Architecture designed for not just anyone

Speculative property development should not necessarily be generic.

With no specific end user, it is sensible for developers and their architects to hedge their bets with design - but only to a degree. Being anodyne as to try to appeal to everyone ends up appealing to no one. In a market where tenants have choice, as is the case today with commercial workplace, being bland and blending into the background are tantamount to business suicide.

So how can architectural design help development reconcile the speculative with the innovative?

In fashion, tech and entertainment, consumer brands have a target consumer profile they position their brand for, so they focus on knowing these consumers inside out and predicting designs that would go down well with them. It's somewhat like Spotify which can recommend new music based on the listener's current playlist. This does not mean that their parameters are not flexible or agile, but having a defined market position is what helps these brands stand out, play to their audience, and even convert others.

In property development, developers and agents have a wealth of knowledge of who the target end users may be based on location, market forecast and previous letting history, so they already have a shortlist of who their tenants are likely to be.

So that rather than use this knowledge to copy current architectural design trends , we can use it to predict new ones - by focusing on the consumer not the competition. Being derivative is no longer the safe option, being a trailblazer is.