March 16, 2017 by CallisonRTKL

Disruptor or Retro-Invention? Putting the Human Touch Back Into Design

Nick Hyams discusses why “what’s old is new again” can sometimes be all the innovation we need.

Sometimes the synapses ping and pop, the metaphoric lightbulb sparks an idea, a notion or an explanation pops out of the mental soup: so it was for me, stuck on a station platform waiting for yet another disrupted British Rail train to make an appearance and get me to work.

Not the best start to a Monday morning, but the wait time found me reflecting on a recent piece written by my opposite number out of our New York office, Kevin Ketschek, whose blog Cross-Cutting Inspiration and the Microcosmic Hotel pointed out the benefit of blending the best of different design disciplines to come up with innovative solutions for our clients and memorable experiences for the people who dwell in those spaces.

I couldn’t help but think that something was missing; not from Kevin’s piece, but in the never-ending endeavour to come up with something new and different when the market is ready for a refresh. Particularly as the PRS (Private Rented Sector) market in the UK continues to pick up steam, sorting out what constitutes a truly distinctive offering for residents is an oft-discussed topic.

We architects and designers often look to fashion for inspiration, and that industry’s reinvention happens on an almost cyclical framework. Yes, there are genuinely new influences in the market—in the context of hospitality, the home-sharing phenomenon and players like Airbnb polemically fit this category—but such disruptors are a rarity and, at times, only a flash in the pan. Classics become classics for a reason, after all, and be it high street or haute couture, we see platform shoes, mini-skirts and bell bottom trousers reprised for each new generation.

To this point, my son was recently on one of his increasingly infrequent visits home from university and discovered my stack of vinyl behind a sofa (which clearly doesn’t get moved enough). Although he was peeved to discover his younger brother had beaten him to first dibs on what had been mine, he was still delighted to find a 1983 copy of The Singles: 1969-1973 by The Carpenters. This was a record that, when I bought it as a twenty-something-year-old, was so un-hip that you’d claim it was your mother’s. But now, it’s as über cool as it gets. And the clincher: my son tells me he is a “social innovator,” a “disruptor” for rediscovering the old and somehow making it “new” again!

At the recent meeting of the British Hospitality Association and PRS Committee, Ufi Ibrahim, the association’s CEO, brought up the notion of “disruptors” in the marketplace, be it in the context of hospitality, retail or otherwise. In this particular case, the group had a healthy debate about the intrinsic value of the customer-facing team member, or the concierge—a character we tend to see less and less of thanks to their digital doppelgänger, the concierge app.

Similarly, Graham Bates, CEO of Liv Group, and Dominic Martin, responsible for operations and strategy at real estate and development company Westrock, recently spoke on bringing back the human touch in the design of PRS housing in the UK. And they weren’t just talking about facilities management and operations (i.e., replacing the broken washing machine and managing the Amazon deliveries). Instead, residential concierges are playing the role of events coordinator, educational provider and cultural programmer all rolled into one, organising activities and social and cultural opportunities for residents.

Now, this may not sound all that disruptive as it’s defined in the business sense: a radical change in the form of an innovative product or service that opens up a new market. But in an age where people have grown increasingly reliant on tech-enabled convenience and automated, on-demand answers from the Alexas and Siris of the world, the idea of having a human being assist with your needs is becoming novel again.

If PRS is to spread its wings and evolve to offer more and better to a broader market, say, for example, senior living, then it is this type of disruptor we need—a valuable lesson to learn from the hospitality sector, poignant encouragement for hospitality not to lose the human concierge and a reminder that we don’t always need something new to shake things up.

By the time the train turned up, I’d got the best of this blog boldly blocked and bulked out—not bad for progress and alliteration before a full day at the office!

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CallisonRTKL

For more than five decades, Callison and RTKL have created some of the world’s most memorable and successful environments for developers, retailers, investors, institutions and public entities. In 2015, our two practices came together under the Arcadis umbrella, expanding our sphere of influence and the depth and breadth of our resources. Our team is comprised of nearly 2,000 creative, innovative professionals throughout the world who are committed to advancing our client’s businesses and enhancing quality of life.