Design thinking forward

During the last decades , designers have been more aware of how important a healthy environment is for our general wellbeing. In that sense, terms such as Air Quality, VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds), luminosity, etc. has been shaping the way we design the spaces where we want to live and work.

However, the way we live, how we socially gather and our private and public spaces have been recently tested. In fact, every environment that we have designed during the last decades, the way we have built our cities and our economical and social methods have been tested, and they have failed.

The most common explanation for the pandemic, from leaders and society, is that we have been threatened by an "invisible enemy" that Science has to destroy if we want to keep running “business as usual”. That is probably the obvious, and easiest, short term response.

Our medium and long term response, however, should be different. The problem has to be viewed in perspective and addressed in new ways, because we should consider this event as a warning of more to come.

A tiny, invisible organism is today remembering us that we are an indissoluble part of a system that keeps our planet indeed “running business as usual". In some way, this invisible fellow called virus, is just threatening our society the same way we are a threat to our environment. Everyday we keep poisoning our oceans with tons of plastics, forests are decimated and species disappear. In general, we are not aware of these consequences as they are not directly developing in front of our eyes, so we can say we are also an invisible threat to another system.

Designing-creating a healthy environment is not just a short term business for Mantle Sustainable, it is about designing and thinking forward. Planning for our grandchildren’s future...

DESIGN THINKING FORWARD is not just about putting a bunch of ideas together to achieve a nice, cool, fashion or cosy space. It’s also about a healthy and energy efficient space to inhabit. Not less important is being responsible about how we are getting there. It is also a matter of consistency about the lifecycle of products, including permaculture concepts when designing, reusing, recycling and choosing responsable products when building.