We joined industry peers at WOD – Women in Office Design’s Trends Shaping the New Workplace-Hospitality Experience event, hosted at ACTIU’s London showroom.
Bringing together perspectives from across the design industry, the evening explored the changing relationship between workplace and hospitality, and what people increasingly expect from the spaces in which they work, connect and belong.
Understanding the trends shaping our spaces
The evening opened with a presentation of The New Habitat 27/28, APE Grupo’s annual trends report, presented by Futurea.
Exploring the social, cultural and technological shifts influencing the spaces around us, the report encouraged the audience to think more closely about how our environments respond to changing behaviours, expectations and ways of living and working.
Creating workplaces that work harder
Building on the presentation, Harsha Kotak moderated a panel discussion with Katie Bowes, Head of Design at Axis Environments, Tammy Hart of Gensler and Jeni Durksen of M Moser Associates.
Together, they explored what the future of workplace design could look like and why experience has become central to the conversation.
A recurring theme was that the workplace must now work harder than ever. Providing somewhere to complete a task is no longer enough. Organisations need environments that offer choice, accommodate different ways of working and give people greater autonomy over how they use the space.
Looking beyond hospitality aesthetics
The discussion considered how hospitality principles can support this shift, not through superficial design gestures, but by creating workplaces where people feel welcomed, understood and supported.
That begins with understanding the people who will use the space. Every organisation is different, as are the behaviours, routines and needs of its teams. Designing around these factors, while allowing the environment to adapt over time, is fundamental to creating better and more enduring workplace experiences.
Hospitality-led workplace design is therefore about more than visual identity or amenities. It is about anticipating people’s needs and creating thoughtful experiences throughout the working day.
Designing for belonging
The evening concluded with an open group discussion arranged in a circular format, encouraging honest conversation and a range of perspectives on where people feel they truly belong.
It was a valuable reminder that the spaces people care about most are not defined solely by what is placed within them. Their value comes from the experiences they support, the connections they enable and the sense of belonging they create.
Thank you to WOD – Women in Office Design, ACTIU, APE Grupo, Futurea, Harsha Kotak, Tammy Hart, Jeni Durksen, Katie Bowes and everyone who contributed to such an insightful evening.
