Celebrating 4 Outstanding Architects and Designers from the LGBTQ Community

Louis Sullivan

Louis Sullivan is known as the father of skyscrapers and his numerous works include the Auditorium Building in Chicago, the Guaranty Building (now the Prudential Building) in Buffalo, NY, and the Wainwright Building, St. Louis. Sullivan was a pioneer in designing steel-framed skyscrapers, but he’s also known for defining an architectural style unique to America. He believed a building should respond to its specific environment in the same way a plant would grow “naturally, logically, and poetically out of all its conditions.” You may have also heard his most famous quote – “form follows function”. As with many LGBTQ individuals of his era, his personal correspondence was destroyed toward the end of his lifetime. His legacy remains, not only in the form of revered architecture, but through his student, Frank Lloyd Wright, who apprenticed with him for six years.

Read more about him in Robert Twombly’s “Louis Sullivan: His Life & Work”.

Eileen Gray

Eileen Gray was an Anglo-Irish designer of decorative furniture and Modernist architecture. Gray came to architecture later in life after first studying drawing and painting at the Slade School of Fine Art. She was one of the first women to be accepted at The Slade, and that wasn’t the first time she’d carve out a space for herself in a male-dominated world. Ultimately, her passions lay elsewhere though, and she began experimenting with Japanese lacquerwork fused with geometry. She became interested in architecture in her late forties after a successful career in furniture design. She is best known for E-1027, a modernist villa in Cape Martin in Southern France. It’s an iconic seaside villa that she completed at the age of 51 with no formal architectural training. Gray was largely unrecognized in her own lifetime, but today she is regarded as a pioneer of the Modernist movement, and E-1027 is now a French National Cultural Monument.

Read more about her in “Eileen Gray: Her Life and Work: The Biography”.

Geoffrey Bawa

This is Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka’s most renowned architect. He was born to a mother of German, Scottish, and Sinhalese descent and a father of Sri Lankan, Muslim, and French descent. It was these early influences that were instrumental in shaping his choices in both life and his future profession. He first studied and practiced law, but after the early deaths of his parents, he quit to spend time traveling. It was upon his return that he got his start in architecture after purchasing a rubber plantation called Lunuganga that he would go on to develop throughout his lifetime. Often called the father of the tropical modernist movement, Bawa’s style of architecture suited the hot, humid climate of Sri Lanka and focused on traditional materials. His influence can be seen across Sri Lanka, Bali, and Singapore. He’s perhaps best known for his hotel designs such as Kandalama Hotel. The structure of the luxury hotel was designed so that it hangs onto a cliff while facing Sigiriya rock.

Read more about him in “In Search of Bawa” by David Robson.

Elsie de Wolfe

This is Elsie de Wolfe, an American designer credited with creating interior design as a profession. Born in New York in 1865, de Wolfe was a socialite who spent her early years in Scotland and was presented to Queen Victoria at court – a rare honor for an American at that time. She originally trained as an actress, but became more famous for her on stage attire than her acting ability. She became a fashion icon and was even named “best-dressed woman in the world” in 1935. In 1887, de Wolfe settled into what was then called a “Boston marriage” with Elisabeth Marbury, a formidable figure in New York society who was wildly successful in her own right as a literary agent for the likes of Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and many others. The two women shared a house on Irving Square, and it was there that de Wolfe discovered her talent and love for interior design. She was known for her hatred of the Victorian style of the time, which she considered hideous and dark. She opened up the space and redid the house in soft, warm colors to make it light, airy, and feminine. She became a professional decorator in 1905. That same year a group of powerful women, including Marbury, Anne Tracy Morgan, and Florence Harriman opened the first private club exclusively for women in NYC – The Colony Club. De Wolfe was commissioned to design the interiors. She was also active in the women’s suffrage movement and was awarded the Legion d’Honneur for giving the Red Cross the use of her villa in France during World War I.

Read more about her in her own book “The House in Good Taste”.

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Walk the Room: An Origin Story

Aspiring golf pro to WtR Co-founder – Meet Jesper

What do you do if you’re an aspiring Swedish golf pro with no idea what to study so you just take classes in everything while working on your golf swing in the U.S.? If you’re anything like our co-founder Jesper, you might discover a keen interest in real estate and entrepreneurship that leads you to a new focus and the decision to start a new business. That’s just what he did in 2005 when he discovered a new software that would allow tenants to easily furnish and evaluate a potential space before deciding on it. He took it to market with his then business partner with the mission to help real estate developers quickly lease their office spaces by letting prospective customers digitally Walk the Room. Sounds great, right?

Jesper, the aspiring golf pro

Well, what they found was that like so many early adopters, Jesper (and the platform) were ahead of the curve. The subscription model that we’re all so familiar with today wasn’t the norm back then and people were hesitant to try it. People also weren’t ready to work with creating 3D images themselves within the platform. In short, the market fit wasn’t quite there, and the technology itself hadn’t yet caught up with the times in terms of quality. They were able to sell projects and the size of projects was growing, but just enough to provide a meager living, and student loans were the key to survival.

The idea from the beginning was to build a platform to make the commercial real estate space more efficient in terms of leasing spaces.

What they needed was to get their business in line with the market, and the only way to do that was to adapt. After the exit of his business partner and the first pivot to high end renders in 2010, which was a better market fit and provided the possibility to pay a minimum wage salary, it was time to take the risk of bringing in someone new and to start thinking about pivoting the direction of the company yet again. Growing 100% without external funding from one day to the next was just around the corner. Risky, but Jesper knew WtR was headed somewhere.

From first employee to CEO – Meet Alex

Jesper met Alex through his brother. They clicked immediately, and after some deliberation, Jesper invited him on board. This was a time when every decision had the potential to make or break the business, and one client was the deciding factor in whether there was any money the next month, and even then it wasn’t much. Hiring Alex was a gamble. Would it pay off?

Jesper and Alex

Together, Alex and Jesper, while deciding on what new direction WtR could take, found that tenants didn’t appreciate the hassle of furnishing office spaces themselves, but very much liked seeing them furnished before deciding on them. With that, WtR abandoned the original platform and turned into a consultancy with a more beautiful and sellable product, which also had the added benefit of more accurately portraying the space – CGIs. They worked within commercial property visualization and contracted 3D artists to create compelling images of interiors. With a sellable product and a more efficient team of two, things started getting interesting and Jesper and Alex were able to achieve real growth. In 2019, Jesper and Alexander found themselves at a crossroad: do we keep toiling to get by, or do we make a go for it?

We’ve put our entire professional careers into Walk the Room, our entire savings into Walk the Room, our life basically is Walk the Room – so much is tied to this company.

They went for it and set a plan to scale up the business. Yet another new chapter started.

Taking the leap

We started to make investments in the culture, internal systems, organization, and future products. Little by little the visualizations grew better, the business grew stronger, the team grew bigger, but more importantly – WtR started growing the culture we now treasure. We set up shop in Prague, a city and region with an established community of amazing 3D artists and the home of many of our team members. We started serving clients around the globe – from Scandinavia to the UK and eventually the U.S.

Our goal is to solve the communicative gap in very large, complex buildings. The amazing potential of a building is often not that easy to show with a standard drawing. We’re helping the industry move more efficiently where the true potential of a property can be communicated in the best possible way. Moving 2000 employees from one office to another, for example, is a big decision that affects many people. We’re happy to be part of making that journey easier and more modern.

Apart from filling the communicative gap, we’re big fans of architecture and interior design, so the focus is on creating photorealistic commercial property renders that place quality over quantity. We’d much rather produce something that people love and that speaks to their emotions than something cheap and quick. The feeling of delivering something like that to a client that appreciates beauty and quality feels so much better than factory production ever could. Producing quality work with an artistic finish that showcases our clients’ unique property story in the best possible way is our goal and the recipe for a great customer experience and relationship.

Who we are now

Since then, the team has grown to 70+, and we now have a global presence, with a tight knit digital collaboration across many markets and time zones. And we have our eyes on expanding into even more markets.

One of the things we’re really proud of is that HQ at WtR is not a physical place. It’s online – that’s the company we are. Even though we do have physical offices, the majority of people work online – from home, a café, a beach, wherever they prefer. Both the leadership team and the employees are located around the globe. We’re not tied to a physical space – we’re a truly digital and global company. And we have been since the beginning.

We have a relentless commitment to offer the best computer-generated content, assets, and services to clients around the world – whether it’s still renders, animations or VR tours – and we’re continuously developing our products and services. We want to set the standard, and create solutions that make a difference. When we look back and see where we started compared to where we are now, we’re astounded, humbled, and incredibly proud of what we’ve managed to achieve.

The future of WtR

As you can see from our history, we’re agile and adaptable. What does that mean for our future? We’re not sure yet, but as always, we have our eyes on the horizon, and we’re currently investigating opportunities with real-time rendering and the metaverse. What’s interesting is that we’re finding that in some ways we’re headed back towards that original idea that was so ahead of its time in 2005. The market has matured, quality has caught up to the tech, and it seems people are ready for real-time rendering now. We might find ourselves coming full circle. We’ve never been a company that follows what others are doing. We prefer blazing the trail ourselves, so that we’re in charge of our own destiny.

One thing’s for sure though, the future is bright.

Architectural Walkthroughs: Sell Your Commercial Property in Under 2 Minutes

Fully immerse your audience in the lifestyle you’re offering

We all know what it’s like to get lost in a great movie. To completely lose track of time and place, and to feel like you’re right in the middle of the French Riviera or Middle-earth. You can give your clients exactly the same experience with architectural walkthroughs. After all, it’s not actually sq ft we’re thinking about when we buy a property. It’s the lifestyle it can give us. Show your client how the natural light shines through the floor to ceiling windows. Put some books on the coffee table and pick the perfect chair to cozy up an office space. Add the perfect music, special effects, and camera movements to convey the right atmosphere, and it’s easy to imagine living, eating, or working in a particular space. With this kind of visual storytelling, your clients are sure to fall in love with your property.

Showcase unique features with exceptional detail

What’s that jaw-dropping feature that you know would sell your project all by itself if only your client could visualize it? Are you planning to restore all the original detail on a ceiling? Is your lobby going to be an oasis of green? As fantastic as we think 3D renders are, there are some things that will always be better captured on film. Walk your audience through your space and zero in the one feature that will stop them in their tracks.

Take your audience on a visual journey

Renders go a long way in showcasing your property vision, but 3D animations breathe life into your property. You can map out a whole visual journey and take your prospective client along for the ride. Show them each room as if they were walking through it. Give them a bird’s eye view of the property before taking them along their daily route. What shops will they pass? Where will they stop for their daily coffee? Will they take a break in the courtyard and chat with their colleagues? How about yoga on the roof terrace at lunch time? Just as important as a journey through the spaces is transitioning from day to night, so your audience gets the full picture. This is when you can create that extra special moment. A view of the Empire State building as the sun sets. A morning coffee in the sun-drenched office kitchen. By creating a captivating experience for your audience, you’ll capture their attention and speak to their emotions.

Walk your viewer through the surrounding area

With animations you can showcase interiors, close ups of design details, and much much more. You can take your viewer on a trip around their future office space or around the whole neighborhood. What could be more immersive than that? Take them from the tube to the lobby of their office. Show them the restaurant options for lunch. Or walk them through a nearby park. The possibilities are endless.

Demonstrate the size of the space and equip it in a matter of seconds

Renders are great, but when it comes to really conveying the dimensions and proportions of a space, architectural walkthroughs are the way to go. Instead of showing only certain angles of a space, you can walk your audience through each room, giving them a real sense of the size of the space and what they can do with it. Go even further by showing them the empty space and then quickly filling it. Not only will they understand the scale and dimensions, but they’ll also get to see the potential of the space realized in a matter of seconds.

5 Unique CRE Ideas to Up-level Your Next Property

Car Park Transformation

A car park is just a car park. Until it isn’t. Kungsleden got creative with this car park in Stockholm and transformed into a multi-purpose space. Need a place to work? You’ll find it here. Need space for an art exhibition? Check. Want to open a pop-up shop? No problem. Oh and you can park your car here too.

Meatpacking District

When the municipality of Stockholm decided it was time to develop the meatpacking district, it presented a unique opportunity for whichever property developer won the deal. The ideas and plans had to be presented to the council and the competition was fierce. The winning idea by Atrium Ljunberg and Gatun revitalizes the area while staying true to its roots by creating spaces for art and commerce and keeping food at the heart. This massive, ongoing project will be fully realized by 2030.

Adaptable Schools

The world has changed and so have the schools. That’s the basis that Adapteo Group has created their adaptable, modular schools on. With modular technology, each school can be built according to specific needs and easily adapted when those needs inevitably change. Offering a cost-effective, low-maintenance, and quick solution, these school facilities can be provided for a few days or long-term. New ideas and mindsets call for flexibility – Adapteo ensures we’re ready for what the future brings.

The Terminal

Industrial spaces don’t have to be boring. And this refurbishment of the largest postal sorting office in Sweden by JLL is the perfect embodiment of that. The goal was to refurbish the space with creative offices that offered fantastic access to industrial space and warehouse logistics. The project resulted in a light-filled, clean, and minimalist warehouse with fun, green, and spacious offices.

Oasis in Finnslätten

You could be forgiven for thinking you’re outside when sitting in the lobby of this building in the urban campus of Finnslätten. Developed by Kungsleden and designed by Tovatt Architects & Planners, Finnslätten is already unique as an urban campus where research, development, and production join forces to meet societal challenges. But this oasis is a destination in itself. Whether you need 10 minutes to yourself or a meeting place to discuss creative ideas, you’ll find what you need there.

10 Commercial Real Estate Predictions for 2022

An increase in CRE investment

It’s no surprise that 2021 saw a decrease in investment in certain areas of commercial real estate, but the good news is investment is on the way back up in 2022, both in traditional sectors such as retail and hospitality, and in alternative sectors such as life sciences and industrial real estate. An increase in vaccinations and a decrease in Covid-19 cases in many countries worldwide means a (slow) return to normal life, leaving many investors ready to once again turn their attention to shopping malls, restaurants, and hotels, while continuing their investments in profitable new areas such as warehouses for e-commerce or data centers.

The hybrid work model is here to stay

2021 saw many employees working from home and many organizations downsizing their office spaces to cut costs. Far from seeing a loss in productivity, many organizations realized this flexibility only made their employees more productive and happier at work. WFH is here to stay, but many employees will opt to go to the office at least a few days a week, creating the need to keep or even upgrade office spaces in many companies. Many organizations, such as those in the tech industry, have thrived during the pandemic and are experiencing massive growth in terms of hiring and revenue, leaving them with office spaces that are now much too small to accommodate the number of new employees. While some of this will be solved by the hybrid work model, many organizations will choose to move to bigger office spaces, creating new opportunities for property developers and leasing agencies.

Industrial real estate is on the rise

Changing consumer behavior has led to a boom in e-commerce and the data centers needed to power online shopping platforms as well as to ensure companies have the needed capabilities and infrastructure to work from home. This has led to massive opportunities for those leasing or selling industrial spaces, and this trend will only continue to rise in 2022. Expect to see opportunities in niche areas such as cold storage as a growing number of investors are interested in this maturing market.

It’s all about tech

Leasing activity will be driven by tech companies worldwide. According to Savills, we can expect to see office leasing activity comparable with pre-pandemic levels in 2022. However, this will differ depending on the country. Emerging markets such as Vietnam, China, and Indonesia will offer huge opportunities for leasing agencies and property developers due to their strong economic growth and less interest in switching to a hybrid work model. Office spaces will remain integral to tech companies worldwide though, even those with flexible working policies, as their massive growth means they’ll still need bigger spaces for those employees that do opt to go to the office.

Hope for the retail sector

Retail might just be the commercial real estate sector that saw the biggest challenges during the pandemic as lockdowns led to a massive shift in consumer behavior and extreme growth in e-commerce. While e-commerce is not going anywhere, the reopening of brick-and-mortar stores and the strong desire for a return to normalcy will offer ample opportunity in 2022.

The inhospitable hospitality sector

The hospitality sector reached record lows in 2020 and 2021 due to lockdowns and global travel restrictions. While vaccinations and a return to travel offer hope to this struggling sector and a full recovery is expected eventually, CBRE predicts that hotel occupancy won’t reach pre-pandemic levels until at least 2023.

Creative solutions to CRE investment

With both the hospitality and retail sectors crippled by the pandemic, investors started looking into alternative sectors to make up their losses and drive growth and profits even in uncertain times. This has led to an interest in industrial real estate fueled by the immense growth of e-commerce and data. Many retailers no longer need brick and mortar stores, but they do need bigger warehouses to store the stock they need for increasing online sales. Beyond that, the threat of the global pandemic has brought on interest and opportunity for specialized offices in life sciences and the medical buildings for research purposes. 2022 will continue to see investment in the aforementioned alternative sectors, but a return to normal life and the new growth mindset adopted by most thriving organizations, means that the possibilities for creative solutions in 2022 are endless.

Young professionals drive growth in Multifamily CRE

As many young people fled to their family homes during the pandemic to save on rent, multifamily properties (i.e. apartment complexes) suffered. However, 2022 will see young professionals looking to move out on their own once again as they return to the cities and the workplace and achieve their pre-pandemic financial stability.

It’s all about sustainability

Even before the pandemic, we were seeing a huge increase in the number of companies that promised sustainability in their business practices and investments. The pandemic only further amplified that need. Sustainability has taken a central role for corporations and economies with both business and world leaders promising to reduce emissions and move us towards a greener future. This trend will only intensify in 2022 as many investors and organizations will require tracking of ESG initiatives.

3D visualization’s even bigger role in CRE marketing

With so many meetings still taking place over Zoom rather than in person, 3D visualization’s place in property marketing is more important than ever. In an area as competitive as commercial real estate, there’s only one chance to make an impression. CGI, 360s, and animations are the future and allow property developers, leasing agencies, and marketers to sell not only a property but a lifestyle. By adding 3D property elements to your offering, you bring the essence of the real world into the digital world and can showcase it online anywhere in the world.

8 Must-Attend CRE Events in 2022

1) MIPIM

March 15-18, 2022
Cannes, France

Bringing together some of the most influential players from all sectors of the international real estate industry, this 4-day event in Cannes is not to be missed. Meet and forge connections with hundreds of investors, developers, suppliers, and more. Attending MIPIM gives you unparalleled access to the entire value chain, and the greatest number of development projects and sources of capital worldwide.

2) NAIOP National Forums

May 10-12, 2022
Houston, Texas

Prominent industry professionals from across North America gather at NAIOP National Forums every year to share best practices, identify how best to capitalize on business opportunities, and foster relationships with other Forums members. Take this unique opportunity to discuss project challenges and opportunities with a trusted group of advisors, and develop new connections with key industry leaders in a confidential environment.

3) BOMA 2022

June 25-28, 2022
Nashville, Tennessee

It’s an exciting new era for commercial real estate. For CRE professionals ready to embrace change, there are infinite possibilities. BOMA brings together industry experts to discuss the incredible innovations, flexible work practices, and new occupant expectations we’ve seen recently, and what they mean for the future of commercial real estate. Join BOMA to learn about groundbreaking innovations that will put your properties a cut above the rest.

4) C5 Summit 2022

August 15-17, 2022
NYC, New York

Don’t miss C5 Summit 2022 – the premier US-based commercial real estate event – located in the heart of New York City. If there is one city you need to be in when it comes to commercial real estate, it’s this one. Network with industry leaders, catch up on the latest trends, build long-term relationships with decision makers, and most importantly, get deals done. Everything you need is in this one centralized event.

5) Expo Real 2022

October 4-6, 2022
Munich, Germany

Expo Real 2022 is an international networking platform that caters to the full spectrum of the property sector. It brings together leading CRE experts from Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, features hundreds of speakers, and gives participants the chance to learn about the latest trends and innovations in the property, investment, and financial markets.

6) CRE.Converge

October 9-12, 2022
Chicago, Illinois

CRE.Converge is all about making things happen. Join this event to network with your peers, build lasting relationships, discuss the latest CRE trends, and make deals. The opportunity to break into smaller groups and discuss business opportunities and project challenges while learning from industry leaders make it one of the industry’s premier events.

7) 9th Annual Global Institutional Real Estate Investor Forum

November 9th, 2022
NYC, New York

As the leading investor-centric event for LPs investing in private markets, this two-day event brings together investors, funds, and advisers to discuss sectors, due diligence, and real estate investment opportunities both in the U.S. and globally. It’s your chance to join an investor-focused event that provides a due diligence forum for U.S. and international pension funds, endowments, wealth managers, foundations, and others interested in learning about commercial real estate opportunities.

8) REALTORS Conference & Expo

November 11-14, 2022
Orlando, Florida

The annual REALTORS Conference & Expo is one of the largest events for real estate professionals in the United States. It’s been one of the go-to conferences for sharing and discussing key industry trends, challenges, opportunities, best practices, and practical applications across the real estate industry since 1908.

8 Must-Attend Commercial Property Events in 2022: Europe Edition

1) MIPIM

March 15-18, 2022
Cannes, France

Bringing together some of the most influential players from all sectors of the international real estate industry, this 4-day event in Cannes is not to be missed. Meet and forge connections with hundreds of investors, developers, suppliers, and more. Attending MIPIM gives you unparalleled access to the entire value chain, and the greatest number of development projects and sources of capital worldwide.

2) CREtech London

April 27-28, 2022
London, UK

Explore how innovation and technology are transforming the built world at CREtech London while you network and learn from the best in the business. CREtech’s conferences are proven to deliver outstanding ROI for technology companies, venture capitalists, property developers, asset managers, brokers, and professionals servicing the real estate industry. Join this conference to get access to world-class content and strategic networking opportunities.

3) Global ABS 2022

June 14-16, 2022
Barcelona, Spain

Head to sunny Barcelona in June and gain critical insight into the latest trends and updates on regulatory developments, emerging asset classes, products, and geographies from Global ABS’s esteemed faculty of speakers. A must-attend event, Global ABS is a platform that informs and engages the entirety of the European securitization industry. Each year the conference is a facilitator of thousands of 1:1 investor/issuer meetings and a major catalyst of structured product deal flow across Europe.

4) SIOR International European Conference

July 13-15, 2022
Dublin, Ireland

Join 300+ fellow real estate professionals in Dublin in July 2022 to discuss the political and social pressures within Europe, the impact of commercial property IT on broker profitability, how navigating the sustainability debate is central to corporate thinking in Europe, and much more! By embracing change and developing a greater understanding of these issues, SIOR members will have the credentials to be at the “Top Table” in their clients’ business planning.

5) C5 Summit 2022

August 15-17, 2022
NYC, New York

Don’t miss C5 Summit 2022 – the premier US-based commercial property event – located in the heart of New York City. If there is one city you need to be in when it comes to commercial real estate, it’s this one. Network with industry leaders, catch up on the latest trends, build long-term relationships with decision makers, and most importantly, get deals done. Everything you need is in this one centralized event.

6) CoreNet Global Summit EMEA

September 13-15, 2022
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Explore what’s in store for commercial property in EMEA by attending CoreNet Global Summit in September 2022. This must-attend event is designed to help professionals from all areas of commercial property advance their skills, connect with peers, be recognized for their achievements, and learn about the latest innovations that are reshaping the way we live and work.

7) Expo Real 2022

October 4-6, 2022
Munich, Germany

Expo Real 2022 is an international networking platform that caters to the full spectrum of the property sector. It brings together leading commercial property experts from Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, features hundreds of speakers, and gives participants the chance to learn about the latest trends and innovations in the property, investment, and financial markets.

8) 9th Annual Global Institutional Real Estate Investor Forum

November 9th, 2022
NYC, New York

As the leading investor-centric event for LPs investing in private markets, this two-day event brings together investors, funds, and advisers to discuss sectors, due diligence, and real estate investment opportunities both in the U.S. and globally. It’s your chance to join an investor-focused event that provides a due diligence forum for U.S. and international pension funds, endowments, wealth managers, foundations, and others interested in learning about commercial real estate opportunities.