Workspace Design Show London Unveils “Connected Realities” Installations

Workspace Design Show (25–26 February 2026, Business Design Centre, London) returns with a powerful series of immersive installations that bring the show’s 2026 theme, Connected Realities, to life. Designed by leading architecture and workplace design studios, these installations explore how physical environments, digital systems, material innovation and human experience are becoming increasingly interconnected in the modern workplace.

Together, the installations form a journey across the show floor, inviting visitors to pause, interact, reflect and reimagine how workplaces are designed, experienced and sustained.

The Circular Hub by MCM & Future Works

Designed by MCM in partnership with Future Works, innovation venture of The Furniture Practice, the Circular Hub is a dedicated space exploring circularity across a range of product typologies. Materials are traced from raw to refined, with natural and synthetic options displayed side by side to reveal different circular pathways. The space features material and product contributions from Nested Living, Materials Assemble, Tate, Vitra and Planteria.

A programme of hands-on challenges invites participants to dismantle and rebuild a piece of furniture, putting adaptability, repair and reuse into practice. The stand itself functions as a live prototype, demonstrating a minimal, near zero-waste exhibition approach rooted in learning, experimentation and reuse.

Insights Lounge: Exhale by Peldon Rose

Peldon Rose presents Exhale: a pavilion for deep listening. Attention softens, breath slows, and ideas settle. Between talks, a twenty-minute exhale unfolds, an architectural weather shift shaped by scent and light, renewing the atmosphere and re-tuning the space. This is the new home for Sustainability Talks & Occupiers Forum.

Merge: The M Moser lounge

Merge invites visitors to explore the evolving relationship between craft and technology. It's split into two journeys, one designed and one to discover. The installation shows how integrated workplace technology supports flexibility and real-time responsiveness. Suppliers include Camira, Viccarbe, Osol, Planteria and Steelcase.

Through intuitive digital interfaces, people can personalise elements such as lighting and colour, actively transforming the space around them. This interaction softens the boundary between user and environment, showing how future workplaces are shaped not only for people, but also by them.

Workspace Design Talks Lounge designed by Gensler and Area

Inspired by this year’s theme “Connected Realities,” the stage design moves between physical and digital realms. Transporting visitors into a new dimension, cosmic colours fade into gentle gradients, forming a calm yet mysterious space. At the centre, a circular stage brings the focus back to people, suggesting that in our shifting worlds, human connection remains our true ground.

“These installations are not visual statements alone. They are experiences designed to provoke conversation, reflection and interaction,” says Esha Bark-Jones, Show Director, Workspace Design Show. “Connected Realities is about how workplaces are evolving in real time, and these installations allow visitors to experience that evolution first-hand.”

Following the installations, visitors can explore the wider exhibition featuring hundreds of workplace products from international and UK brands, alongside four dedicated talks stages Workspace Design Talks, Sustainability Talks, Occupiers Forum and the FIS Conference, delivering a comprehensive conference programme across the two days. With over 120 speakers, the programme brings together leading architects, designers, occupiers and workplace strategists to discuss the ideas, challenges and opportunities shaping the future of work.

Register now to attend the exhibition and explore these installations in-person: workspaceshow.co.uk

From 3–5 February 2026, the Surface Design Show returns to London’s Business Design Centre, placing a global spotlight on the evolving language of materials. Long established as a leading destination for material innovation, SDS26 will deliver an immersive exhibition of pioneering surfaces and finishes, encouraging architects and designers to see, touch and engage with the future of material design.

At the core of the 2026 edition is the theme Material Evolution, which challenges traditional notions of “newness” and urges the industry to rethink value. Rather than focusing solely on the novel, the show reframes innovation as a process of reinvention transforming waste into worth through circular design, material transparency and responsible production. Reuse, rediscovery and regeneration sit alongside scientific and technological advancement as key drivers of progress.

SDS26 will feature an expanded programme, welcoming back popular elements such as Surface Spotlight, Stone Tapestry, the Innovation Gallery, Green Grads and the Surface Design Awards. A major new development for 2026 is a partnership with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), which will host two of its flagship annual events at the show.

RIBA Future Leaders takes place on Tuesday 3 February, supporting the development of emerging architects, followed on Wednesday 4 February by the RIBA AI in Practice Summit (Second Edition). The summit will welcome more than 500 architects to examine the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence in architectural practice.

The Surface Design Awards remain a cornerstone of the event, attracting over 100 entries this year. Winners were selected by an esteemed judging panel including Muyiwa Oki, President of RIBA; Tina Norden, Principal at Conran & Partners; Arthur Mamou-Mani, Director of Mamou-Mani; Seetal Solanki, Founder and Director of Ma-tt-er; Barbara Chandler, Founder of Green Grads; Oscar Pearce, Co-Founder of Design Burger; Michael Grubb, Founder of Michael Grubb Studio; Tim Bowder-Ridger, Principal and Partner at Conran & Partners; Roddy Clarke, design journalist and consultant; and Tim Gledstone, Partner at Squire & Partners.

Additional highlights include the return of the Young Architects and Developers Alliance (YADA) networking event, designed to foster meaningful connections among emerging professionals. Studio Justine Fox will curate the Designer Hub, bringing its expertise in colour psychology, ergonomics and insight to create one of the show’s most visually striking spaces.

Curated by materials, design and trend expert Sally Angharad, Surface Spotlight once again sits at the heart of the exhibition. This year’s installation presents Material Evolution as a story of renewal rather than novelty, exploring how materials transform through culture, heritage, science and circular design. Visitors are invited to reconsider familiar materials through creative application, narrative and context.

The show continues its commitment to supporting emerging designers through its ongoing partnership with the Royal College of Art. Featured RCA designers include Zoe Onatoye, whose work explores the relationship between nature and wellbeing by transforming construction waste into portable hanging gardens for site workers, and Olivia Webb, who challenges traditional material hierarchies by embedding discarded rose petals into modular tiles to create softer, more emotionally responsive architectural surfaces.

Green Grads, founded by Barbara Chandler, returns with a strong focus on environmental innovation, presenting solutions that address carbon reduction, circularity and material reuse. Highlights include Mobina Rajabimoghadam’s Bio Recursive, a compostable biomaterial made from waste eggshells, and Josh Myers’ Denimolite, a premium surface material created from post-consumer denim and manufacturing off-cuts that celebrates the visual character of textile waste.

New for 2026, the Emerging Talent category within the Surface Design Awards showcases experimental concepts with real-world potential. Notable projects include Poulami Saha’s research into fish scales as biodegradable biomaterials for interior panels and textiles, and David McGill’s Ruvi Acoustic Tile, which combines slip-cast ceramics with ancient Roman principles to enhance acoustic comfort in public spaces without synthetic foams.

A dynamic talks programme will run throughout the show, opening with a debate hosted by design author and journalist Katie Treggiden titled Waste: The Raw Material of the Future. Other key sessions include Hospitality by Design: Materials, Trends and Innovation, hosted by Design Insider editor Alys Bryan; Designing Emotion: Art, Materiality and Public Spaces with Zoe Allen and Giles Miller; and a discussion on designing for joy featuring interior designer Siobhan Murphy and Emily Wheeler of Furnishing Futures. The programme also includes Navigating Neurodiversity: Designing Spaces for Diverse Thinking, with panellists including Michelle Ogundehin head judge on Interior Design Masters and ex editor of Elle Decoration alongside experts from Buro Happold, HOK and Lloyd’s Banking Group.

With its ambitious vision and rich programme of exhibitions, installations and conversations, Surface Design Show 2026 cements its position as an essential date in the design calendar a celebration of creativity, material intelligence and the evolving future of surfaces.

For more information, visit www.surfacedesignshow.com

Registration is now officially open for Workspace Design Show London, returning to the Business Design Centre on 25–26 February 2026 with its most forward-thinking edition yet. The 2026 show will push even further under its new theme, Connected Realities, exploring how physical spaces and digital layers are increasingly merging to shape the workplaces of tomorrow.

Across two days, the event will transform the BDC into a dynamic landscape of ideas and innovation, featuring leading UK and international brands unveiling the latest in furniture, lighting, acoustics, flooring, sustainability, digital workplace tools and materials for next-generation environments. Visitors can expect a show floor rich with new launches from companies including König + Neurath, Sedus, Kvadrat, Pedrali, Interface, Forbo and more, alongside a wider range of workplace product innovators shaping the future of work.

Building on its reputation for curating one of the strongest speaker line-ups in the sector, this edition will bring together 140+ speakers and 40+ power-packed sessions, featuring leaders from AECOM, VirginMediaO2, Overbury, tp bennett, Sidley Austin, Octopus Energy, Hawkins\Brown, CBRE and many more voices shaping the way we design, work and live.

The content programme will once again span the full spectrum of workplace design and strategy, with sessions exploring design excellence, human behaviour, culture, technology, transformation, sustainability, creative leadership and the evolving role of the physical office. Visitors will experience discussions that cut across design, real estate and people experience reflecting how today’s workplaces sit at the intersection of spatial thinking, digital systems and organisational change.

Adding to the show’s creative impact, design partners Gensler, Peldon Rose, MCM Architecture, M Moser Associates and Area will bring the Connected Realities theme to life through a series of experiential installations and lounges across the venue. These spaces will reflect the frictionless blend between physical environments and digital augmentation, inviting visitors to explore new ways people engage with space, technology, materials and each other. The event will offer moments of immersion, interaction and inspiration woven throughout the entire visitor journey.

A major highlight of 2026 will be the launch of the new Workspace Design Awards, taking place on 25 February and celebrating exceptional workplace projects from around the world. The Awards Evening will be followed by the Networking Party, sponsored by Mute, bringing studios, occupiers, developers, product brands and thought leaders together for a night of connection and celebration right on the show floor.

Workspace Design Show continues to serve as the UK’s annual meeting point for workplace leaders across architecture, design, corporate real estate, HR, facilities management, development, construction and workplace experience. The 2026 edition will be a deeper, richer and more integrated perspective on how work environments are designed, built and experienced at a moment when organisations are rethinking the role of the workplace more profoundly than ever.

Visitor registration is now open, and design professionals can get their free pass at: workspaceshow.co.uk