Date Posted: 12.18.2024
Celebrating Mithun’s 75th anniversary this year, we took a bold step away from tradition. As a way to honor the people and accomplishments of the past, we chose to look 75 years into the future—imagining what the world may look like in 2099 and how we, as designers, can positively influence those possible futures.
DESIGN 2099: A COLLABORATIVE EXPLORATION
Mithun is an interdisciplinary collaborative of designers, constantly evolving to address the critical challenges of our future.
Since 1949, we’ve posed diverse questions to uncover needs and opportunities within a given site, community, or organization—working across disciplines to create novel solutions that advance positive change. To mark the firm’s anniversary, we decided to turn that attention toward the future and build new skills in long term thinking and planning.
In the year 2099, what might the world look like? What global and regional issues might we be facing? What dreams might be realized? What role will designers of the built environment need to play to help?
This inquiry culminated in November with Design 2099, a two-day event that brought together our Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle team members to think creatively, collaborate across disciplines and embrace the power of imagination. The Design 2099 program was developed by a collective of Mithun team members from all three offices in partnership with our current, fourth generation of firm leadership. Key goals included:
SETTING THE STAGE: FROM KEYNOTES TO WORKSHOPS
Two captivating and complementary keynote presentations set the stage for the ideas and activities to come. Leonard Forsman, chairman of the Suquamish Tribe, opened the event by rooting our journey in the scale of time immemorial and reminding us that our lives span a small part of a much larger history. His powerful keynote presentation wove together regional histories, values and enduring cultural practices passed down through generations. As a beautiful sunset developed over the Puget Sound and the Olympic mountains in the distance, Leonard spoke of the importance of honoring the land and keeping cultural traditions alive for future generations.
Stuart Candy, a renowned futurist and designer, followed with a presentation that introduced futures thinking—a way of engaging with the uncertainties and possibilities of the future. His work, which includes designing experiential futures through immersive storytelling, connected deeply with Mithun’s desire to think far beyond the present. Stuart highlighted that no one future is certain, emphasizing the many possible futures that we must consider. With the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election fresh on the minds of attendees, Stuart’s session was timely and facilitated constructive reflection on the complex, unpredictable nature of the future and the wide range of possibilities that always lie ahead.
FUTURES THINKING: A DAY OF IMAGINATION AND INNOVATION
The workshop continued the next day with a deep dive into futures thinking. The entire Mithun team participated in “The Thing from the Future,” a card game designed by Stuart Candy to engage players in speed rounds of futures thinking.
The game invites small groups to tackle scenarios where they envision futuristic objects and concepts. Each round of the game began with three cards that defined a type of future, an aspect of life, and a thing (e.g., “In a FAST future, there is a FOOD related to ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE”). Teams brainstormed ideas and shared the hypothetical objects they imagined, sparking lively and thought-provoking conversations.
As the day progressed, the workshop took a more hands-on approach, with teams moving from game scenarios to long-form futures thinking. Participants were challenged to envision a product, business or organization from the future, which they would then present at the 2099 Futures Fair. The goal of this fair wasn’t just to talk about potential futures—it was to bring them to life. Inspired by futurist Elise Boulding’s statement, “We cannot achieve what we cannot imagine,” the team explored possible futures from all angles, embracing the unknown and building something tangible for the future.
GLIMPSE INTO 2099: KEY CONCEPTS FROM THE FUTURES FAIR
More than 20 highly imaginative concepts were presented at the Futures Fair. Some of the vivid future scenarios and insightful products included:
The Disharmony Gym
In this future, artificial intelligence (AI) has become so ethical and moral that humans need to practice being amoral. “The Disharmony Gym” challenges participants to engage in morally questionable activities—such as breaking an iPhone with a hammer or sparking a virtual wildfire—to better understand why being good is so important. This thought-provoking concept explores the tension between AI and human values.
Seahorse Micro-Mobility
As the world continues to urbanize and sea levels rise, mobility will need to adapt. This team envisioned the creation of the Department of Water Transportation and a “Seahorse Micro-Mobility Service,” allowing people to navigate cities primarily covered in water of the future via small, eco-friendly aquatic vehicles. Reminiscent of today’s Lime scooters, these seahorse-shaped vehicles provide an intriguing glimpse into how humanity might adapt to a water-centric future.
Watershed Matchmaking
In a borderless future, individuals find their homes not based on nationality or location but by the watersheds they belong to. This concept from the “Watershed Matchmaking” stall at the Futures Fair imagines a world where people align with natural environments, fostering deeper connections to their surroundings and to the health of the earth’s water systems.
THE FUTURE OF MITHUN: HOW THIS WILL SHAPE OUR WORK
As the workshop wrapped up, it became clear that Design 2099 would leave a lasting mark on how we approach our work as a firm. Through this series of creative design exercises, we were able to get beyond the typical time frames of our work and begin to understand the reality of wide-ranging potential futures, as well as how they might impact our lives and practice over the next decades.
At a smaller scale, Design 2099 provides our team with new tools for working with clients and communities to envision their futures. Whether it’s conceptualizing the future of a city or imagining the next phase of a building’s life cycle, we now have a deeper, more flexible framework for long-term thinking. The futures thinking exercise opened our minds to the endless possibilities of design and its potential impact on the world. We also learned first-hand the power of a well-organized focused burst of creativity, and the remarkable number of ideas that can be generated by creative, interdisciplinary thinkers in such a short period of time!
For example, Mithun brought futures thinking to the communities surrounding our offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle for this fall’s Park(ing) Day, a global, participatory project where individuals and organizations temporarily repurpose curbside parking spaces into public parks and social spaces to advocate for safer, greener, and more equitable streets. Our teams transforming four street parking spaces into interactive destinations that invited visitors and passers-by to engage with possible visions for the future. One of the key features of our installations was the “Postcards to the Future” project, where we asked community members to reflect on the world they hope to see in 2099. This activity allowed us to gather thoughts from the broader community, gave our team a chance to connect with the public and served as a catalyst for continued future-focused conversations.
On a larger scale, we anticipate that the futures concepts developed during the workshop will shape the way we approach sustainability, community design, and innovation in architecture for decades to come. As we look ahead, the questions we ask today will directly influence the spaces we design tomorrow. The future is not just something to react to—it’s something we help create.
At the grandest scale, we believe these efforts will ripple outward, inspiring future generations of architects, designers and community leaders to continue pushing the boundaries of possibility. We are not just creating for “now,” we are creating many possible futures.
A CELEBRATION TO REMEMBER
The culmination of the event was a celebration at the Seattle Art Museum, where Mithun invited partners, clients, past team members, and community leaders to join us in this moment of collective imagination and creativity. The energy in the room reflected the collaborative spirit that fueled the workshop, and the excitement of looking forward to the next 75 years was palpable—especially on the dance floor.
As Mithun continues its journey toward the future, we are committed to carrying the lessons from Design 2099 forward. Together, we will design spaces that inspire, sustain and evolve alongside the needs of generations to come.
We invite you to join us in this vision—one that looks not just at the present but at the vast possibilities of the future. Here’s to the next 75 years and beyond! Let’s continue imagining, designing, and building for tomorrow.
