Digital Environments and Design Technology with Nuno Fernandes

In this week’s interview with SBID Awards Interior Design judge and Design Director EMEA at Tetris, Nuno Fernandes discusses the connection between technology and built environments. He shares his insights on specifying products for different environments and gives valuable advice for approaching design projects.

How important is innovation and technology when it comes to the future of our built environments?

Innovation is the overarching priority when responding to our clients. Now more than ever it’s about connecting people to the building be that a residence or an office and technology should make people’s lives comfortable and easy.

Driving the development of virtual reality and the design of digital environments – what opportunities could the metaverse provide for the interior design world?

The metaverse really opens a whole new world of work opportunities for designers and architects. We can now also offer our clients a digital experience as there will be a transition between physical and digital in our day to day lives moving forward. Perhaps, for culture and identity consistency, those two projects are designed concurrently.

When designing for commercial projects across hospitality, retail and the workplace – how do you approach the product specification? Does it differ between specialisms and what are your key considerations?

Yes, it differs. Whereas in hospitality there is a big effort in economy of scale and procurement optimization, for retail, at the high end as is our case, many elements are custom built or even one-off’s. Workplace product specifying is now becoming much more diverse meaning that in one project we have now more products driven by all the different work environments within the same project.

How do you ensure the interior designs you produce are powerful and inspiring, whilst meeting the core needs of your client, their business and the ultimate end-users?

A combination of rational and emotional is our weapon. Our designs should be anchored on the needs of the clients and the users of that space hence why our design is data driven, we then love to tell a story that meets the business and users’ needs while close to their hearts.

Finally, what advice can you give to designers entering the SBID Awards?

Always push your concepts beyond your comfort zone, design is about innovation whilst providing a solution.

Questions answered by Nuno Fernandes, Design Director EMEA, Tetris.