Photo by Nick Simonite

Even though she’s known as an architect and an interior designer, Meena Krenek is, at her core, a storyteller. As global sector director of interiors at HKS and a Certified Design Futurist, she creates immersive environments shaped by narrative—spaces that influence behavior, performance, and how people feel. Her work doesn’t sit passively in the background. Instead, it engages, shaping experience in ways that leave a lasting imprint.

Not one to follow trends, Meena believes the most powerful spaces have a point of view. “They’re specific, personal, and rooted in identity, not algorithms,” she says. “Design shouldn’t chase relevance. It should declare it.”

Across sectors—from sports and hospitality to healthcare and workplace—her work is grounded in a concept she calls Return on Emotion. “When you invest in how a space makes people feel, you’re investing in measurable return,” she says. “That’s where real value lives.”

Here, Meena unpacks her design philosophy and makes the case for the power of thinking big.

If you could give your younger designer-self advice, what would it be?

Stop waiting for permission to think bigger. You’re not just designing interiors; you’re shaping human behavior, culture, and memory. Claim your voice. Connect data to intuition. Remember, emotion is not the soft side of design—it’s the strategy.

What do you wish clients understood better about design?

That design is not a finish-line decision. It’s a business strategy. The environments we create shape behavior, loyalty, performance, and memory.

What’s a furnishing or product you could not live without?

My Moroso chair. It feels like a continuous gesture in space, one intentional line shaping form, comfort, and emotion.… It begins with a single mark; every curve, seam, and proportion is composed, never accidental.

What’s your design philosophy?

It's is rooted in emotion as strategy. I design interiors as living, sensory ecosystems, spaces that regulate, energize, and connect us through light, material, sound, and movement. 

Great design isn’t just seen; it’s sensed, remembered, and felt long after you leave.

What global city showcases the best architecture and design?

Saint-Paul-de-Vence in Southern France. It’s a fortress at a profoundly human scale…. What moves me most is the choreography of light and shadow. The sun doesn’t illuminate the architecture; it sculpts it.