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Global architecture and design firm Gensler has unveiled its 2026 Design Forecast, an annual report that identifies the top trends shaping the future of the built environment. This year’s forecast explores a tipping point for design — where AI meets imagination, agility fuels resilience, and the built environment transforms possibility into action. The 2026 edition introduces country- and region-specific insights, showing how global design forces take shape through local priorities — from Europe’s cultural vibrancy and people-centered livability, to Asia’s innovation in dense, fast-growing cities, to the Middle East’s focus on quality of life and resilience. The expanded digital edition features interactive visualizations, data from Gensler’s City Pulse research, and actionable findings across the firm’s 33 practice areas.
Six trends shaping design in 2026:
- Experience becomes the true measure of real estate value
- Welcome to the next workplace revolution
- Agility and intelligence turn volatility into advantage
- AI revolutionizes what’s possible in the built environment
- New uses for existing space types shape a changing urban blueprint
- Future proof or fail
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Stinson's color trends for 2026 are derived from three unique design perspectives. The studios of Stinson, Anzea, and Arc-Com have curated top color trends to spark creativity and help elevate designs. Taking cues from trends in fashion and industrial design, Stinson’s 2026 colors to watch provide a foundation to create fresh, inspired palettes for any environment:
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Sangria: At the forefront is Sangria, a rich red tone rooted in depth and sophistication.
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Cappuccino: Neutral palettes in 2026 are shifting from cool minimalism to warmer, inviting hues, exemplified by Cappuccino.
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Sapphire: Deep, soothing blues like Sapphire have gained traction for their ability to dial up elegance while preserving calm.
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Forest: As designers increasingly seek a link between the built environment and biophilic design principles, Forest emerges as a key color direction.
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Amethyst: Jewel tones continue to enrich interiors in 2026, and Amethyst stands out with its deep, tranquil purple finish.
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Sunflower: Balancing the deeper hues of the 2026 palette, Sunflower and related rich, golden yellows introduce warmth, brightness and energy to interiors.
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By Sara Marberry — Regular readers of this Blog know that I love looking at the past to inform the future. That’s why I’m a fan of the Hospital ICONs series by Don McKahan, Kirk Hamilton and Frank Pitts begun in 2003.
At the Healthcare Design Conference and Expo several weeks ago in Kansas City, MO, Jennifer Aliber and Bryan Langlands continued the legacy by presenting “10 Projects that Changed Healthcare Design.” They started by sending a survey to the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) certificants asking them to list up to three projects that significantly influenced them and why. They selected 10 projects that received multiple mentions and then reviewed the available literature and data, looked at architectural photography, and interviewed the project architects and consultants.
Here is their list, in no particular order:
1) Paimio Sanatorium, Paimio, Finland, 1933
2) Griffin Hospital, Derby, CT, 1994
3) Celebration Health, Celebration, FL, 1998
4) Bertrand Goldberg and Geocentric Design.
5) Boulder Community Foothills Hospital, Boulder, CO, 2003 . . .
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For the first time in its 22-year history, NFMT East, the National Facilities Management & Technology conference, is heading to the “Queen City.” Scheduled for March 10-12, 2026, at the LEED-Gold Certified Charlotte Convention Center, the event is set to deliver a robust educational lineup designed to help facilities professionals navigate a rapidly evolving industry.
In the Mission Critical Environments track, three sessions will make any FM wonder which issue to address first:
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By Jon LaPorta, Pfannenberg USA — Variable frequency drives are a hot topic. Advancements in VFD technology and reductions in price are driving rapid market adoption. Dramatic energy savings can deliver a payback period measured in months, and VFDs enable precise motor control in many industrial process applications.
But VFDs are also hot in the literal sense: the advanced electronics pack more semiconductor components into a smaller form factor, resulting in more intense heat generation. Elevated temperatures degrade performance, impair operational reliability and shorten service life. A variety of cooling methods have proven effective, including passive air cooling with fans and heat exchangers, and active cooling with air-conditioning and water cooling. With calculations proving needlessly confusing due to metric/imperial conversions, Pfannenberg has developed simple rule-of-thumb guides for selecting and sizing VFD cooling solutions.
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The employment figures for January were better than expected, with the addition of 130,000 jobs. Healthcare was the sector of note, adding 86,000 jobs, nearly two-thirds of the total, according to the CEPR. Following ambulatory care, hospitals added 18,300 jobs, and nursing and residential care facilities saw 13,300 new positions. FMs will need to manage operating costs, budget constraints, workplace safety, operational reliability and resilience as medical jobs increase headcount.
With the FMLink Job Board showing over 1,600 opportunities, The McMorrow Reports + FMLink team has selected a few hot positions:
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Director of Engineering (Hospital) The Brooklyn Hospital Center, Brooklyn, NY
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Project Manager, Construction, Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Roanoke, Virginia
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Strategic Construction & Design Leader-Healthcare, Philips N.A., near Nashville, TN
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Program Manager Construction, Nicklaus Children’s Health System, Miami, FL
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Facilities Technician-Healthcare, Spaw Glass, Corpus Christi, TX
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Facilities Coordinator, Orthofix, Irvine, PA
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Coverings, billed as North America’s largest international showcase of ceramic tile and natural stone, has released the top 10 tile trends for 2026 in honor of National Tile Day. The newly announced trends offer a glimpse of the inspiring tile product displays that will be featured at Coverings 2026, scheduled to take place March 30 to April 2, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The unveiling of the popular tile styles celebrates National Tile Day, Feb. 23, 2026, honoring the beauty and versatility of ceramic and porcelain tile across a vast array of residential, commercial, industrial, hospitality, indoor and outdoor designs and installations. National Tile Day also highlights the many beneficial traits of tile, including durability, sustainability, safety, cleanliness and more.
Coverings 2026 will feature trends-related activations, education sessions, panels, presentations and live demonstrations, along with a variety of AIA–accredited courses.
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By Richard Halsall, CEO of Exhale Fans — Imagine a tall building in a sprawling metropolis, packed with office workers bent over their desks or milling about, moving from office to office as they collaborate on projects and take meetings. A cough here, a sneeze there — while unpleasant, these common human actions seem harmless enough.
However, despite the productivity these environments bring, they unfortunately become breeding grounds for viral plumes, causing health issues — some serious — that should have facility operators rethinking how they approach indoor air circulation across an entire building. Beyond standard HVAC systems, innovative methods such as improved filtration, ionization and thermal destratification grant facility managers the ability to safeguard the health of those within a building.
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