Perkins+Will’s New York head of interiors, Brent Capron. Courtesy Perkins + Will
As Perkins+Will’s New York director of interior design, Brent Capron leads creative processes behind the firm’s workplace projects and cultivates client relationships across the Northeast. The Colorado native has over 20 years of design experience in corporate interiors on both the East and the West Coasts, including an award-winning design for Westfield North America’s Los Angeles headquarters. Metropolis editor-in-chief Avinash Rajagopal sat down with Capron to discuss the social roots of workplace design, the importance of studying the client and breaking down boundaries between siloed practices, and NeoCon’s long-standing cultural role.
Avinash Rajagopal: You’ve had a long career in interior design. Looking back at that, how has the American workplace changed?
Brent Capron: Well, in the last two decades we’ve seen the American workforce go into much more of an open work plan. There’s also been an increase in agility. We’re seeing the flexible nature of corporations and businesses in the workplace, and how the workspace is responding to that. And increasingly, companies are addressing diversity in the workspace. Not only is the workforce becoming more diverse, but how people work within a business is becoming much more diverse.
AR: Perkins+Will has a health research lab. That in itself is something new and extraordinary in the industry. How do you use that research in your work?
BC: For example, we’re doing work on resiliency. I’m getting to work with those teams and understanding the priorities of resilient design, the effects a culture might have on a project, or extreme conditions you may not be considering during the course of business as usual—understanding what extreme conditions there could be, and ways you can adapt your design. Another example is more scientific: the effects of light on productivity and emotion within the space—work that Eve Edelstein, in our office, has been doing as an independent researcher. Understanding its effect, you can better work with lighting designers to come up with solutions that have an empirical impact.
AR: Aside from research, what are some big movements in design elements?
BC: Going back to agility, now that business is in the cloud, designers can focus on the social aspects of a space. We’re seeing that linear, rigid quality dissipate. We’re finding softer solutions. You don’t have to be at a proper desk anymore. You can have a more residential- or hospitality- feeling area for doing work. There are new elements being brought into the work- place that are not necessarily just for fun or breakout. They’re still about work, community, communicating with one another. They’re just finding new ways to do that.