All Forum Posts by: Corbin Jones

Hi Jamie, 

It sounds like you have done a good job building yourself a nice foundation for taking the next step.

My firm, Brookwood Group (Brookwoodgroup.com) helps RE investors and owners to assess opportunities, mitigate risk, and develop an overall strategy by applying our integrated real estate consulting approach. 

Based on what I understand you are asking for, you may be a good fit. We are located in the Bay Area and our people have decades of experience in the region.   

Shoot me a private message if you are interested in a quick 15 min. phone call next week to see if there is an opportunity to partner. 

Best, 

Corbin Jones 

Ahhh I have heard enough to understand this segmented thinking can be a problem, but its still nice to get some additional validation. This is an insightful story and captures something that every designer or real estate professional should consider when approaching spaces in buildings they intend to hold for the long term...flexibility!  I have seen a lot of really great custom designs that make great use of space for a particular user. Look at dwellings in Japan for great examples.  The compact nature of the city makes every cm valuable and potentially multi functional. However utilitarian the spaces, it is rare for buildings to be renovated and retrofitted in Japan, or so I read in an article in the blog i linked above. There is a great book about this topic by Stewart Brand called "How Buildings Learn" that I highly suggest. 

I like the term "house hacker". I'm going to start using that.  If they can find a way to align incentive, like a bonus for finishing in a certain time frame, they could create a mechanism to get what they need from this architect.  Ick it's never a good feeling to be felt taken advantage of. Let me know how this resolves! 

Thanks for the post too :)

Thanks for the welcome fellows! 

Hello Community! 

The intersection between architecture and real estate development is where I have spent the past three years of my life, researching and designing in an academic setting, and now I am ready to put my skills and theories to the test. 

Architecture has been my passion ever since I was a destructive young boy, and like most enthusiastic and idealistic emerging architects, there is a moment of reckoning when you discover the disconnect between how imagine architecture and the realities of the profession/industry. I remember the first time I saw a project delivery diagram, it dawned on me who really makes the decisions in the building process...the owner. So I asked myself "Well who exactly is that? Do they 'hire' the architect?", questions that changed the course of my professional outlook for good.  Over the course of two years went back and fourth from real estate lectures to design studios.  I learned that there is a fundamental disconnect between how the two groups viewed buildings.  To break it down very simply, architects see buildings as environments for people to house specific activities while real estate professionals (developers) see buildings as investments.  Well why can't they be both?

The build environment effects us all in some shape or form (no pun intended) and to approach real estate as both a design AND investment opportunity, i believe you can set yourself apart for the better.  

Architect as developer is an approach I am eager to deploy.  If anyone out there would like to connect on the topic of architectural design and real estate, please reach out!