Steelcase · Connecting Communities Tour · The Big Shift
Two sessions, one question: how doe the workplace planning and design industry catch up to the human intelligence it's been neglecting while AI accelerates everything else?
"We're investing billions in AI. At the same time, college extracurriculars are being cut, wellness programs are being reduced, and office spaces are shrinking. We are not balancing the scales."
That was the provocation Andrea Vanecko (NBBJ) brought to both Big Shift sessions, and it landed hard in a room full of designers and workplace strategists who recognized the imbalance immediately. Across a morning and afternoon conversation moderated by Chao Dou (Chaos Cura) and depth psychologist-turned-AI designer Jette Miller (The Pearl), the panel didn't just describe the problem. It mapped a path forward.
Key Themes
Andrea's core argument: the same qualities that make humans irreplaceable: emotional decision-making, sacrifice, and above all curiosity are precisely what we've stopped nurturing. AI escalates the search to find a solution; human curiosity expands the search, pursuing obtuse paths that lead to real discovery. "What you're left with isn't just an end product," she said. "You're left with reciprocity, continuous evolution, not a single solution." The research has existed for decades, from Alvar Aalto's studies on how space volumes affect cognition to Dr. John Medina's Brain Rules. The data is there. We're just not using it.
Jette added the neuroscientific dimension: 95% of human decision-making is unconscious. Large language models are trained almost entirely on left-brain output, lists, information, logic. "The deep creativity, the humor, the right-brain hemisphere where empathy and self-reflection live, we're not even close to replicating that. We have to stop dismissing ourselves."
The afternoon session zeroed in on implementation: if human intelligence matters, why isn't it in the RFP? An audience member said it plainly, she could count on one hand the RFPs she'd received that actually explained why a company was moving, or how it would affect employees. The standard brief asks for case studies and square-footage metrics. It doesn't ask: can you show us three examples of integrating wellness beyond a mothers' room? How have you used attributes of nature, not just plants?
"Don't waste money mimicking what Google did. If it's not grounded in your culture and your employees, it's token. It may do nothing for you."
Andrea Vanecko, NBBJ
The panel's prescription: start small, experiment deliberately. One reimagined team room. Three wellness pods. The cumulation of small pilots across the market builds the evidence base the industry needs, and avoids the financial risk of betting everything on an untested large-scale redesign. "Go slow to go fast," Andrea said. "If you have a fast schedule, great. But first take time to make the right decisions so you're spending your money appropriately."
Utilization data tells you a seat is occupied. It doesn't tell you whether someone wanted to be there, or whether the space made them feel they belonged. The panel pushed toward richer metrics: user sentiment collected alongside sensor data (a lesson from Chao's Steelcase research days); the "delight factor" Andrea is developing with Dr. Medina, measurable attributes like daylight levels, ceiling height variation, and the presence of natural forms.
Jette's framing cut to the core: "Ask your human." AI is a powerful qualitative research tool, use it to have real conversations with employees rather than filtering them through four-option surveys. "You get deep data versus metadata. You measure desire, not just behavior."
Nobody had to convince people to go back to restaurants after the pandemic. The office doesn't have that pull...yet. Chao reframed the entire return-to-office conversation around seven types of rest: physical, mental, emotional, creative, spiritual, sensory, and social. Each has different symptoms, different activities, different spatial needs.
"What if you went to the office to recharge your creative battery, or your social battery?" she asked. "That's a completely different motivation than showing up because you have to." The office as charging station, not depletion station, is a mindset shift available to any organization willing to ask what their people actually need.
Jason Peat closed the afternoon with a clean summary: "This morning asked us to see people more clearly. This afternoon charges us to do something with what we've seen." The panel's collective call to action was the same in both sessions: pick one thing, the brief, the metric, the invitation to come back, and make it more human.
That's the bridge.