Capital Design: Asset Classes as Design Objects

Institutional investors rely on inherited asset class taxonomies that simplify decision-making but constrain holistic portfolio thinking. This article introduces Capital Design , a researcher-practitioner framework that treats asset classes as designable constructs and integrates eight design capabilities: abstraction, foresight, sensemaking, reframing, synthesis, abduction, mediation, and connecting. Drawing on participatory action research, research through design, and critical literature review, the study shows how embedding design interventions within pension funds and sovereign investors enables new forms of strategic choice-making under uncertainty. Through fieldwork, interviews, and studio experiments, the article demonstrates how these capabilities expand the investment choice set, leading to new asset archetypes, governance models, and portfolio configurations. By reframing asset classes as world-making devices rather than neutral categories, Capital Design offers a method for fiduciaries to align portfolios with systemic transitions such as decarbonization, digital sovereignty, and resilience while maintaining institutional rigor. The article positions design as an epistemic infrastructure for navigating uncertainty and shaping the futures capital enables.