While annual trends are often counted up as decorative and aesthetic movements, 2024 looks as if it’s going to be less concerned with looks—or at least more interested in defining good ones based on the origins of the source materials. When we asked these leading designers to share their thoughts on where things are headed for our homes, resoundingly, the answer was toward something more sustainable, with a focus on adaptive reuse and natural materials.

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Dovetailing with those sentiments, doing more with less will drive design, say others; rising costs of living will inspire a delicate balance of budgets and briefs like never before. But it won’t be as austere as it sounds. Richly textured natural elements and a celebration of prosaic features will result in spaces that have plenty of personality.

In keeping with these predictions, our six design experts say that it’s time to shed the excess: Think overly ornate surfaces, unnecessary demolition and thoughtless new builds, high-gloss finishes, and a lack of sensitivity to context. Here’s everything they loved and hated from last year, and what’s coming next for our homes in 2024.

William Samuels—William Samuels Architects

Loved It: Carbon-Negative Materials

Low-carbon and carbon-negative materials are nothing new, but in recent years they have become more widely available and commercially viable. “Materials and construction methods that may have been viewed as fringe, such as hempcrete and straw bale construction, are now being seriously considered for more mainstream projects as we look at ways to reduce the climate impact of building,” says New Zealand architect William Samuels, who designed and built a home that can be transported on a flatbed truck. “2023 saw significant projects explore the aesthetic and design possibilities inherent within these materials, and hopefully we see this trend continue.”

Hated It: Fluted Surfaces

“I love a fluted surface as much as the next person, but there has been a tendency within the last couple of years to apply fluting to everything— fluted joinery, walls, light fittings, furniture… the list goes on,” says Samuels. “On occasion, it appears that this surface treatment is applied in an attempt to glam up fairly ordinary work, rather than being used as a considered and appropriate design response.”

What’s Next: Doing More With Less

The pandemic has had a lasting impact on the construction industry with significant rises in material and labor costs, and as budgets become increasingly difficult to align with briefs, architects need to reassess how to get the best outcomes from projects.

“Increasingly, this will mean architects will need to consider how to ‘do more with less’ and design small, efficient, and cost-effective projects,” says Samuels. “This is an exciting prospect, as it requires innovative thinking and considered approaches to design challenges, with projects needing to resolve them through careful thinking rather than wasteful spending.”

Architect William Samuels’s tiny home in Todds Valley, New Zealand, is a prefab structure clad in a corrugated iron shell coated with Zincalume. The home is located on rented land and is designed to be moved and expanded as needed—a response to the rising cost of living. “We’re increasingly seeing clients eager to explore alternative modes of living that depart from the single housing typology,” he says. “There is a world of possibilities and design opportunities that are there to be explored when we rethink how we live and what home means to us.”" layout="" credit="Photo by Simon Devitt" photoUserId=""/>

Hernan Landolfo—Landolfo & Asociados

Loved It: Found Architecture

“A thought going around that I feel personally connected to is revisiting the ‘as found’ concept,” says Argentinian architect Hernan Landolfo, founder of Landolfo & Asociados. “It’s a concept that could be particularly handy in Argentina, which is a place of constant economic crisis.” A big part of that concept is rediscovering overlooked parts of the city, he says. “I’m interested in a city that is suspended in time—a Buenos Aires with houses that were built in the mid ’50s, smaller worker houses, propiedades horizontales… Most of my work is done in this area and this is the case for many architects of my generation.”

Hated It: Unnecessary Demolition

Landolfo’s least favorite trend, or pattern, of recent years is the demolition of architectural history. “Of course I am conflicted about this as the city must grow, but maybe Buenos Aires needs to find its own way to function,” he says. “I have never understood how for decades the south of the city has been almost deserted while neighborhoods like Palermo keep growing. There is a lot of empty space in Buenos Aires, some in pretty good condition.” According to Landolfo, there’s no reason to knock something down without considering first how it could be put to use.

What’s Next: Retaking Abandoned Spaces

There’s no doubt that the climate crisis will have a profound effect on our future cities—and Landolfo believes that we will begin to witness the retaking of abandoned areas of city’s to combat unnecessary demolition and construction. “For many years, the economic and physical growth of cities has been interlinked,” he explains. “I think we will witness the retaking of cities, especially as the younger generations are being denied a piece of the pie. The abandoned will become the place for possible domestication.”

Landolfo is hoping to give new life to 1950s apartments in the city, like the one he renovated for his family. “At least one more generation of city dwellers can live there,” he says. “That’s what I want to be doing—thinking about that one final ride into the sunset for these homes.”

mall, dark apartment in Buenos Aires into a bright and airy home." layout="" credit="Photo by Brian W. Ferry" photoUserId="6133440253991342080"/>

Molly Sedlacek—ORCA

Loved It: Permeable Driveways

Molly Sedlacek, founder of landscape design studio ORCA, champions working with the landscape rather than fighting against it. Her favorite trend of the past year was the growing popularity of more permeable materials, like pavers, and a move away from concrete driveways. “Solid surfaces are slowly becoming a thing of the past,” she says. “Allowing water to flow in outdoor spaces is becoming top-of-mind for homeowners.” She also loved seeing more neighbor-friendly fencing, petite pools, cold plunges, and native gardens.

Hated It: Modern Fencing

One of Sedlacek’s driving principles is that landscaping should complement a home’s style. In recent years, she says she’s seen too much fencing that isn’t a fit. “The perimeter of a home’s land should be a supporting cast member in the dwelling’s architecture,” she explains. “Fencing is a great way to update a home’s curb appeal and landscape, but it should also be speaking the same design language as the house. A white picket fence doesn’t apply everywhere, and neither do thin modern slats.”

What’s Next: Outdoor Wellness

The wellness-at-home trend took off during the pandemic, and Sedlacek sees it continuing to grow this year. “We see homeowners wanting to bring a wellness focus into their outdoor spaces with showers, cold plunges, spas, small pools, saunas, and even meditation rocks,” she says.

With ORCA, Sedlacek hopes to embrace this trend and expand on the use of natural materials with a rich patina and mixed metals to create “lived-in” garden surfaces, like with her home in Los Angeles. She also wants to celebrate simple garden elements, like rain chains.

Robert Sukrachand

Loved It: Bold Personality

Brooklyn artist and lighting designer Robert Sukrachand believes great work requires a compelling narrative and loved seeing that idea being celebrated more recently. “Whether through a considered use of materials specific to a place, collaborations with artisans, or updates to historic forms, designers are aiming to produce lasting connections through their products,” he says. “I saw a lot of lighting with a bold personality. It’s no longer just seen as minimal, functional sources of illumination. Designers are treating lamps as an opportunity to tell a story and imbue a space with dynamism and personality.”

Hated It: Toxic Finishes

High-gloss sheens and toxic coatings are all too often found in our interiors, and Sukrachand believes it’s time for the design industry to move toward healthier, more natural materials. “I think we'll see both designers and customers making the conscious choice to incorporate more ‘live finishes’ and natural materials in their pieces and homes,” he says. “A lot of my customers have been drawn to our matte marble finishes or imperfect metal patinas which will evolve over time. This desire can also be seen in the trend to incorporate earthy materials like clay and fiber in our homes. I think that’s a reflection of our industry doing a better job to bridge the gap between nature and the home environment.”

British Columbia prefab builder Blend Projects makes cabins and homes using healthy materials that are toxin-free. Each home is built from glulam-beam structures in eight-foot-long sections connected by locally fabricated steel brackets. The standing seam metal roofs are made from steel, and the cladding from natural cedar. The siding is darkened with a low-VOC, formaldehyde-free stain." layout="wide" credit="Photo by Matt Cecil" photoUserId=""/>

What’s Next: Textured Materiality

Lighting design has long been dominated by metals, plastics, and glass, but Sukrachand expects to see more textured materials coming into play to provide interesting contrast. “The smoothness and coldness of metal and glass can be tempered by the use of heavily textured materials like fabric, woven fiber, or clay,” he says. “In a world where we’re constantly touching our phones and screens, there’s this desire to reconnect with nature in our living spaces.”

Aniket Shahane—Office for Architecture

Loved It: Adaptive Reuse

Adaptive reuse—the practice of updating a building for a new purpose—has been having a moment that could last. “I feel the term was not so cool a decade ago, perhaps because it’s harder to make a signature project when you’re working with a building that is handed down to you,” says New York architect Aniket Shahane, founder of Office for Architecture. “People are again recognizing the value of working with and making the most of what we have, including the existing building fabric in our cities. Not only is it sustainable and environmentally conscious, it can also be really gratifying to breathe new life into something old and to be in dialogue with the things that came before us.”

Shahane has also loved seeing a rise in projects contributing to a circular economy. “From advocating for building materials that have the potential to be more sustainable, like mass timber, to decrying the unnecessary demolition of buildings, it seems there’s a renewed awareness of the environmental impact of design,” he says. “Hopefully this isn't ‘trendy,’ but a genuine expansion of interest in being more deliberate and thoughtful with our built environment.”

Spanning a mere 11 feet, this Brooklyn row house by Office for Architecture, known as Little House, Big City, has been strategically transformed to accommodate the needs of a young family of four. Instead of moving away from the neighborhood they had come to admire, the couple decided to expand their narrow, two-story home in order to make room for their two growing children. “We were very much motivated to find a way to stay in this neighborhood,” explains architect Aniket Shahane." layout="" credit="Photo by Rafael Gamo" photoUserId="6133441480770805760"/>

Hated It: Image-Based Inspiration

Images are a key source of inspiration in design, but according to Shahane, we’ve come to rely on them too much to make design decisions in recent years. He chalks it up to our collective use of social media. “We’ve all been gradually headed there for years,” he says. “I think oftentimes it can keep us—designers and clients—from seeing the material facts of the actual design problem specific to our own projects. But what looks good somewhere else might not be what works best in the here and now.”

What’s Next: Rowhouses

Rowhouses, or townhomes, are a major part of the fabric of many great cities, and Shahane hopes to see more creative reuse of the ubiquitous building typology. “Rowhouses are versatile and can be adapted to do so many things,” he says. “I’m hoping more people will see the value in converting these buildings into not only houses, but also other things—libraries, schools, bakeries, stores, work spaces... all the things that make a city.”

Jeremy Bull—Alexander & Co.

Loved It: Natural Textures

Jeremy Bull and Tess Glasson, cofounders of Sydney architecture and interiors firm Alexander & Co. say they aren’t huge followers of trends, and instead aim to create architecture and interiors with longevity. They did, however, take a shine to the recent movement toward natural tones and textures. “We use a lot of Portuguese plaster,” says Bull. “Polished, creamy walls is likely to always be a favorite.”

Hated It: Ripple Curves

Jeremy and Tess saw lots of trends emerge in 2023, from the overtly decorative, to ripple curves, arches, beige plaster, and burl wood. The one they disliked most? The ripple curve. “There’s squiggly lines appearing all over the plaster,” says Bull. “I can’t get into the eyeball dopamine of a ripple used without serious consideration.”

What’s Next: Dramatic Color

Tess and Jeremy are predicting contrast and bold color will make an appearance this year. “I would say there will be a bit more wild, ’80s color drama—but who knows!” says Jeremy. “I’m just looking forward to the experience of it all. It’s an endless gift to do what we do, and I can’t think of a better place to be.”

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