Fast Company invited Top architects to tell them what to expect in the next year, from more organic shapes to buildings that foster trust. Among the panel of designers
and leaders in architecture from firms like KPF, SOM, CannonDesign, and PAU, Ennead Design Partner, Thomas J. Wong was asked to weigh in on this question: "When they finally get built, what will buildings designed in 2026 look like, and what will be the biggest factors determining their design?"
BUILDING TRUST
As someone deeply engaged in design leadership for an international practice, I see 2026 as a pivotal moment for architecture—a true point of inflection.
We are all confronting the profound and unavoidable emergence of artificial intelligence, which will transform how we work, think, and live; that transformation is real and consequential. But for me, the pressing issue shaping my approach to the built environment today is not technological. It is the state of our social fabric. We are designing at a moment of intense fragmentation: fraying civic trust, weakened institutions, and a growing sense of disconnection between people, between communities, and between society and nature.
In that context, the most meaningful architecture of 2026 is not defined by a particular aesthetic, but by its intent and agency. We at Ennead have long believed that architecture is a civic and cultural act, and that our creative energies need to increasingly carry responsibility in addition to program and performance, beyond aesthetics and form. I believe our buildings are being asked to act as anchors of trust—places that reaffirm the value of science, education, culture, and public life.
Design in our contemporary society should prioritize openness and steadiness, reinforce institutions as places of collective knowledge and shared values, create environments that encourage community, inspire hope, and embody optimism. Design should become an act of reassurance: that knowledge matters, that culture endures, and that the public realm is still worth investing in. This shift requires architects to think deeply about human behavior, psychology, and social dynamics, and to see architecture as a long-term contributor to the historical record, not just a response to a brief. If architecture can engage these issues not in an esoteric way, but as an active participant in the global ethos, then I believe the built environment can play a meaningful role—however modest—in helping to heal some of the fractures we are living with today.
—Thomas J. Wong, design partner, Ennead Architects
Read the full article here