After the crunch

All NEW Formula for architects and the economy

After the Crunch

The New Architect Design has too often been deployed at the low value end of the product spectrum, putting the lipstick on the pig.

In doing this, design has failed to make the case for its core value, which is addressing genuinely meaningful, genuinely knotty problems by convincingly articulating and delivering alternative ways of being. Rethinking the pig altogether, rather than worrying about the shade of lipstick it's wearing.

Thus, design must make clear that its remit is expanded from simply problem-solving to context-setting. The limited impact of focusing solely on the "lipstick on the pig end" of the "value chain" - the product, the service, the artifact - must be expanded on by addressing all aspects of this chain, and perhaps most importantly the strategic context of the chain itself.

In other words, the question.

Designer’s share Professional gap

The real problem

Strategic design attempts to draw a wider net around an area of activity or a problem, encompassing the questions and the solutions and all points in between; design involves moving freely within the space, testing its boundaries in order to deliver definition of, and insight into, the question as much as the solution, the context as much as the artifact, service or product.

Call the context "the meta" and call the artifact "the matter".

Strategic design work swings from the meta to the matter and back again, oscillating between these two states in order to recalibrate each in response to the other.

For this to happen we need to explore new tools in analyzing and influencing the context.

The New Architect is a consultant and an analyst as well as an expert in the traditional sense of design.

The New Business Model In an era of economic uncertainty and high unemployment, our public discourse finds us searching for new and old paradigms to embody. How are we to build a sustainable economy from the current state of affairs?

When faced witha crisis, people do one of two things.

Either they ignore it and carry on, in the hope that repeating what they did before will work better, or they innovate their way out of trouble and make a new future. Every crisis, Sigmund Freud said, ‘is potentially a stimulant to the positive side of the personality and an opportunity to start afresh.’

In the current recession there are plenty of voices calling for a return to order by standing still or going backwards.

But now we know that something fundamental is happening.

The super bubble of credit expansion, home ownership and rising commodity prices has well and truly burst and global capitalism, at least the casino variety, will never be the same again.

We got into this mess by believing in the rhetoric and subscribing to the values of big business, but we will not get out of it by listening to the same voices. So where can we look instead? As Lord Puttnam says “when you look in the toolbox, creativity is the only tool we have left”.

Economies thrive and rebuild themselves because they are made up of educated, industrious, innovative and creative people. It is my belief that at least some of the answers will come from the creative industries, a part of the economy where we find not just experimentation and adaptability, but a different set of values, producing ways of working that create a better alignment between human aspiration and organisational practice.

There is evidence that the creative sector could point the way towards a new type of economy. A defining element of the sector is its many microbusinesses that operate with models of association, ways of learning and models of growth that challenge some of the old paradigms about what success looks like. In the creative industries, social entrepreneurship is often mixed together with the profit motive, and creative fulfilment is valued as much as monetary reward. These enterprises are developing different business models that create niche markets, diversity and difference. Many endeavours combine a quest for self-fulfilment with global concerns such as justice and environmental sustainability. The creative industries put together elements that were once thought to be oppositional – such as the real and the virtual; work and play; the individual and community – and mould them into new and profitable forms.

Casino Variety Capitalism

Bucharest - Two Means of Doing Business

- large insecure investments - rigid organizational structure (doesn’t cope with change) - seeks fast revenue ignoring long-term sustainable development.

The Vision

The Reality

Organic Small Scale Investment - apparently chaotic - hard to map with conventional methods - highly adaptive to market changes

Map key: large scale developments

The Future

organic small scale investments can’t be mapped, they are everywhere

Why not put the two

Traian Neborhood - Proposed Study Area for Implementation

BU CIT CHA Y C RES ENT T ER

After 1989 Bucharest city development has undertook many changes ranging from the 90s urban sprawl to the development of new office and shopping areas at he periphery. Non of them tackled the area surrounding the city center.

This somewhat curios decision has led to an interesting contemporary situation. Many of the buildings are empty or in state of disrepair, the standard of living is in many areas considered to be lower then average and some of the abandoned houses have been illigally put into use by homeless people.

A sustainable urban renewal is highly needed!

This situation sounds dramatic but analyzing it throw the right lens you may suddenly understand it’s potential. Because of the low quality services the rental prices are extremely low compared to the ones in modern office buildings so many of the small creative entrepreneurs have moved into the area creating a large scale incubator for the economic future of the city in a time when large companies and the service sector can’t cope with change.

Every crisis, Sigmund Freud said, ‘is potentially a stimulant to the positive side of the personality and an opportunity to start afresh.’

This is thus the perfect timing to negotiate the relationship between the developers and the city and in this context the roll of the architect as a strategic designer which facilitates the bound between the community and the sources of investment.

proposed site destructured areas protected heritage sites alternative offices

together?

main roads

- only 87% of housing stock in the area is used - low rental prices for old the existing abandoned buildings: 5 euro/m2 - low quality public space in the destructured areas - closeness to the city center and main city road network

Creative Industry Incubators - business case ceativity at its best

low-cost, risk free investment

reuse of the existing

dynamic stakeholder involvment

Making the Business Case for Creative Industries Local Context

Understanding the value chain Bringing together production, distribution, marketing and commerce increases the survival rate of incubated firms

creative industries in the study area creative industries in the rest of Bucharest

A space where everyone meets

small adaptive businesses highly creative community oriented products & services no entrepreneurial training = low survival rate insufficient start-up funding

Marketing Distribution

Profit

Consumption of goods

Production Creation (core)

The Strategic Creative Industries Designer - mediator get the chance to between develop and profit stakeholders the entire local ensuring sustainable economy development Distributing Sustainable Growth for All

Local Home Owners are provided with a new place for interaction and a variety of social oriented initiatives

MacGuffin - "an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance.", “the engine that sets the story in motion�

The project Uses the McGuffin of a Creative Industry Incubator in order to induce a greater systemic change in the ways different stakeholders collaborate and exchange information between one another. Thus the project becomes an incubator for the greater economy promoting new business models that can be replicable elsewhere.

The Building as a McGuffin

Using new tools to make the invisible - visible Architect - Strategic Designer -

Actor-Network existing connections new connections Public - Privat Partnership Law

Bucharest City Hall

Creative Industries Fund NL

SEMACON current owner

Private Sector Developers UNDP

Bucharest 2035 Development Strategy

EC - BIC

Central Bucharest Integrated Strategy

Anchor Group - real-estate developer -

International Organizations Micro-Entrepreneur

Public Sector

GEA Strategy & Consulting

Business Incubator

Bucharest District 2 Minicipality

Ministry for Research & Develop.

Higher Education Institutions

Home Owners Associations

National Art College

Organizations in the field of economics Center for Culture Related Research Academy for Economic Studies

Institute for National Economy

Romanian Office for Copyright

Classification:

Type:

Legislation Location

RoGBC

Politechnic Unviersity of Bucharest

“Ion Mincu�

Architecture Urban Planning University

MicroEntreprenorial Agency for Programs & Projects

Organization

Institution

Logistics

Politics

Environment

Knowledge

Industry

Potential Clients

Funding

Reuse is the new camo Rent-Controled Housing Light Industry

The refurbishment and reinvention of existing buildings offers a number of benefits when compared to complete redevelopment.

Refurbishment enables a developer to achieve the following: – The reuse of an existing asset.

– A better balance of risk and return.

– Quick delivery back to market (or refurbish whilst in use). Refurbishment offers a programme advantage relative to new build. Dependant on the level of refurbishment, it is approximately 15% to 70% quicker than new build.

Showroom

Business Incubator

– Maximise the value of an existing asset. With refurbishment, the developer is in the position where the unique style and character of an older building can be retained. This can be useful when trying to market the space to businesses that are looking to differentiate rather than emulate. In addition to this, various helpful attributes of the original building, such as car parking allocation and permitted development density and massing, can be retained.

– A more affordable approach; refurbishment can avoid the reconstruction of major structural elements and still retain the benefit of the creation and provision of new office space. Depending on the level of refurbishment desired, the cost is approximately 10% to 75% less than a new build.

The proposed site (the largest and most suited for refurbishment in the area) is a former silk factory which transformed in a very popular place for small entrepreneurs after the main business has gone bankrupt in the 90s. Refurbishing the site could be an opportunity to increase the efficiency of an already established attraction for the local creative industries.

– Achieve operational savings whilst re-energising the asset.

– Creating an opportunity to support new ways of working

Rome wasn’t built in a day

The future project will evolve organically, it will dynamically adapt to place and time specific requirements.

The architects job will be to react in time to the organic clustering of de site.

Low Ri se H ou sin g

Undefined Space Temporary Use and Events for Placemaking

Closing the Chain Prototyping and Light Industry - a place where state of the art technology can help bring to life new ideas by rapid prototyping and experimentation

Existing High-Rise Housing

Existing High-Rise Housing

Alternative Public Space

Retail /Showcase Creative Industry Incubator Marketing & Development

Existing High-Rise Housing

- a new space to diffuse innovation and debate new ideas with the local public

Existing High-Rise Housing

Showcasing Innovation

ite the s

- Organic redevelopment with all stakeholders - combining world ambitions with local ambitions and values

Light Industry

to link ct re di

Live/Make rental housing

A Incubator for Local Business

-n o

Business Incubator

Showcasing

site plan: site plan:

CORP B

surface area: ground floor - 1.836 m2

CORP A

surface area: parter - 2.360 m2

1st floor - 354 m2 2nd floor - 354 m2 3rd floor - 254 m2 basement - 108 m2

(ţesătorie - 1700 m2, anexe - 242 m2, centrală termică - 418 m2)

etaj 1 - 1.700 m2 etaj 2 - 1.700 m2

proposed functions: catering area

info-center

proposed functions: auditorium

co-working space

management unit

showroom

restaurant

Light Industry

Live/Work

site plan:

site plan: RP

C

CO

RP

CO

D

surface area: ground floor - 1.200 m2

surface area: ground floor - 695 m2

1st floor - 1.200 m2 2nd floor - 1.200 m2 3rd floor - 1.200 m2 basement - 1.200 m2

(imprimerie 490 m2, ateliere anexe - 205 m2)

1st floor - 695 m2 (imprimerie 490 m2, ateliere anexe - 205 m2) 2nd floor - 695 m2 (imprimerie 490 m2, ateliere anexe - 205 m2) TOTAL: 2.085 m2

TOTAL: 2.085 m2

proposed functions:

proposed functions:

print shop

individual workshops

metal workshop

molding workshop

foto/video production

digital fabrication workshop

wood workshop

6x live/make appartments

daycare center

community center

fitness

The End