« October 7, 2007 - October 13, 2007 | Main | October 21, 2007 - October 27, 2007 »

October 19, 2007

Delaware seeks some creative identity

The name 'Delaware' doesn't exactly roll off the tongue when naming places to be, so the folks in Wilmington had their work cut out for them. The transition of a neglected area into what is now being billed as the LOMA Design District is a good example of economic revitalization and destination building, but not a great model if you're sensitive to gentrification or a typical creative because most of you probably won't be able to afford living or leasing there. Think 'Meatpacking District' in Manhattan - beautiful, active nightlife, upscale.

The transformation of the LOMA district has the efficiency of a corporation, and that reflects the top-down lead taken by city government and business leaders. They brought in the ideal developers, such as Preservation Initatives and Struever Brothers Eccles & Rouse. They're investing in an entire streetscape renovation**. They built office space for over 500 workers. They're avoiding national chains (major kudos on that). They have a professional marketing program, coming up with the LOMA name and website.

However, what's missing is a little bit of soul and authenticity. The 'creatives' they're seeking are high end furniture sellers, architects (who seek out upscale venues), and marketing/design firms (ditto). As one retailer put it, "We're trying to hold the bar up really high, and set the standard for other businesses coming in." The new office space is all luxury/Class A. At least this may provide some momentum for the 'rest of the creative class', the majority, to crowdsource their own more relatable destinations somewhere nearby.

**The city seems to be stuck behind the trends. First, they implemented a pedestrian mall in the 1970s just as downtowns were draining of people, ensuring its demise. Now, just as pedestrians-only streets are starting to make a comeback amid an urban and green consciousness, they spent millions to tear it up to bring in auto traffic, a major missed opportunity at establishing an iconic regional destination. This likely wouldn't have happened with a beta community involved.

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October 18, 2007

A design guru speaks on architec-ture

Continuing a look at world-changing design from the annual Fast Company series, 2007 Masters of Design, we introduce to you Philippe Starke from France, one of the elite who brings extraordinary design to the masses via Target.

He is currently garnering an international reputation for the emotional connections people have to the apartments and workplaces his company develops, many of which are historic renovations. No, they are not affordable by any means, but their fresh person-centric, design-focused development approach is (it should be no coincidence the name of the company is Yoo). Here are some quotes and principles from Starck, which may sometimes sound un-architect, un-developer like, and that's the point:

"Yoo helps people discover themselves. I don't design apartments; I help people to design them. The style of tomorrow will be the freedom and recognition of difference. We must replace the name 'beautiful' by the name 'good'. Beautiful means nothing. The most 'beautiful' building is any room where you are with the person you love. That's all."

"By now, we know very well the members of our tribe - they are smart, modern, rebels, aware. So in our buildings, everybody is potentially a friend, partner, lover. I work a lot on the energy of the place. In Montreal, I put a gym in the lobby so each day, when you leave for work, you make a race on the stationary bikes with your neighbor. Or there's a huuuge table, on which everybody can make a big banquet."

"Usually the developer is just a greedy guy trying to make maximum money. And the architect is the guy who think his job is just to put people out of the cold and rain into steel, glass, and stone. Today, all buildings are narcissistic masturbation to the glory of the guys who design them. This was a little fun 25 years ago when architecture was sleeping. Now it's time to come back to quality. I want somebody walking by on the street to say, 'Look, darling. It can be good to live here. I think we could be at peace.' The building should just have a technical elegance."

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October 17, 2007

The power of 'design'- 2007

How does the customer fit in with design these days? From the annual Fast Company article, 2007 Masters of Design, here are some notables from their featured designer, Yves Behar, followed by how it could apply to design in your neighborhood.

- Companies that focused on customer-experience design outperformed the standard (S&P 500) by 10 to 1 from 2000 to 2005. Yves, founder of Fuseproject and arguably the 'LeBron James of design' states, The simplest definition of design is how you treat your customer." Maybe cities would outperform others by the same margin if they did the same.

- Yves and Fuseproject designed the XO-1 (pictured), aka the $100 laptop, a genius of design and execution. For school kids in Nigeria, the colors reflect the country's flag, with built-in bumpers for toughness, an extra-wide trackpad for drawing and a handle. Yet kids wouldn't trade it for a $1000 laptop, they don't even want to send it in for repairs for fear of never seeing it again. So... let's see if we can inspire the same passion for an attainable alternative to the luxury loft.

- Of the 368 board members of the 30 Dow Jones Industrials, only one has a design background, Steve Jobs. Think it shows? Who's on your city council? The partners of the leading developers in your city?

Here are his seven axioms of design (think of Apple as the benchmark):

1. "Design is how you treat your customers."
2. "Design must be integrated throughout the organization."
3. "Design is not a short-term fix."
4. "You must be willing to fail at the design level."
5. "Design must be driven from the top."
6. "With design, the solution to a problem will be different every time."
7. "Never ask the consumer about the future. You can ask them what their aspirations are, but you will not get an answer about what you should do. Design will bring those stories to life."

Crowdsourcing is about bringing those individual stories to life at once, and without the seven axioms there's a good chance people won't be engaged with the result.

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October 16, 2007

The keys to successful coworking spaces

A quick refresher on what coworking is: "the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values and who are are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space."

As this article on the Coworking Blog reveals, profitability is a common coworking space challenge. The primary reason? Coworkers still find it more individually profitable to do business at the coffeehouse - it's free with no commitments.

So are coworking spaces doomed? Hardly, but ill-designed ones are. Here are some tips to establish a space that's consistently full of tenants, workers, buzz... and profitable.

1. Make it affordable, affordable, affordable
a. Get an enviable lease on the raw space. It's impossible to be successful if you overpay.
b. Make sure some of the individual spaces offered are small, no larger than 25 s.f. Think of it this way - people's entire workspace in the coffeehouse is often just their lap - they don't need 100 s.f.

2. Catalyze profitable business relationships and opportunities for members
a. On the opposite end of keeping costs low, is helping businesses make more money. That means identifying and building relationships with larger companies that need the kinds of services and products the member businesses provide.
b. Establish a business social network to enable the above on a 24/7 basis. It's surprising how much this is underdeveloped given the tech-base of the coworking businesses - maybe it's a perfectionist thing. Just use a simple, effective tool like CollectiveX.

Of course, this assumes all the fundamental features that a coworking site needs: High-speed wi-fi; 24-hour access; conference room; location in a desirable neighborhood; network printer/copier/fax; access to fresh food/drink; a focus on creative, entrepreneurial members...

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October 15, 2007

Design your own office space

From an interview with Architect Magazine, I stated how the next generation of architects will work with the creative vision of progressive future tenants rather than the opinion of one developer, with a lot less ego to go around. At the Balcom Agency in Fort Worth, Texas, you can get a hint of things to come in interior design.

From a Design Sponge article, rather than spend the entire interior design budget on one firm, the company distributed $300 to each employee to design their own office space. Of course, you can imagine interior designers, architects would think it a travesty to give their budget away to 'amateurs', but the results and comments speak for themselves:

"That’s such a great way to encourage employees to enjoy their workspace (and their jobs) even more. A+ to the boss of that company!"

"That is one of the best ideas. I’ve worked in a creative field for 18+ years and have been through those moments when the team frustratingly asks “how can we make our environment more inspiring?” — no one ever thought of offering a budget to personalize individual spaces. love it!!"

"What a great boss-how fun!"

"I hope more companies start following this model."

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