The Young Talent of America is asking for a new and different kind of Urban Environment which in turn has very direct and significant consequences for Suburban Redevelopments. They are a generation that understand, and are driven by a belief, that the quality of their lives is directly influenced and interrelated with the quality of their relationships and the SURROUNDINGS that foster/enable these.
Thus, we are seeing that the biggest problem for companies (and subsequently Economic Development of a Town), particularly in the high tech industry is the difficulty in attracting young talent -
Who have pretty much rejected traditional notions of architecture, or more correctly, “the traditional workplace environment”.
Who are leaning to/going back to spaces that are unpredictable & spontaneous. Ones that surprise and delight.
Who demand “COOL” and collaborative environments. This ideal environment would be a place where they can meet people – to SEE and be SEEN.
Who are also dictating, somewhat, the trends of the marketplace…where companies are opting to paying more dollar per square foot for Class B office spaces [where the young talent want to be] than for cheaper (and brand new) Class A equivalent.
So, we’re not looking at a pure real estate deal any more when we talk about the future of office buildings/spaces. There is definitely emerging a wide spectrum – on one end, there are the suburban towns that need to come up with inventive ways of attracting the kind of young talent that would ensure that they are part of the Innovation story for some time to come. On the other end, some urban town centers have figured out what such environments being sought after by these wanted talents should look and feel like, and have attracted the startup companies in numbers that have now surpassed the existing capacity. “Where and how to grow?” - is the problem of this latter group.
Another way to look at this is that, over the last few decades the design and planning profession have created what we’ve felt was the ideal model for suburban life. The shift in desire and request by this new generation of work force means that we now have to fix “The Suburban Story” and should see this as an opportunity to invent – or re-invent a solution.
THE SOLUTION:
In a single phrase, “Pure Funk”!
We have invented The Village Plan for young talent/startups which at the same time accommodates up to 4-5million square feet of office space. It is a design for cool environments of intimate nature, with the key being, the creation of intersections where eye contact is the beginning of a conversation, and a conversation as the beginning of a collaboration. Another characteristic of The Village Plan is that it takes into consideration, the very personal and very convenient ways of moving around – inherently informal in nature. The most representative of such an Environment is the temporary & flexible nature of the scene or scenes. Spaces, their uses, and the urban furniture, are always CHANGING – nothing is designed to last. The symbol of the garage is a powerful tool in this plan – the future garages of innovation or “Innovation Garages”. And while this is all detailed in a physical master plan, there needs to also be an accompanying digital master plan component – a way of getting to information, including intelligent way finding and uncomplicated user interface (UI) experiences.
Any and all uses are recommended, while the streets and blocks are organized such that there is a concerted effort to get people to go through the village to interact with transit. It is a plan that mixes pedestrians with vehicles and achieves this via a sensitivity to materiality and context…all of which help to distinguish the intimate feel of The Village.
Small is the emphasis - small streets as well as a design for nighttime. Nighttime consideration is very important for the high-tech world as the young talent have non-traditional hours. In addition, a repurposing of alleys [and that these alleys could be part of an intelligent retail merchandizing plan that could also offer significant financial value] is evident in The Village Plan.
As these startups grow and attract money, the need for expansion may dictate that they move into spaces of a larger footprint. The Village Plan also takes advantage and allows for sites that are big enough to house significant building footprints for such needs in addition to more infrastructure capacity and security. This is where “The Boulevard” comes into play – and allows for a series of multi-tenant buildings along a redefined street. Essential to the success of such a plan, is that the buildings should be multi-levels to achieve a compact development which thus promotes walking. Adequate accommodations are also made for structured parking in the plan – including those for shared parking. Flexibility, a continuing trend, is also built into “The Boulevard Plan”, such that heights and placement of buildings could be adjusted as necessary – there are no strict rules! The next step in the progression, and as the organization(s) goes public and becomes a major corporation, they then get to locate in “The Research Park”.
Having at least 8-10 different environments (PLACES) in such a plan ensures that people stay longer, come back more often, while offering a variety of different real estate values and price points (which in turn ensure a variety of tenants and users). But each environment, is carefully considered and orchestrated and is a unique one-of-a-kind place.
The Plan emphasizes nature & the outdoors, calls for significant tree planting and smart & efficient ways of dealing with storm water management, collection, and retention. All which help to emphasize sustainability sensibilities and consciousness. In an almost poetic way, the village emerges from a larger park system.
SUMMARY/ KEY PRINCIPLES:
The plan, above all else, needs to leverage and enhance what exists on the site in question.
All property owners/stakeholders share and benefit from the value creation.
Significant Placemaking centered around a major (and redefined) Boulevard and major Parkway System.
Creation of a number of different (and significant range) of office choices.
The landscape is really what dominates the view so the entire plan is still within a larger park setting.
Biking & Safe and accessible bicycle routes are fundamental to the success of this plan.
Advantage has been taken of the highway interchanges, to become places to broadcast and announce “Marquee” buildings.
Phase 1 is critical and needs to encompass the entire vision even in the early stages.
The Suburban Repositioning therefore seems to be that there is a definite need for any and all uses to achieve a successful development. There will still be need for the car but close proximity to reliable transit is crucial because the latter allows for more density. The Boulevard concept also helps to organize this desired, if not crucial, density. There’s a critical mass of retail that is also needed for a repositioning success story.
Funk – in American jazz parlance – can mean earthiness and a return to fundamentals. Funk music is also the amalgamation of different genres of music* and that is what we have done here – we have amalgamated several different ideas and lessons learned from our experience with creating unique places. As well as a return to the fundamentals of putting people first.
Ayo Yusuf | Urban Designer
*for the detail oriented, the genres amalgamated into funk are Soul music, Soul jazz, R&B, and Afro-Cuban.