Material innovation and ecology to be key themes for upcoming IDS Vancouver

Interior Design Show (IDS) Vancouver has unveiled the themes, programming, and keynote speakers for its 2026 edition, highlighting British Columbia’s design intelligence, material innovation, ecological thinking, and globally relevant creative output.

Returning to the Vancouver Convention Centre from September 24 to 27, 2026, IDS Vancouver will explore the evolving role of design through immersive installations, spatial experiments, keynote conversations, and material-driven environments focused on contemporary living and working environments.

At the heart of the show, Vancouver-based Synthesis Design Architecture will present the 2026 Central Bar, an installation rooted in British Columbia’s forestry legacy and its ongoing culture of material innovation. Constructed entirely from BC wood, the installation takes the form of a sequence of 12-foot interlocking arches, evoking the vertical rhythm of the province’s forests while reflecting the precision and adaptability of its timber industry. The structure reads as both engineered and natural, where repetition and variation work together to define an open, navigable space at the centre of the show.

The installation functions as a spatial anchor for IDS Vancouver 2026, highlighting the evolving role of wood as a versatile material in contemporary design, while underscoring the ingenuity driving construction and fabrication across Western Canada’s design and manufacturing landscape. This project is developed in partnership with naturallywood and Western Forest Projects.

For 2026, Stark Architecture’s entrance installation, Reflection, establishes the first spatial experience of the fair and sets the tone for the exhibitions beyond. The work explores perception and surface through light, material, and proportion, offering a controlled yet open environment at the point of arrival.

“Reflection refuses a single definition. Is it the light returning, the moment of stillness before a thought takes shape, or what a surface quietly reveals about the one standing before it? This installation lives in all three at once – and asks you to find where they meet.”

Rather than functioning as a backdrop, the installation operates as a point of orientation within the show floor, shaping how visitors enter, pause, and move into the broader experience of IDS Vancouver 2026.

A new feature installation by British Columbia-based landscape architect Andrew van Egmond explores the relationship between design and nature. Recognized for his thoughtful approach to ecological and site-responsive design, van Egmond’s work examines how landscapes can feel both deeply intentional and naturally occurring.

Drawing inspiration from the intricate relationships found within natural plant communities, van Egmond and collaborators Broadwell Metal and Solstice Landscape will compose a landscape where texture, movement, and seasonality unfold in conversation with one another. Embracing nature’s spontaneity rather than imposing rigid order, the installation celebrates plants in a more authentic, evolving state—one that supports biodiversity, climate resilience, and healthier living environments. Layers of planting mingle and weave together, creating moments of discovery that reveal themselves gradually as visitors move through the space.

Following its debut, How We Work is returning in 2026 as one of IDS’s featured experiences. Exploring the intersection of design, culture, and human behaviour, the exhibition invites visitors to step inside a series of immersive installations that reimagine the spaces where work happens, and how those spaces shape how we connect, create, focus, and thrive.

Moving beyond conventional workplace design, participating teams have been challenged to develop new environments that respond to shifting expectations around flexibility, community, technology, and well-being. From the office to the home, hospitality settings to entirely new models of work, each installation offers a distinct perspective on what the future of work could look and feel like.

Participating studios this year include Kasian and 126 Design Studio in partnership with Loop Phone Booths.

Together, these installations transform the exhibition floor into a platform for exploring emerging workplace concepts.

IDS Vancouver’s 2026 keynote program will bring together influential voices from architecture, hospitality, design, business, and culture for a series of conversations exploring innovation, leadership, and the future of the built environment.

For more information or to view the full schedule, click here.