What can multifamily developers learn from model home design? In a new feature for Colorado Real Estate Journal, Christie zumBrunnen explores how behavioral design, wellness-driven environments, and residential trends are shaping the future of multifamily living.
Fresh off being named an Industry Icon honoree at Bisnow’s 2026 Women Leading Real Estate Awards, TRIO Chief Design Officer Christie zumBrunnen continues to shape conversations around the future of residential and multifamily design through a human-centered, behavior-driven lens.
After completing more than 181 model home units across the country in the past two years, TRIO’s residential design team has gained a unique perspective on how people emotionally respond to space.
Model homes are more than showcases. They are real-time behavioral studies, revealing which environments make people linger longer, feel more comfortable, and ultimately envision themselves living there. Those same behavioral patterns increasingly shape leasing decisions in multifamily communities.
In a new feature for Colorado Real Estate Journal, Christie explores how residential design trends are influencing multifamily environments — and why developers who prioritize emotional experience, wellness, and intentional space planning are gaining a competitive advantage.
Residential Design Trends Shaping Multifamily
Natural Materials and Biophilic Design
The era of overly minimal, monochromatic interiors is fading. Residents and buyers are gravitating toward spaces that feel warm, layered, and organic.
At communities like Barefoot Lakes and in TRIO’s work with Meritage Homes, natural materials, visible wood grain, tonal variation, and tactile finishes are creating environments that feel grounded and restorative. In multifamily, those same design decisions can directly impact leasing performance by creating stronger emotional connections during tours.
Purpose-Driven Shared Spaces
Today’s residents expect spaces to support multiple modes of living — work, retreat, wellness, and social connection — often simultaneously.
Rather than relying on oversized multipurpose amenity rooms, developers are increasingly using furniture, lighting, materiality, and layout to create intuitive zones with distinct functions. Spaces that clearly communicate their purpose tend to see higher utilization, longer resident engagement, and improved long-term performance.
Wellness as an Embedded System
Wellness is evolving beyond surface-level material selections. Circadian lighting, improved acoustics, advanced air purification, and water filtration systems are becoming baseline expectations across residential environments.
As Christie notes in the full article, multifamily developers have a unique opportunity to integrate wellness infrastructure early — particularly in mid-market and workforce housing — before these systems become standard across the industry.
Designing for Behavioral Response
At the center of the conversation is a larger shift happening across residential design: successful environments are no longer measured by aesthetics alone. They are measured by how people feel, behave, and engage within them over time.
For multifamily developers and operators, that distinction matters. Spaces designed around human behavior do more than photograph well, they lease faster, perform longer, and create lasting resident connection.
Read the full feature by Christie on the front page of Multifamily Properties Quarterly from the Colorado Real Estate Journal on CREJ.com.
