A New Concept for the Future of Housing Comes to La Feria del Diseño 2026
From September 10 to 12, Medellín will host a new edition of La Feria del Diseño. As part of the event, Gómez Platero will present New Ways of Living, a new concept exploring the future of housing through the lens of well-being, human connection, and new relationships between domestic space, public space, and the city.
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La Feria del Diseño 2026: an ecosystem that sparks connections
Now in its thirteenth edition, La Feria del Diseño Medellín powered by idd cologne returns to Plaza Mayor, bringing together leading voices in architecture, design, and the creative industries and reaffirming its position as one of the sector’s key meeting points in Latin America.
Over the years, La Feria has built an ecosystem where professionals, brands, and industry leaders come together around the ideas and conversations shaping the future of the industry. Its strategic alliance with idd cologne and Koelnmesse’s international ecosystem marks a new chapter in its global reach while reinforcing the curatorial approach the event has developed from one edition to the next.
But its value goes far beyond exhibition. La Feria is an experience that connects and activates: it fosters meaningful encounters, encourages exchange among different players, and builds relationships that can lead to new collaborations, opportunities, and projects.
It is within this context that Gómez Platero will present New Ways of Living on September 11 at 11:00 a.m., during an exclusive brunch—an opportunity to share this new perspective and open up a conversation about the future of housing, well-being, and the role architecture and cities can play in creating opportunities for human connection.
New Ways of Living: what does the future of housing look like?
The experience of inhabiting a place does not end at the physical boundaries of a building. There is a continuous relationship between architecture, nature, public space, and the city. Every project is part of a larger context and has the potential to create value not only for those who inhabit it, but also for the shared environment around it.
This leads to a fundamental question: what will the experience of housing look like in the future?
Over the past few decades, the domestic realm has undergone a gradual process of compression and individualization. And this is not simply a matter of square footage. Today, sleeping, working, eating, resting, and socializing can all take place within the same space. Technology also allows an increasing share of our daily lives to unfold without ever having to step outside. As a result, the home risks shifting from a place of encounter to an increasingly individual retreat.
The paradox is that we can be constantly connected while our everyday experiences become increasingly solitary.
Against this backdrop, New Ways of Living proposes a shift in perspective: instead of asking only how much more a home can contain, what if we asked how far the experience of inhabiting it could extend?
Well-being also begins with connection
From its earliest origins, inhabiting has been a relational act. The first human communities gathered around fire—a source of warmth, food, and protection, but also a place for conversation, care, and connection. Living was not simply about occupying a private space; it meant being part of a network of relationships.
That relational dimension remains fundamental. We are social beings: we learn from and alongside others, build relationships and knowledge collectively, and develop a sense of belonging through community.
These connections also have a profound impact on our well-being and quality of life. New Ways of Living draws on findings from the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which underscore the importance of strong relationships with family, friends, and community in supporting happier, healthier lives.
Yet when our sense of well-being declines, we often tend to withdraw. Opportunities to go outside, move, talk, and connect with others become less frequent, and that reduced interaction can gradually reinforce isolation.
Thinking about the future of housing therefore raises another question: can architecture create conditions that naturally encourage movement, interaction, and connection?
Architecture cannot program human relationships. But it can create opportunities for them to happen.
Expanding the experience of inhabiting
Building on these questions, New Ways of Living explores the idea of a home that extends beyond the traditional boundaries of the private realm, establishing a new relationship with public space and the city.
The concept considers what happens when certain domestic functions are distributed across purpose-specific spaces located within close proximity, making the journeys between them part of everyday life. Stepping outside, walking, and moving through public space are no longer separate from the experience of home; instead, they become opportunities for movement, exchange, and connection.
This perspective also brings back an essential quality of urban life: the city’s ability to create what cannot be programmed.
A chance encounter, an unexpected conversation, recognizing someone along the way, discovering a new place, or simply sharing a space with people who are different from us. At a time when our experiences are becoming increasingly personalized and predictable, shared spaces introduce diversity, spontaneity, and contact with others.
Architecture cannot design these relationships or determine when they will happen. It can, however, multiply the opportunities for them to emerge.
Public space, then, is no longer understood simply as what begins where the home ends. It becomes part of a broader experience of inhabiting—one that can weave together the individual and the collective, the home and the city.
New Ways of Living invites us to look at something as familiar as housing from a different perspective and ask whether its future should be measured solely in square footage, or also by the experiences, relationships, and opportunities for well-being it can enable.
