BYOS Life / 02
November 5, 2026 · Vancouver
AI + The Physical Workplace
An evening of ideas, conversation and connection with Vancouver's design community.
01 / Coming together
A reason to gather.
On November 5, 2026, approximately 30 leading Vancouver interior designers gathered at the Blackburn Young showroom for an evening hosted by Blackburn Young and MillerKnoll, with Katie Cavallo leading a conversation about AI and the future of the physical workplace.
Drawing on her workplace strategy experience and MillerKnoll’s research, Katie guided both the presentation and the discussion that followed. The gathering gave colleagues room to reconnect and exchange perspectives beyond the pace of a typical workday.
02 / The question
When work changes, what should the workplace make possible?
As AI takes on more routine and information-intensive tasks, the value of human judgment, creativity and problem-solving comes into sharper focus. For workplace design, that shifts attention from individual productivity alone to how effectively people work together.
Learning is part of that work. Mentorship, informal exchanges and the chance to observe colleagues can help people develop skills and adapt as roles change. The workplace can make those encounters easier to have.
Connection still needs a counterbalance. People need places to collaborate and make decisions together, as well as settings for concentration and reflection. Designing for both is a practical question for architects and interior designers.
Interested in exploring the research further?
Read Ryan Anderson’s full article, AI Is Making the Physical Workplace More Important, Not Less, for a deeper look at the ideas informing the evening.
Read the full article on Forbes03 / Around the table
From research to conversation.
Katie, who leads a multidisciplinary workplace strategy team at MillerKnoll, spent roughly 40 minutes exploring the company’s research into AI and the places where people work. She then moderated an open roundtable with the designers in the room.
The discussion touched on challenges designers are encountering with clients and on how their own firms are navigating AI’s growing influence. Katie’s workplace strategy experience helped bring context to the exchange while leaving room for different perspectives.
Scenes from the evening
A look inside the conversation.
Highlights from the gathering offer a glimpse of the people, the showroom and the exchange around the table.
04 / Continuing the conversation
Good questions travel beyond the room.
Workplace needs will keep changing, and no single evening can settle what comes next. Blackburn Young values bringing Vancouver’s design community together to share experience, question assumptions and keep thinking about the places people need to do their best work.