The Future of Workplace Design: How AI and Storytelling Are Transforming Space

With 82% of business leaders stating they’ll deploy AI to supercharge their teams within the next 18 months, technology is shifting from back-end operations to the creative core of organizations. It's transforming how we design, test, and experience physical spaces.

In TwoFifty’s latest research on trends shaping the built environment, a new model of spatial design is emerging, one where AI-powered storytelling, digital twins, and brand-specific design language models enable companies to co-create environments with stakeholders in real time.

The result: workplaces and hospitality destinations that feel more human, more personalized, and more aligned with how people actually want to work, travel, and gather.

Why Space Is Being Rethought Right Now
Over the last decade, the bar for experience has risen across every sector: hospitality, workplace, retail, and sports. Guests, employees, and fans now expect curated, responsive, high-touch experiences wherever they go. What used to be considered “luxury” is now becoming baseline. At the same time, design teams are working in a moment where AI can generate entire spatial narratives, simulate building performance, and align stakeholders faster than ever.

As Gensler and Marriott leaders recently emphasized during Fortune Brainstorm Tech, this moment in time is about giving designers new instruments to orchestrate richer, more responsive environments.

The fundamental shift is this: design is moving from “draw → build → react” to “story → simulate → co-create.”

Instead of presenting finished plans and hoping for approval, teams now invite clients into immersive narratives that let them experience a space emotionally before a single beam is raised.

The New Toolkit: Storytelling, Simulation, and Systems that Learn

Let’s define the technologies shaping this transformation:

AI storytelling and generative design use artificial intelligence to generate not just static images, but entire narratives and cinematic walkthroughs of a space based on specific parameters and brand values.
Digital twins create a living virtual model of a physical building, not just a 3D blueprint, but a system connected to real-world data from sensors, allowing for real-time simulation and analysis of everything from energy consumption to foot traffic patterns.
Design language models are AI systems trained specifically on a company's unique brand ethos, aesthetic vocabulary, materials palette, and guidelines, ensuring all generated concepts remain brand-consistent while still pushing creative boundaries.

Together, these tools create a more agile and inclusive workflow, one that accelerates decisions, deepens emotional engagement, and paradoxically, makes design more human-centered.

From Blueprints to Storyboards: How AI Storytelling Accelerates Alignment

Traditional architecture starts with a sketch. Today's spatial design, especially for future workplaces and hospitality environments, increasingly starts with a story.

Firms like Gensler now deploy AI-driven cinematic walkthroughs that let clients feel their future space long before construction. Instead of static renders that only architects can interpret, design teams can showcase two distinct user journeys, say, a new hire navigating their first day and a long-term guest arriving for a meeting.

The AI constructs how they move through the space, what they encounter at each touchpoint, what brand moments resonate with them, and how the environment adapts to their needs.

The emotional impact is profound. Clients have literally become teary-eyed seeing their future headquarters come alive in these presentations, responding not to architectural specifications but to the story of how their people will experience the space. This is evidence that the presentation method has finally caught up with the human reality of what buildings are for.

For workplace and hospitality leaders reading this, the practical benefits are immediate.

Emotional buy-in happens earlier in the process, when changes are still inexpensive to make.
The feedback loop collapses from weeks to minutes rather than “we'll get back to you after we discuss internally,” teams can co-create in real time during the presentation itself.
Perhaps most importantly, it democratizes design language. Not every stakeholder speaks “architecture” fluently, but everyone understands a story.

A CFO who might struggle to parse a floor plan can immediately grasp whether a lobby sequence will make new hires feel welcomed or overwhelmed.

AI as the Co-Creator, Not the Designer:The Marriott Example

Marriott’s transformation illustrates this shift clearly. The company is retiring legacy systems, reservations, loyalty, and property management, and rebuilding on an AI-powered infrastructure that unites operations, guest experience, and design.

What does this integration actually mean in practice? Consider a scenario where operational data reveals that guests at Moxy hotels, Marriott's millennial-focused brand, frequently travel with bulky sports equipment, bikes, skis, and climbing gear. In the old model, this insight might eventually filter through to designers months later.

In the new model, a brand-specific design language model could immediately suggest lobby layouts with stylish, integrated gear storage, all rendered in Moxy's signature playful, industrial aesthetic. The AI doesn't make the final decision, but it accelerates the translation from behavioral insight to design response.

What's powerful here is the jump from “AI for operations” to “AI for brand-consistent design.” Marriott envisions design language models that are trained on the ethos, visual vocabulary, and service principles of each distinct brand in their portfolio.

If Moxy is Marriott’s millennial-minded rebel, playful, urban, built for travelers who treat the lobby like a living room, St. Regis sits at the opposite end of the brand spectrum. It’s the company’s heritage line, born from New York’s Gilded Age and synonymous with quiet luxury, ritual, and anticipatory service.

A St. Regis model would understand not only its visual identity, the marble, the brass, the dignified palette of cream and gold, but also its behavioral code: discreet staff movements, a preference for symmetry, the orchestration of moments like the daily champagne sabering or the butler’s invisible efficiency. When asked to generate new layouts or localized concepts, it would know instinctively that St. Regis refines trends instead of chasing them..

External partners like Gensler could plug into these brand systems and co-create faster, focusing on experience intent instead of compliance paperwork. For an industry often slowed by layers of approval and interpretation, this is radical acceleration, transforming sequential workflows into synchronous collaboration.

Digital Twins and the Workplace That Learns: Prototyping Tomorrow's Headquarters
A second major theme in the building world is the use of digital twins, virtual versions of buildings that let teams simulate experiences before construction. The use of digital twins is accelerating rapidly across industries, with firms reporting they can reduce operational costs by up to 20% through predictive maintenance and optimized energy use.

For future workplaces, think JP Morgan's major new offices (at 270 Park Avenue in New York City) or next-generation corporate headquarters; this capability unlocks entirely new design possibilities. Teams can test different space utilization models for hybrid work, running scenarios where 40% of staff are in the office on Mondays versus 80% on Wednesdays, and see how circulation patterns, acoustics, and amenity demand shift. They can simulate guest and employee arrival journeys from multiple entry points, identifying friction before it's baked into concrete. They can explore hospitality overlays in corporate settings, concierge services, meeting preparation support, personalized room configurations, and understand the spatial and operational implications before committing resources.

Perhaps most intriguing, digital twins allow spaces to be adapted for different events, tenants, or teams without physical rebuilding. A floor configured for focused individual work on Tuesday becomes a collaborative workshop space on Thursday, with the digital twin helping facility managers understand everything from furniture reconfiguration to HVAC adjustment to wayfinding updates.

For owners and developers, this is sophisticated risk reduction.
For employees, it's the promise of genuine personalization at scale.
For designers, it's proof of the ability to demonstrate not just how a space will look, but how it will perform under real conditions.

And for hospitality-adjacent workplaces, the kind TwoFifty tracks closely, it's part of a broader movement where workplaces are beginning to behave more like hotels, and hotels are evolving to function more like smart, adaptive workplaces. The boundaries are blurring in productive ways.

AI and Brand DNA: The ROI of Designing with Identity

One dimension often missing from the conversation is measurement. How do leaders quantify the ROI of AI-enabled design?

Early data from both architecture and operations teams point to tangible gains:

Shorter project cycles (weeks instead of months).
Fewer rounds of redesign due to better early alignment.
Lower energy and maintenance costs through predictive simulation.
Higher stakeholder satisfaction, a softer but critical metric.

For developers and operators, this is a business case for intelligence. The next competitive differentiator won’t be location or aesthetics alone, but how fast and flexibly a building can learn

Partnerships and Shared Intelligence: Building What No One Can Alone

As Gensler’s team noted, “AI is a journey no one can take alone.” True transformation depends on an ecosystem of partners, from data scientists to brand strategists, from prop-tech firms to interior designers.

At TwoFifty, we see this convergence daily. The most advanced organizations don’t treat AI as a tool in isolation but as a shared language between stakeholders. Architects, operators, and marketing teams collaborate in real time on the same generative platform, testing scenarios and refining emotional intent together.

This is what’s replacing the old hierarchy of “client → architect → contractor.” The future is co-authored.

Sustainability and the Built Future: Designing for Circular Intelligence

Another overlooked benefit: AI can help designers model sustainability scenarios long before breaking ground.

Digital twins allow teams to simulate energy use, daylight impact, and materials performance; generative models can propose low-carbon alternatives or optimize for adaptive reuse.

As the built environment accounts for nearly 40% of global emissions, these predictive capabilities are no longer optional; they’re central to responsible design.

AI becomes a creative accelerant and a climate ally.

The Pragmatic View: Challenges and Considerations on the Path to Adoption
While the AI vision articulated by many forward-thinking companies is compelling, we have to acknowledge that implementation requires navigating substantial real-world challenges. For workplace and hospitality leaders considering these technologies, it's crucial to approach with clear eyes.

The high initial costs and integration complexity are significant. Implementing sophisticated AI tools and creating comprehensive digital twins requires substantial upfront investment not just in technology, but in the consulting expertise to deploy them effectively.

Integration with legacy systems, which most large organizations still operate, can be byzantine. One hospitality leader we spoke with noted that their biggest challenge wasn't the AI itself, but connecting it to thirty-year-old property management systems that were never designed to share data.

Data privacy and security present equally serious considerations. Smart buildings equipped with sensors can collect granular data on user behavior where people gather, how long they linger, which amenities they use, and even biometric information in some cases. A robust strategy for data governance, privacy protection, and security is non-negotiable. This is especially acute in the European market, where GDPR requirements impose strict limitations on behavioral tracking, but it's increasingly relevant everywhere as privacy expectations evolve.

There's also a meaningful skill gap to address. The industry needs professionals who can bridge architecture, data science, and AI, a rare combination. This means significant investment in training existing teams or competing for scarce talent in an already tight market. Design firms and corporate real estate departments alike are grappling with how to build these capabilities.

Finally, there's the critical issue of avoiding algorithmic bias. Design language models are trained on existing data, which means they can inadvertently perpetuate past biases, whether that's aesthetic monoculture, accessibility oversights, or cultural assumptions embedded in historical projects. Ensuring these models are used to create more inclusive and accessible spaces, rather than simply automating old patterns, requires active intervention and diverse training data.

Addressing these challenges proactively with clear governance frameworks, adequate budgets, and commitment to ethical AI principles is the difference between a successful implementation and an expensive disappointment.

High-Tech → High-Touch: Why AI Is Making Humans More Important, Not Less
There are aspects of hospitality and workplace experience that must stay human, and in fact should become more human as AI handles routine tasks.

The goal of AI is to automate the transactional tasks letting teams focus on delivering memorable interactions. Consider a hotel butler, already renowned for anticipatory service, now equipped with comprehensive guest preference data seamlessly surfaced through AI. The butler isn't replaced; they're superpowered, able to deliver even more personalized, intuitive service. Hotel front desk associates can focus entirely on reading a guest's emotional state and responding with genuine hospitality because AI has already handled check-in logistics, room assignments, and preference matching. Workplace concierges can help employees navigate flexible, sensor-enabled smart buildings because they're freed from basic wayfinding questions and scheduling conflicts.

This is a vital nuance both for search visibility and for TwoFifty's core audience: ”high-tech“ is not the opposite of ”high-touch, “ it's the enabler. The organizations that will set the standard in the next decade are those that use AI to give time back to humans so they can deliver what only humans can: empathy, genuine hospitality, improvisation, and moments of surprise that create lasting emotional connection.

The future of employee experience depends on getting this balance right. Technology should fade into the background, creating seamless functionality, while human presence moves to the foreground where it matters most.

The Analog Check: The Future Is Digital-First, Not Digital-Only
Even with AI-generated spatial journeys and sophisticated digital twins, for the near future at least, you still need to build a physical mockup, if only to be able to address every generation sitting at the decision-making table.

Furthermore materiality is still fundamentally physical. The way light plays across a textured surface, the acoustic qualities of a space when sound bounces off specific materials, the subtle psychological impact of ceiling height and spatial proportion, these remain experiential in ways that even the most sophisticated simulation struggles to fully capture. A fabric sample rendered on screen can show color and pattern, but not the hand-feel, the drape, or the way it ages under use.

There's also the human factor of stakeholder confidence. Even when teams intellectually understand that a digital twin is highly accurate, there's often a psychological need for a tactile checkpoint, a moment to stand in something resembling the final space and confirm the vision. This isn't weakness or resistance to technology; it's wisdom about how humans process high-stakes decisions.

The insight here for workplace strategists is practical: AI can radically shorten the design loop and eliminate many intermediate steps, but you should preserve one or two high-value physical validations to keep the process human, trusted, and grounded. Think of it as strategic analog touchpoints in an otherwise digital workflow. The design thinking process has always included prototyping for good reason; it helps teams discover insights that don't emerge in other phases.

Where This Is Going: Bespoke Design Language Models as Living Brand Systems
The sharpest future-facing idea is a vision of design language models customized for individual brands' AI systems that don't just follow guidelines but embody a brand's design philosophy so deeply they can improvise within it.

Imagine a hotel brand that can tell its AI: “Dial this lobby 15% more toward 'family glam'” and the model immediately understands what that means, generating options that balance sophisticated aesthetics with child-friendly durability and playful touches. Or a workplace client that says, “Make this floorplate friendlier to neurodiverse teams,” and the AI draws on that company's specific design ethos to suggest lighting adjustments, acoustic treatments, and spatial configurations that reduce sensory overwhelm. Or a sports venue operator that adapts a digital twin by saying, “Today we're serving families, Sunday we're serving VIP fans,” and the system updates wayfinding, content displays, and service point configurations accordingly.

This represents a leap from AI as a tool to AI as a brand guardian, a system that maintains consistency while enabling rapid variation and personalization. For TwoFifty's audience, this is a core narrative worth tracking: experience design is becoming programmable in ways that preserve brand integrity while enabling unprecedented responsiveness.

The custom AI models for business are still in early stages, but the trajectory is clear. Organizations that begin building these capabilities now codifying their brand DNA, training models, and experimenting with generative approaches, will have significant advantages as the technology matures.

What It Means for Future-of-Work and Workplace Leaders: An Action Framework
To make this actionable in TwoFifty style, here's a framework for workplace and hospitality leaders: Shift from static renders to immersive narratives. Start design presentations with “a day in the life” journeys generated through AI tools. Show your board or executive team what it will feel like to work in the new space, not just what it will look like. The emotional engagement you create in those first five minutes will transform the entire approval process.

Codify your brand into a trainable model, not just a PDF guideline. Don't settle for traditional brand books that sit on shelves. Build prompt libraries, reference scene collections, and parameter sets that can feed into generative systems. This becomes your organization's design DNA, accessible and useful to both internal teams and external partners.

Prototype virtually for speed, validate physically for confidence. Use digital twins to rapidly iterate and eliminate poor options early when changes are cheap. But preserve one or two critical physical mockups at key decision points. The goal isn't to abandon analog validation; it's to use it strategically rather than at every step.

Design every AI feature around human labor uplift. For each AI capability you consider implementing, ask: “Does this free a human to do more human work?” If the answer is no, if it's simply automation for its own sake, reconsider. The organizations winning on experience are those using AI to elevate human roles, not eliminate them.

Plan for continuously rising baseline expectations. As Marriott's team noted, the bottom of the market is rising rapidly. Guests and workers expect more sophistication, more personalization, more seamlessness everywhere they go. What feels innovative today will be table stakes in thirty-six months. Build systems that can evolve, not fixed solutions.

Closing: The Accelerant Has Arrived
AI is not arriving in the built environment as a novelty or a distant future consideration, it's arriving as an accelerant that's already transforming how leading organizations design and operate space. It speeds up alignment, personalizes experience at scale, and gives designers time back to do what only humans can do: create environments that move people emotionally and support them functionally in ways they didn't know to ask for.

The teams that learn to pair cinematic AI storytelling with deep human hospitality principles, that build sophisticated digital twins while preserving strategic analog touchpoints, that train brand-specific design language models while maintaining human oversight, these are the teams that will set the standard for offices, hotels, venues, and mixed-use spaces built in the next decade.

The question isn't whether to engage with these technologies. The question is how thoughtfully and how soon.