HOK's lifestyle designers reveal how they push traditional boundaries to create great experiences across sectors.
HOK's Lifestyle Studio reimagines the spaces that enrich everyday life. These designers break down traditional silos and infuse lifestyle elements from a variety of sectors, including hospitality, housing, workplace, sports, recreation, and entertainment, to create human-centered environments. Health, sustainability and resilience are always our top priorities.
Here, we discuss the current trends shaping their projects with four of HOK's lifestyle designers.
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How does Lifestyle Group’s experiential design philosophy influence your approach across different disciplines?
Kelly: Lifestyle design extends the core principles of hospitality across markets to improve lives. Incorporating aspects such as housing, workplace, healthcare, and sports, we deliver memorable experiences that improve people's lives.
Marianne: We are witnessing a cultural shift as people value experiences over spaces. Our team applies this philosophy to every project, infusing the potential for meaningful experiences everywhere.
roller: Our approach is rooted in hospitality. Our focus on a great guest experience spills over into many areas. We prioritize user journeys, story-driven spaces, and the power of design to improve how people interact with their environments.
Are there any surprising areas that incorporate lifestyle design?
Dina: Our expertise is ideal for sports and entertainment venues. We understand how to create an experience for everyone, from luxurious suites with a Four Seasons feel to trendier Le Meridien-style environments. And we know how to incorporate city-wide experiences into development.
Marianne: Integrating health and wellness has become extremely important in healthcare design. It's about creating a welcoming experience for patients. In my recent work, the lifestyle approach has been extended to science and technology workplaces, where scientists desire a stimulating environment beyond the lab.
roller: Our work with Canadian healthcare provider Medcan is one example (below). Since 2017, the company has aimed to transform the patient experience with hospitality-inspired design. After the success of the three projects together, they hope to expand this across the country.
Kelly: Building repositioning is another area where Lifestyle Design attracts tenants and maintains a property's Class A status. We transform shared spaces by incorporating wellness, entertainment, and human-scale design elements to create experiences that resonate with users.
Medcan Clinic
How do you bring together diverse cross-sector expertise to deliver integrated lifestyle design solutions?
roller: Our process focuses on fully mapping the user journey and analyzing key touchpoints, functional needs, and desired experiences. This will guide your design decisions.
Kelly: Create unique experiences tailored to your current and future users, brand, and desired outcomes. Rather than applying templates, we customize solutions based on our understanding of the needs of the project and the people involved in the space.
Dina: We design spaces that evolve with the users over time. We want to improve their lives through meaningful experiences, regardless of the building's primary purpose. That is the hallmark of lifestyle design and the heart of the project.
How do you employ lifestyle design principles to support the health of your staff and patients in a high-stress healthcare environment?
roller: Recent senior housing facilities have focused on staff-only areas with distinct elements such as lounges, showers, and changing rooms. Our client wanted a space that was completely separate from the rest of the building, where staff could separate and recharge. This separation is important in high stress environments.
Marianne: Healthcare is evolving beyond traditional hospitals. Increasingly, we are prioritizing patient health and comfort. Adjusts environment based on level of clinical care. Our partners also collaborate with us by offering products that combine home aesthetics with healthcare functionality. Patients are not one-dimensional. They all carry the weight of daily life on their shoulders. Recognizing this allows us to design “in-between” spaces to provide a better experience.
Dina: Our human-centered approach applies to both our clients and staff. Even within budget constraints, we want to create amazing spaces that increase employee happiness. This directly translates into a better patient experience. Although surgical space may be limited, often overlooked areas such as hallways and waiting rooms can be turned into part of the patient examination. Using natural light, biophilia, and wellness principles, we can transform a patient's emotional state prior to treatment.
Kelly: Lifestyle design analyzes how everyone interacts with the space, including guests, staff, and delivery drivers. We want to improve their daily experience. Prioritizing natural light, access to calming outdoor spaces, intuitive flow, and elements of biophilia in medical settings can significantly improve well-being and reduce stress. All of this aligns with our goal of supporting healthier lifestyles.
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Do different generations have different expectations for lifestyle design?
dina: Although there may be differences in generations, a well-thought-out design will never go out of fashion. Regional and cultural influences far outweigh generational differences in lifestyle design preferences. Understanding placemaking and adapting our approach to the unique circumstances of each place is more important than focusing on broad generational trends. What's right for Nashville may not be right for Miami. What works in Miami may not be appropriate in New York.
Kelly: Lifestyle design preferences may be better understood through the lens of neurodiversity. Some people are drawn to cozy, private spaces, while others prefer sociable, lively spaces. We design for this diverse need rather than focusing on generational trends.
Dina: Valuing diverse voices within your team helps you design more inclusive spaces. At the soccer stadium we're designing, our predominantly female-led design team took a more universal approach and advocated for more changing tables in the men's restrooms.
We also learn from global best practices. Inspired by the friendship-focused hospitality spaces seen in British stadiums, such as the mini-His Hospitality Lounge in the home team's coach's office that welcomes visiting coaches after matches, we are currently American designs incorporate similar areas to create a more welcoming atmosphere. atmosphere between the teams. The idea of using lifestyle design to unify the opposing sides of Match was a lovely lightbulb moment.
In your approach to design, how do you balance attention to detail with creating a positive, direct human experience?
dina: As interior designers, we are naturally drawn to the details that people interact with on a personal level. We understand the difference between grand architectural gestures and textures and features that resonate on a human scale. This microfocus blurs the interior and exterior design and improves the overall experience.
Kelly: The key is to establish a clear design concept early and continually refine it. Ideally, our lifestyle designers work together from the beginning to strengthen the team's vision.
