the originators of the style of cooking known as California cuisine, and the farm-to-table movement. The restaurant emphasizes ingredients rather than technique and has deve ...

Foundation *

Jon Westling Jon Westling (1942 – 15 January 2021) was an American educator, and was president of Boston University from 1996 until 2002. Biography Raised in Yakima, Washington, he took his undergraduate degree from Reed College and studied history at St. ...

, professor,

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

Richard Saul Wurman Richard Saul Wurman (born March 26, 1935) is an American architect and graphic designer. Wurman has written, designed, and published 90 books and created the TED conferences, the EG Conference, TEDMED, and the WWW Conference. Education and ho ...

, founder, Access Guide and TED

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Design Futures Council
Design institutions Organizations based in Atlanta Organizations established in 1993