American Standard, one of the most iconic brands of insanitary ware and part of LIXIL, maker of pioneering water and housing products, brought together thought leaders in Architecture and Design around the Asia Pacific region to share practical insights, current trends, and thoughtful ideas with their inaugural webinar series, the American Standard Design Catalyst L!VE (“ASDC”) .
The first webinar of the series was attended by nearly 1,500 industry professionals from across the region, including a strong attendance from the Philippines, Thailand, and India. The event was simultaneously streamed in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai and Vietnamese. Lively discussions flourished amongst the 15 expert speakers and highly engaged attendees touching on three macro trends: Health and Well-being, Sustainability, and Urbanization.
The different macro trends weaved into almost parallel stories of how purposeful design can be a catalyst for richer human experiences, healthier spaces and support sustainable lifestyles.
Satoshi Konagai, Leader LIXIL Asia Pacific, stated “Through the ASDC, we wanted to share our experiences alongside industry leaders, to catalyze design thinking with architects and designers across the region on the macro trends of Health and Well-being, Sustainability and Urbanization. LIXIL and American Standard will continue to create opportunities for engaging conversations with industry experts to address these real-life macro trends and related challenges.”
Health & Wellbeing
The discussion kicked off with Health & Wellbeing in the hospitality industry with Hayley Mitchell from Mitchell & Eades (M&E) in Australia and Ivy Almario of Atelier Almario in the Philippines.
Ivy described the evolving design and technology of bathrooms over the last two decades as fundamentally changing the user experience and heightening expectations. “Hotels are seen as a laboratory for delivering multisensory delights and influencing consumers”, Ivy explained.
The audience was transported by Hayley to exotic destinations in India, Dubai and China to uncover M&E projects that combined well-being with design excellence. Hayley showcased how purposeful design blends the use of light, space, temperature and water with the human senses of sight, sound, touch, and even natural circadian rhythms that affect alertness.
Sustainability
With over 60% of the attendees highly anticipating the topic, Sustainability offered many thought provoking insights. With the global wellness economy valued at USD4.4 trillion, Jojo Tolentino from AIDEA in the Philippines shared that “an individual’s wellness is intrinsically linked to the wellness of their environment”. Most of our waking hours are spent within buildings; hence it is natural that building developers and designers are stepping up to their game with intelligent design responses to enhance human well being.
Ary Indrajanto from Aboday in Indonesia spoke on the importance of inspiring the next generation of designers. “As long as there is a passion for the community, architecture can be a generator and connect or to bring prosperity to the community,” he explained.
Urbanization
The final topic started on how smaller spaces can offer many opportunities. Rahul Kadri, from IMK Architects in India, used examples from India’s rapid urbanization and high urban population density as starting points for discussing how designers and architects can catalyse design for high-density buildings to uplift living and hygiene standards.
With the knowledge that societies and economies will continue to evolve as they adapt to the development of shared infrastructures, services, and spaces, Rakesh Kumar of Godrej in India ended the webinar by sharing how designs for structures like micro-apartments and offices can offer solutions to urbanization.
The ASDC webinar is available for viewing now at www.americanstandard-apac.com/asdc. More information on upcoming Design Catalyst L!VE sessions can be found at the American Standard Design Catalyst website and LinkedIn pages.
