ERA-co

The recent WORKTECH Academy report, ‘Taking Aim at the Office: Common Criticisms and How to Address Them,' explores six common criticisms of the office – uncoordinated, exclusionary, unhealthy, dysfunctional, uncomfortable, and unstimulating – and proposes solutions to each charge. It is only by addressing these criticisms head-on can we see the way to a better workplace. The good news is that there is now a richness of research models, design strategies and new technologies capable of turning the office from a place of difficulty to a dynamic destination for employees. ERA-co's 'flight to character' trend, coined by Amanda Stanaway, is featured prominently when addressing the ‘unstimulating’ criticism. If companies want to move the dial on creativity and innovation, offices need to shed their reputation for generic design and monotonous repetition. Most global cities are currently seeing organizations pursue a ‘flight to quality’ in office real estate. But what if the pursuit of technical excellence with high sustainability ratings is not enough by itself to bring people back to the office? We suggest that ‘a flight to character’ will provide more meaning, purpose and authenticity, especially when workspace is created in adaptively reused historic structures. The Younghusband Woolstore Redevelopment in Melbourne, Australia is a key case study that speaks to this trend. Set in Melbourne’s inner-west suburb of Kensington, this is a significant adaptive reuse project for a 123-year-old redbrick wool store and adjoining network of industrial early-20th-century buildings. Younghusband’s rich history can be traced back to 1901 when the first wool store building was commissioned. In recent years, the former store has been adapted for a range of uses. Currently, it is in the process of being transformed into an office and retail space that celebrates the building’s texture and patina. To retain character, various trades have relearnt lost techniques of traditional construction in order to reinstate the heritage details in their most authentic form, such as a herringbone timber floor structure. #WorkTech #ResilientCities #FutureOfCities #FutureofWork #TrendReport #WorkplaceStrategy

Did you know that there are around 257,772 examples of Grade B commercial stock in New York and Los Angeles alone? In partnership with global architecture firm Woods Bagot, ERA-co contributed the data to the recent insight piece, titled, 'ADAPT: Into the Deep.' The thinking looks at how the deep office floorplate can be adapted for future use - exploring how cutting into a building's ‘grid’ can extend the life (and use) of previously overlooked buildings. Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/etH-2rxP Thank you to Tess Dolan, Matt Stephenson, Ian Lomas, David Cheung, Agna Ostoya Brayshaw and Alice Y. for your contributions. #woodsbagot #insights #thoughtleadership #adaptivereuse #peoplearchitecture #resilientcities #losangeles #newyork #eraco #urbanplanning #adapt #deepoffice

Our user strategy and workplace design leader, Amanda Stanaway, speaks on workplace design in the era of hybrid and virtual workforces. In this engaging podcast with Institutional Real Estate, Inc., she discusses the essentials of good workplace design and what companies are getting it right. Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/g4kp_T-C #workplacedesign #workplacestrategy #userstrategy #workplacerevolution #flighttocharacter #IREIPodcasts #resilientcities #workplace #workplaceculture #workculture

We're #hiring a new Account Director in New York. Come work with us!

We're excited to hear one of our group strategy directors, Hugo Lamb, and one of our key clients, Elly Dalziel at Mirvac discuss a working case study on a 'day in the life with AI' - envisioning tomorrow's workplace experience with practical insights. Join us at Workplace Strategy Summit VIC by Forefront Workplace Community on May 30th. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eGfdE6-k #workplacerevolution #workplace #workplacestrategy #mirvac

Flight to character: a fightback begins against homogenous global offices. In the first of a series of articles on the 'flight to character', WORKTECH Academy and ERA-co look at the new movement that is underway, aiming to give offices more character and purpose through storytelling and adaptive reuse of historic structures. The ‘flight to character’ is about the need for spaces that are engaging and authentic instead of perfect and premium, addressing the ever-present need to sustainably revive existing building stock in the process. In the first article of the series, Amanda Stanaway, our user strategy leader, looks at the concept of the 'flight to character', and examines three character studies - M&C Saatchi Group in Sydney, Goodman Hayesbery in Sydney, and the Younghusband Woolstore redevelopment in Melbourne. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eDDrk-gp #FlightToCharacter #WorkRevolution #HybridWork #UserStrategy #WorkplaceStrategy #ResilientCities #UrbanPlanning #Saatchi #Sydney #Melbourne

We’re #hiring a new Senior Account Manager in London. Come work with us!

We’re #hiring a new Account Director in Melbourne, Australia. Come work with us!

At ERA-co, we're opening the dialogue for the big, elephant-in-the-room question: Will AI finally make the architect redundant in our pursuit of more resilient cities? Introducing our latest white paper, "The Future of Architecture", where we dig deeper into the question of “who” will lead the future of cities and city design. AI and machine learning has become as disruptive as the invention of the internet. With that, we give our perspective on the impact it will have on the future of one of the largest city-defining professions: architecture (and global placemaking). If AI can conjure a new neighborhood or a masterplan with a few simple prompts – or conceive a new building design in minutes – could it mean the architect as we know it is an endangered species? DOWNLOAD "THE FUTURE OF ARCHITECTURE" WHITE PAPER HERE: https://lnkd.in/eHjxhw8n To request a printed booklet or to discuss a potential place partnership, email hello@era-co.com. Special thanks to contributors Claire Johnston (Ridding), alex baum, elisa ours, Siqi Zhu, Andrew Witt and Shane Burger. #FutureOfArchitecture #WhitePaper #ResilientCities #AIinArchitecture #ArtificialIntelligence #Placemaking #Architect #AI #CityRevolution #CityDisruption #Cities #UrbanPlanning #UrbanLandscape #CityPlanning

As a follow-up to our perspective a few weeks ago on The New York Times article, “An Architect Who Builds Community Wins the Pritzker Prize”, we've been inspired yet again by the recent Bloomberg piece, "Dallas Is Looking for Design That Can Tackle Loneliness." One of our group strategy directors, Hugo Lamb, gives his perspective. How can it be possible that in a city, in a place of infinite possibility, where millions of interactions take place every second, we can be lonely? Cities by their very nature are the ultimate engineering of the social environment. They are monuments to our inherent drive to connect, to be together, to be everything but lonely.Yet loneliness is a growing problem in every city around the world. Recent research from the University of Sydney has placed some responsibility on the design of cities. But, in my view, it is the speed of cities that is the problem. Cities move at the speed of culture, the speed of industry, the speed of the modern world. They have been rapidly accelerating in the information age, and the moment we look up from our phones we feel left behind.The urban interventions that are profiled in this thought-provoking piece by Bloomber’s CityLab each have their merits, but perhaps don’t acknowledge the bigger issue: we aren’t placing the same value on the slow spaces within cities as we do the fast spaces. Slow spaces are where we learn to be social. They are intrinsic to our wellbeing, and the wellbeing of our community. To design them well, we need to think holistically and in detail. These are complex platforms for people, and they deserve our best architecture and imagination. Find the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gbihcNGu #LonelyCities #LonelinessEpidemic #Placemaking #SocialCities #ResilientCities #UrbanPlanning #UrbanStrategy #CityLab ⁠