Steve Lastro - Profile

A short overview of 6Sides Director's background and vision.

Technology has an extraordinary capacity to connect us to one another and to enhance our daily lives. But it is equally capable of creating distance between people, and from the natural world. As an avowed futurist, designer and corporate advisor Steve Lastro harnesses new technologies to not just reconnect us but also improve our relationships to the spaces we inhabit.

With 20 years’ experience designing and implementing technology in the commercial, residential, corporate, and hospitality sectors around the world for clients including Spring Studios, MINI Living, Cartier, Fotografiska, and D&D London, Steve’s company 6Sides is focused on creating experiences and environments using technology that integrates AV, Internet of Things (IoT) and wellness research to create healthier, more vibrant and equitable places to live and work.

Over the course of his career Steve became increasingly attuned to missed opportunity to seamlessly merge technology with design. Witness to the rush towards Smart Cities, where every new technology is aimed at urban efficiency, he noticed there is inadequate attention paid to the quality of space and the wellness of its inhabitants. Vast amounts of money are being invested in how something might function rather than how something might feel. Sure, we can create autonomous flying cars but if people can’t breathe the air, or live as a connected community to tackle loneliness, what improvement have we really made?

Steve recently worked on designing the technology experience for Fernando Mastrangelo’s Tiny House, a to-scale model of a home built completely out of upcycled glass and installed in the center of Times Square during NYCxDesign. The result was a sliver of peace in the heart of Manhattan’s mayhem, devised through the subtle use of air purification and lighting that aligns with our circadian rhythms.

Steve sees it as “bridging the gap between design, sustainability and wellness by merging them through innovative technology. The serene energy that Tiny House creates is a testament to the power of wellness technology.”

His current work has expanded 6Sides to include Owner’s Representation, acting as an extension of the client’s team, by merging technology and design with project management into a single practice which will streamline construction and result in more cohesive spaces. “It’s more about a collaboration and how we see the future of connected living and communities”.

And he is leading the MINI Living team in creating a tech-forward living experience for their newest co-living building in New York City, with the objective of creating a connected community in cities that can otherwise be isolating.

Steve Lastro is committed to implementing emergent technologies with social impact on wellness and sustainability in residencies. Finding ways to make access to these technologies fair, accessible, and inclusive is critical to his mission. Through collaborating with designers, architects, entrepreneurs, engineers, developers, he is developing innovative ways to improve people’s lives.

Watch this space!

Article written by Lily Saporta-Tagiuri and Stephen Todd - February 2020