Learn how to design environments.

The vision

Designing Our Spaces positions the built environment not simply as structure or décor, but as a form of human-centered design with incredible storytelling power. Our everyday spaces encrypt history, project futures, represent cultural values, influence behavior, impact wellness, and create community. Through installations, exhibits, and interactive programming, visitors will experience how spatial design cultivates identity and atmosphere, revealing the layered human and environmental contexts that give each space meaning.

By presenting the built environment as a cohesive narrative rather than isolated professions, this track elevates public understanding of spatial design as an empowering, integrated discipline. It reinforces San Diego’s position as a region where history, innovation, sustainability, and lifestyle converge through thoughtful design.

An Immersive Spatial Experience

The day will be curated as a dynamic, interactive experience—part exhibition, part workshop, and part dialogue. Installations will demonstrate how the four principles of shape, texture, form, and space influence human perception of the environments we inhabit. Visitors will be encouraged to move through and engage with the spaces around them, experiencing firsthand how seemingly inevitable design decisions are made to respond to unique contexts, shape social connection, influence occupant comfort, and confront environmental realities..

Rather than focusing solely on finished projects, the exhibit will also highlight process: sketches, material boards, models, renderings, and landscape palettes will reveal how ideas evolve from concept to construction. By demystifying the creative and technical journey, the track will showcase the rigor and artistry behind shaping our physical world.

Workshops, Panels, and Interactive Dialogue

Designing Our Spaces will be an all-day event featuring hands-on workshops, expert panels, and keynote conversations exploring the future of spatial design. Topics may include:

• Designing for climate resilience and water stewardship
• Biophilic design and human wellness
• Housing innovation and adaptive reuse
• The intersection of technology and the built environment
• Public space as a catalyst for community

Attendees will gain insight into how architecture, interiors, and landscapes respond to evolving environmental, social, and cultural challenges. The day will emphasize collaboration—highlighting how these disciplines work together to create cohesive, meaningful places.

Experiential and Off-Site Programming

As part of the extended Designing Our Spaces experience, curated off-site tours may include architectural site visits, behind-the-scenes access to notable interior environments, and guided explorations of landscape-driven public spaces. These immersive visits will allow attendees to experience built projects in context— understanding how design performs over time and how spaces shape daily life.

From intimate interior environments to large-scale civic landscapes, visitors will witness how thoughtful spatial design contributes to identity, sustainability, and regional character. These tours will deepen public appreciation for the built environment as both an artistic and civic endeavor.

Free. On Purpose.

Every session is free because access to professional development shouldn’t be a luxury. Design Week is a common table — come as you are, bring what you know.