Federico Negro with Amy Devers on Clever
Founder and CEO of Canoa, Federico Negro, was born in Uruguay during a time of political turmoil and lived in four countries by age 14. As a teenager in Chicago, he used music as a means of learning English, and during college became fascinated by forensic architecture, which informed his fixation with “how we build with what we build.” An Architect, designer, toolmaker, and entrepreneur, his first company, CASE, was acquired by WeWork. From there he served as the Global Head of Design for Wework during the company’s rapid expansion, and witnessed first-hand the pain points and environmental challenges that could be mitigated with better tools. So in 2019, he founded Canoa, an AI-driven, collaborative software aimed at revolutionizing the interior design and furniture industries by addressing environmental issues and becoming a tool to help us build a better future.
To read more, visit Clever Podcast
SURROUND Podcast - Bobby Bonnet & Andrew Lane with Canoa's Founder Federico Negro
A Designer and Product come together
This week, Bobby and Andrew are live from NeoCon with a guest who’s lived the majority of last two decades at the intersection of design and technology, Canoa CEO and Co-founder, Federico Negro. A world-class storyteller, Fed takes the guys through his early startup ethos of “buildings equal data”, his time leading design through the explosive growth of WeWork and how a chair sitting beside a freeway changed everything and eventually led to the creation of Canoa.
I think that this is another place where technology really needs to play a big role. I think that most designers we speak to want to do better, but doing better is hard. - Federico Negro, Founder of Canoa
Canoa featured in Metropolis Spring Issue: Testing the Limits, New Approaches and Technologies.
How AI is Supercharging Design Software Start-ups
Architecture and design’s early forays into artificial intelligence (AI) were mostly confined to image generation and visualization, but in the past couple of years A&D tech insiders have blown the lid off. Below, Andrew Lane, cofounder of consultancy Digby (meetdigby.io), Which partners with design and creative industry companies on business innovation, takes us behind the scenes at three revolutionary tech platforms that seek to transform design workflows. But he warns firms to stop “looking at AI only in terms of how it can evolve their design work and creative processes.” Instead, firms should also explore tools that will help them “streamline business processes across areas like marketing, operations, HR and finance. It’s those who are looking at AI holistically as a business co-pilot who will empower their employees to build new skills, automate tedious tasks, liberate their own capacity and, as a result, raise the floor for the entire organization.”
Metropolis Spring 2024
Canoa: Efficiency through Collaboration
Federico Negro has had a better vantage point than most to see the challenges in the world of design. He began his career working in a firm but broke away to cofound a design-innovation and technology consultancy that was later acquired by a (then) small, early-stage start-up called WeWork. After leading that company’s global design team as it expanded to more than 1,000 employees and launched in more than 30 countries, Negro, along with some friends he’d met along the way, struck out on his own to try to solve new design challenges, with a continues focus on technology.
Canoa was born to address the biggest problem of the FF&E industry - inefficiency and waste fueled by data silos and workflow discontinuity. The team got to work answering a fundamental question. What if interior designers, furniture dealers, brands, and clients could collaborate seamlessly in one connected process? The result was their first product, Tether, an online collaborative design tool that eliminated disparate workflows and provided real-time cost analysis along with carbon emission insights.
From there Canoa launched a robust cataloging tool in 2022, establishing a data link to over 200 brands, 25,000 furniture SKUs, and hundreds of millions of product combinations,. In 2023 it introduced Canvas, a 1:1-scaled second-generation design environment that allows designers to create furniture layouts, product schedules, and presentations.
Where AI fits in:
Fundamental to its design, Canoa rejects the notion that AI will eliminate designers, and looks to build intelligence as a tool. With that aim in mind, the team created Canvas AI, a “co-pilot” for interior designers that leverages computer vision and machine learning to aid in the discovery of new and novel products. As more product data is added to the platform in the form of mood boards, layouts, and product schedules, billions of product-to-product connections are generated that help the model learn and provide contextual recommendations, replacing a workflow that is currently manual, error-prone, and time-consuming.
Words By Andrew Lane
Metropolis Spring 2024
The Battle to Unseat the Aeron, the World’s Most Coveted Office Chair
After 30 years of furniture companies trying to dethrone it, a contender has finally arrived. Too bad no one’s at the office.
Like many great innovations, the Aeron was a spin on a different product that never panned out. In the late 1980s, Herman Miller, which had long outfitted offices with armchairs, desks and lamps, went after a new target: old people. They developed the Sarah, a functional foam-cushioned chair that was a serious upgrade from the bulky vinyl La-Z-Boy recliners of yore. But no stores existed to sell furniture to older adults, so the new model languished until a few years later, when Herman Miller thought to ask the Sarah’s designers to apply its underpinnings to an office chair.
Pages from a 1994 Aeron sales catalog.Source: Herman Miller
Today, an Aeron rolls off the manufacturing line in Holland, Michigan, every 30 seconds, and more than 9 million have been sold to date. It’s also become the white whale of rival office-furniture makers who’ve been chasing it for three decades. That’s because high-end “task chairs,” as the industry refers to them, are the profit engines of the $21 billion office-furniture market. Stylish, sturdy and comfortable, premium office chairs are the result of rigorous design, engineering and manufacturing processes (cast aluminum, injection molding, proprietary fibers), a high-performance seating weapon that can justify those steep price tags. While office desks and cabinets are relegated to interchangeable commodities, the chair tugs at more emotion: Workers become quite attached to them. “There’s an intimacy there,” says Sara Armbruster, president and chief executive officer of office furniture maker Steelcase Inc., MillerKnoll’s biggest competitor. “There’s also a lot of intellectual property and innovation that’s reflected in the profit margins of the product.”
The Karman (right) is angling to best the Aeron (left) by going “beyond leading mesh office chairs to provide effortless comfort.” Photographer: Ryan Jenq for Bloomberg Businessweek
Michael Wolf, who’s written a furniture-industry newsletter since 1990 and witnessed the sector rebound from the dot-com crash and the 2008 financial crisis, says he’s never seen a more perilous time to be in the business. “Nobody knows what the future of the workplace looks like. These guys are totally confused about what to do,” he says. “If nobody figures out what’s next, everybody is screwed.” Federico Negro, an architect behind Canoa, an app for interior designers to find secondhand furnishings and manage their spaces, puts it more bluntly. “Every city is filled with what used to be offices,” he says. “I call them furniture warehouses.”
March 6, 2024
The Real Deal: Why empty Offices are being converted to coworking spaces
The quest to fill up empty commercial space has led landlords to repurpose offices as film studios or self-storage units. And after years of mounting expectations, residential conversions are finally picking up steam, but it’s going to be a long ride.
So the quickest fix, especially as WeWork retreats, is coworking.
For landlords, this is a solution that doesn’t require the peppy branding of WeWork or pink sofas of The Wing. The trick, instead, is to build out spaces simply from a new class of off-the-shelf modular furniture that turns a blank space into a workplace practically overnight. (If the trends ever reverse, these desks, phone booths and meeting rooms could just as easily disappear.)
“We can think of any space as being able to fit that demand as turnkey, ready to move in,” said Nate Pinsley, who leads the in-house coworking program at Tishman Speyer.
A mash-up of independent workers, small companies or local outposts of out-of-town firms might not replace a full-floor 15-year lease, but tenants are tenants. Converting empty (or unleasable) floors into facilities with flexible set-ups and leasing terms is no longer just a way to bide time for landlords but an answer to customer demand that began to change even before 2020.
Rents for top tier office space have increased since 2019, though they recently steadied, the most recent JLL office outlook report found. In older and less luxurious buildings, leases have become shorter and cheaper. Meanwhile, more than three dozen WeWork locations shuttered in New York following the company’s bankruptcy, leaving demand for landlords to pick up.
The new back office
It’s not just startups that seek short leases at shared workspaces. Individual freelancers and entrepreneurs, satellite employees of employers in other markets and — at Tishman Speyer — people or companies who are already tenants but are now looking for an annex, often temporarily.
Tishman Speyer launched Studio in 2018 and is not the only existing landlord trying out co-working in-house. Durst has a coworking arm. Vornado works with coworking provider Industrious.
IWG, the Swiss company that owns and manages co-working spaces, signed deals for 867 new centers in 2023, nearly double the new signings during the previous year. It has more than 3,500 locations worldwide, many of them managed, the asset-light approach.
This corner of growth comes as the return-to-office trend seems to find its line: two or three days in the office, and two or three days remote. The hybrid model also lends itself to enterprises picking up small satellite spaces, especially for workers who aren’t within commuting distance of headquarters.
“You can have your headquarters, but then your secondary and tertiary offices are super in flux,” said Federico Negro, former head designer at WeWork who is now the founder of Canoa, which provides design tools to commercial interior designers.
“You can have your headquarters, but then your secondary and tertiary offices are super in flux,” - Federico Negro
Quick change
Given the tumult in the office sector, the prevailing attitude among office designers is that it’s impossible to predict the future, Negro said.
Office floor buildouts now reflect that uncertainty.
“How do you buy 2 million partitions for one project that you might have to throw away a year?” he said. “It doesn’t make sense and is super wasteful.”
Building for flexibility means giving up the environmental permanence of an office designed just for you. That means no drywall and as little custom-made and permanent fixtures as possible. People who work in common or shared areas need quiet for Zoom calls. So-called focus pods –– mini soundproofed rooms –– are in huge demand as a result. Half of new enterprise build-outs requested them, WeWork found in a February report about office trends.
Room, a company started in Brooklyn in 2017 that makes these modular pieces — phone booths, meeting rooms, even pre-made full office set-ups — now serves 7,000 different businesses, including both high-growth start-ups and Fortune 500 firms, the company said.
Room’s innovation: pretty much anything, anywhere can become an office. And you don’t need a director of furniture, fixtures and equipment to do the planning.
The company, which Indiana-based furniture manufacturer OFS acquired last year for an undisclosed amount, was in discussions to turn some blank space at Moynihan Train Hall into a makeshift lounge area for workers and events. The plan is currently on hold, but the idea has taken root.
“When you are accepting shorter-term commitments from customers, your model relies on reusing the space for different generations and everyone has a great experience,” Pinsley said. “The modularity is key, but you don’t want cookie-cutter spaces.”
Skipping the typical design process can cut costs by 50% or more, welcome savings.
“The world has changed,” as Negro put it. “Are you going to spend $200 a square foot [to build out] or $80 to $100?”
Coworking with coworking
The office space might be temporary, but the flexible terms and designs seem to be permanent, according to Pinsley.
When an office in a Tishman Speyer building becomes available, leaders try to figure out if turning it into a shared space is strategic. The last five years of operation have given the company the chance to understand flexible spaces as instrumental to the bottom line,
If a shared workspace or other amenity, such as a conference room, makes sense for the asset’s performance as a whole, the company might add it to the Studio portfolio.
“Flex went from being a solution to a problem in the building to being an important part of the value proposition,” he said.
At The Spiral, at Hudson Yards, the 23rd and 24th floors are now part of Studio. There are Room phone booths throughout.
Current long-term tenants who hire a temporary project team and need desk space for them are frequent customers of Tishman Speyer’s coworking offerings, which Pinsley said is a “full-stack office experience.”
The company has spaces for co-working at nine New York City buildings, including 175 Varick Street, The JACX in Long Island City and The Spiral. A small office for 1-5 people costs $900 per month at CitySpire on 156 West 56th Street and $3,500 for 2-6 people at Hudson Yards.
While Pinsley declined to share financial specifics beyond the listed prices, he said that Studio’s spaces are “financially performing alongside traditional lease economics.”
MAR 17, 2024, 7:00 AM
8 big ideas designers should embrace in 2024
8 big ideas designers should embrace in 2024
Canoa AI_Canvas
This past year saw the contentious expansion of robotaxis and the eye-wateringly rapid development of AI. We saw the opening of the world’s largest spherical building, and the rebranding of social media giant Twitter to X. As we enter 2024, amid the backdrop of climate crisis, conflict and technological uncertainties, what role can and should design play in building a better future? From tech and graphics to architecture and interiors, we spoke to high-profile designers around the world about what’s on their wish list for the year ahead.
AI THAT’S ENABLING
Depending on your perspective, artificial intelligence is either going to spell the end of humanity, replace jobs, or accelerate innovation on an unprecedented scale. Are designers optimistic?
“I’d like to see more AI that enables creative discovery and inspiration, empowering human-made creativity,” says Phil Garnham, London-based executive creative director at branding agency Monotype. The sentiment is echoed by Xavier De Kestelier, head of design and innovation at global architecture firm Hassell, who hopes AI will “enable designers to concentrate more on the conceptual and creative aspects of design, rather than on production tasks.”
Others are confident it will. “We need to understand that because of AI, more design can be done, not less,” says Federico Negro, New York-based founder and CEO of digital interior design platform Canoa. Negro believes the powers of human judgement and machine content generation can “enhance one another.”
Meanwhile, Xenia Adjoubei, New York-based urban designer and associate director at research agency Studio intO, hopes AI will be harnessed to create tools that “empower governments and corporations in making cities livable for all.”
DESIGN FOR DISASTER RELIEF
“Much more help is needed for people living in disaster areas worldwide,” explains Tokyo-based architect Shigeru Ban, “and I’d like to encourage architects to step up.” Pritzker Prize-winning Ban has become celebrated for his humanitarian work in disaster-stricken zones, from housing in post-earthquake Japan to vaccination centers during COVID-19. This year, he continued a project of shelters for refugees displaced by the war in Ukraine.
“There are so many things we can do to improve the situation for many people in need,” Ban says. “For 2024 (and beyond), it would be great to see more people in our profession using their knowledge and energy for disaster relief.”
MORE LOCAL DESIGN
In an era of globalized culture, where design can be endlessly replicated, homogenous styles run the risk of ignoring local context. “In 2023, we saw brands wake up to the fact that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t meaningfully engage different cultures and geographies,” says London-based Pentagram partner Samar Maakaroun. Instead, locally rooted, culturally aware design can lead to “enriching results, broader engagement and truer narratives,” she adds. “I look forward in 2024 to seeing more depth and cultural variety in representation and brand identity.”
Lagos-based architect Tosin Oshinowo, founder of Oshinowo Studio, echoes the desire for more “localisation”: “As architects, it’s important we produce contextual solutions relevant to the place and in better balance with the environment. By localizing our building materials, we can be climate-conscious while producing a diverse aesthetic language.”
COLLABORATIVE SUSTAINABILITY
As countries rush to meet greenhouse gas emission-reduction targets, designers are working harder to lead the way in sustainability. “It’s high time we stopped focusing on single solutions to the climate emergency, whether that’s volumetric design or timber, and look holistically at the problems facing us,” says architect Anna-Lisa McSweeney, head of sustainability at Swedish practice White Arkitekter. Our cities require “huge and interconnected interventions” to reach net zero, she says, and hopes 2024 sees true collaboration to “shift the dial.”
EQUITY-FOCUSED GROWTH
Designing for growth and inclusion is a complicated balance to strike in any sector. But when it comes to cities and communities, meaningfully addressing both is vital, says Andre Brumfield, Chicago-based global leader of cities and urban design at Gensler. “To have a healthy city, we need to balance issues of equity with urban revitalization and economic growth,” he says. “I am hopeful that there will be more collaboration in 2024 to support repositioning the most distressed parts of our cities, which range from communities of color to our most challenged central business districts. We cannot continue to have a mindset of investing in one over the other.”
INCLUSIVE DESIGN CULTURE
Design can’t improve, argues New York-based branding designer Ritesh Gupta, unless the industry itself does—and that demands equitable opportunities and inclusive cultures. “Addressing the experiences of designers you currently work with is essential,” says Gupta, who is the founder of creative learning platform Useful School, as well as a freelance design director.
This includes “more effective, sustainable ways to identify and support high-potential talent,” as well as addressing bias to “rethink our processes and language so there are safer and less extractive research and design standards.”
Organizations should also support external and internal forms of education and community, he adds, as well as POC-led design studios and agencies. “If we don’t do this, we will continue to try to fill the design pipeline with POC, queer, and neurodivergent talent, only to continue having them leave out of frustration, discrimination, or worse.”
SUPPORT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
“One of the greatest challenges facing our planet is the lack of opportunity that young people feel, particularly in the Global South,” says Robert Fabricant, New York-based cofounder of social impact studio Dalberg Design. Through working alongside youth on international projects, Fabricant has seen that “so few [of them] have been given the opportunity to tap into their true creative potential” and help tackle the issues facing their communities. “What an unbelievable waste! I would love to see the design community spend more time movement-building to help unleash this massive creative potential in 2024.”
DESIGN BEYOND TRENDS
Finally, a call to follow your heart in design, rather than trends. “Let’s all do our own thing this year and celebrate different points of view,” says San Francisco-based interior designer Michael Hilal. “Honestly there are so many styles and tastes—we can have maximalists and minimalists at the same time, right? I believe there’s enough room for everybody to be themselves.”
Federico Negro, Founder of Canoa, Featured in Business Insider's List of 15 People Shaping the Office of the Future
Negro, the CEO of Canoa, says offices don't become environmentally friendly without careful planning.
Negro said Canoa, a company in Brooklyn, New York, that reconfigures workplaces, helps reduces waste and excessive costs often associated with retrofits meant to modernize aging commercial buildings.
Canoa designed a digital marketplace for businesses to rent office furniture, decorations, and accessories — when the business decides to move, the items are returned to Canoa and then rented to other customers. Canoa says it also supplies a professional interior designer to help businesses configure their space.
The company's platform debuted in June, when it was featured in the "This Is America" showcase at Milan Design Week. Its services range from a one-time design package to subscriptions that can cost as much as $6,000 a month.
"We've gotten to a point where business owners don't want to waste anything and they want to track everything," Negro said. "That applies to the interior-design space as well. So we're buying better stuff that has a good chance of being reused and making it easier for people to access it. It's a win-win."
Read the full article HERE.
Federico Negro Joins PROWL Studio On Architecture 5 10 20 Podcast
Federico Negro Joins PROWL Studio on Architecture 5 10 20 Podcast, 'Sustainability and the Furniture Industry: Solutions for a Greener Future'
NeoCon June 27, 2023
Listen as Lauryn Menard, Founder of PROWL Studio and Federico Negro, Founder and CEO of CANOA, discuss different perspectives on the current landscape of design and how they envision a more sustainable future. Lauryn and Federico both offer suggestions for more responsible and regenerative options for the physical world. Together, they speak about easier ways companies can approach decisions with more curiosity and less rigidity.
Lauryn’s and Federico’s combined optimism gives hope to present and future professionals in the design space. As physical spaces become more like a complement to digital spaces, we can refocus on human-centered designs that balance eco-conscious elements anchored in simplicity. Our curiosity of a responsible and regenerative future for the physical world can empower us to make better decisions in design."
Listen:
Guest Host:
Florencia Kratsman, Director of Interior Architecture at FXCollborative
Guests:
Federico Negro, Founder and CEO of CANOA Supply.
Lauryn Menard, Co-Founder + Creative Director at PROWL Studio.
Architecture and the circular economy - Design Intelligence Interview
“It starts with the idea that when you’re doing one building that’s a one-off, that’s called project delivery. But when you have to do several hundred, that’s called a supply chain. It’s as simple as that. Instead of analyzing where things come from and how they get there, working at scale is a fundamentally different framing of the problem of building and operating than most people get exposed to. It’s super fun, something I like to nerd out about. Other people may not find it as interesting.”
Go to full article here (link)
Podcast by Architect Magazine: The Former Founders of Case Discuss WeWork's Lasting Impact on Architecture
“David Fano, Federico Negro, and Steve Sanderson, the trio behind the company WeWork first acquired, reunite to discuss the state of the profession—and life after their wild ride.”
Originally posted on Architect Magazine’s site at https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/the-former-founders-of-case-discuss-weworks-lasting-impact-on-architecture_o
