Welcome to Design Meets Insight, our podcast series where we share some of the fascinating and inspiring conversations we have with creators and innovators who work in and around the world of design. As part of this year’s London Festival of Architecture, we have created a special mini-series around the festival’s theme of ‘Care’. This of course can mean many things, so we've chosen to focus on a holistic view of wellbeing. + Scroll down to listen to the episodes.
Design Meets Insight Podcast
Our guests are passionate advocates in their specialist fields, and together we will seek to explore the answers to the following questions.
Ep 1: Well Future - How can we be agents for change and foster resilience to live well in the future?
Ep 2: Wellbeing & Communities - How can we care better for our communities and individuals, designing for equitable, healthy, happy places?
Ep 3: Well Connectivity - How can we explore the ways in which digital meets physical in the urban realm?
We wrapped up this special series with Juan Cortes and Martha Thorne, who dialled in from Spain to chat about the opportunities and challenges for technology in urban design. They shared their hopes for the future of ‘intelligent cities’ that use technology to make daily life easier, enable people to participate in everything from how their data is used to political activism, and bring communities together in new, more meaningful ways. But this also came with a caution to ensure that we don’t abuse the information we have, and that there is transparency and accessibility across the digital world we’re building.
Juan is the Urbanism & Sustainability Lead in Spain for Jones Lang Lasalle, where he has been successfully incubating, launching and directing strategic development and urban planning projects through an approach that blends social, environmental and economic sustainability to catalyse healthy and successful places.
Martha is the Dean of the IE School of Architecture & Design, part of the IE University in Madrid/Segovia, Spain. She recently stepped down from the position of Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, a role she held since 2005. Martha's main interests centre on how architecture, design, and urbanism can contribute to sustainability and resilience in the contemporary city as well as the evolution of architecture and design education.
Listen on Spotify, Acast or Download MP3
Design Meets Insight is hosted by Namrata Krishna, our Design Strategy Lead and part of our Design Advisory team. This episode is co-hosted by Dan Birdsall, one of Heta’s founding directors.
We’d love to hear from you, so please get in touch at studio@hetaarchitects.com, or find us on LinkedIn at:
Linkedin: Namrata Krishna
Linkedin: Daniel Birdsall
Linkedin: Juan Cortes
Linkedin: Martha Thorne
'I always felt the Internet of Things, IOT, is quite artificial, quite cold, but [some] ecological engineers are now speaking of the Internet of Nature, ION, which is much more beautiful. This is about using data and sensors to improve the green infrastructure of our cities and help them thrive.'
Juan Cortes, JLL Spain
Mei-Yee Man Oram and Rowena Gonzales joined us to discuss how societal shifts, including the global pandemic and activist movements, have altered approaches to wellbeing and accessibility. They also shared their personal experience of where these areas of design can have a positive impact, and some of the challenges they’re facing.
Mei is the Access and Inclusive Environments Lead at Arup, where she evaluates the accessibility & inclusivity of the built environment, as well as considering the changing trends and demographics of our societies to address future requirements of a diverse population. Rowena is the founder and Principal Interior Designer of Liquid Interiors, a Hong Kong-based interior design firm focusing on residential design that enhances healthy and sustainable lifestyles.
Listen on Spotify, Acast or Download MP3
Design Meets Insight is hosted by Namrata Krishna, our Design Strategy Lead and part of our Design Advisory team. This episode is co-hosted by Catherine Borse, Heta’s Wellness Design Lead.
We’d love to hear from you, so please get in touch at studio@hetaarchitects.com, or find us on LinkedIn at:
Linkedin: Namrata Krishna
Linkedin: Catherine Borse
Linkedin: Mei-Yee Man Oram
Linkedin: Rowena Gonzales
'One of the biggest challenges as a residential interior designer is that you’re working with one client at a time and it would be great to make this much more accessible to larger populations at a more affordable cost…it’s about working with government and like-minded developers who can really make a difference in a positive way to many people at once.'
Rowena Gonzales, Liquid Interiors
Our guests for this episode, Ankita Dwivedi and Dr. Gemma Jerome, share their thoughts on how architects, designers and planners can empower communities to be part of the design process, and the kinds of tools that can help people understand the impact of their decisions. Ankita is the founder of Scala Colab, a social enterprise that collaborates with governments, businesses, universities, and communities to create inclusive, resilient, sustainable places. Gemma is the director of Building with Nature, where she oversees the UK’s first benchmark for green infrastructure and how to integrate holistic design thinking into planning and development.
Listen on Spotify, Acast or Download MP3
Design Meets Insight is hosted by Namrata Krishna, our Design Strategy Lead and part of our Design Advisory team. This episode is co-hosted by Jonathan Leah, Heta’s Design Advisory Director.
We’d love to hear from you, so please get in touch at studio@hetaarchitects.com, or find us on LinkedIn at:
Linkedin: Namrata Krishna
Linkedin: Jonathan Leah
Linkedin: Ankita Dwivedi
Linkedin: Dr. Gemma Jerome
'As architects, planners, designers, ecologists, we have to empower and delegate power to communities, and that's about continuously questioning if we're working as closely with people's ambitions as possible.'
Dr. Gemma Jerome, Building with Nature
