Ethics & Consequence
Intelligence
Essays, research, and perspectives from senior design leaders on the future of the profession.
Article · 5 min readWhen You Build, You Unbuild: The Significance You May Not IntendThe crowded, dilapidated buildings in the city started to disappear. Scaffolding went up overnight. Streets that had been lined with laundry…
June 2026DFDesign Futures Council
Article · 6 min readWhat is Essential?If everything is essential, then nothing is. We use the word essential constantly. In meetings, strategies, and briefs, things are described…
May 2026DFDesign Futures Council
Article · 6 min readThe Misplaced Search for Human EssenceIt’s not what AI cannot do. AI is doing what we thought only humans could do At Wimbledon in 2023, IBM deployed an AI announcer that doesn’t…
May 2026DFDesign Futures Council
Article · 7 min readContext: Consequential QuestionsOver the course of 2024, we have looked at Connections, Conviction and Convergence in our cascading examination of critical thinking among t…
January 2025MLMichael LeFevre
Article · 4 min readConsequential Questions For ConsiderationAs we consider the “now” and soon arriving “then”, we are confronted with our own lack of initiative regarding the consequential questions w…
January 2025DGDave Gilmore
Article · 10 min readConsequential Questions: Overcoming PerceptionsDesignIntelligence (Michael LeFevre, DI:) We’re talking with Lynn Simon, FAIA, LEED Fellow, a principal and the West Sustainability Services…
December 2024LSLynn Simon
Article · 7 min readConsequential Question Can Energy-Intensive 24/7 Buildings Be Carbon-Neutral?According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average hospital consumes more than 100 times as much energy as a standar…
December 2024FKFabian Kremkus
Article · 10 min readWhat Is Infrastructure For?Editor’s Note:DesignIntelligence’s theme for Q4 2024 is “Consequential Questions.” To address our theme, we call on a presenter from our rec…
December 2024CWClare Wildfire
Article · 9 min readHas Modernism Failed Us?Modernism, viewed as a style in addition to a movement, has a fascinating and tumultuous history. Early modernism’s design ethos had an imag…
November 2024JJJohn Jennifer Marx
Article · 6 min readThe Mark of True TransformationMost of us would consider ourselves visionary leaders with ambitious goals to grow our firms, positively impact the communities we serve and…
November 2024DJDez Joslin
Article · 12 min readMaking Design RelevantDesignIntelligence / Michael LeFevre (DI): We’re talking with Adrian Parr Zaretsky, dean of the College of Design at the University of Orego…
November 2024APAdrian Parr
Article · 8 min readConsequential Questions (The Need for Truth)The light of western democracy may not yet have dimmed, but it is certainly flickering, and the closing quarter of 2024 will have a profound…
October 2024PHPaul Hyett