On Office Building Economics

Some quotes that should never, ever leave the mind of an architect involved in an office building project...

1.

« George Hill, who was an expert on commercial property and wrote frequently in the Architectural Record, looks at skyscrapers from a completely different viewpoint.

‘The writer wishes to state once and for all, and as strongly as it can be put, that the only measure of success of an office building is the average net return from rentals for a period of, say, fifteen years. Everything put into the building that is unnecessary, every cubic foot that is used for purely ornamental purposes beyond that needed to express its use and to make it harmonize with others of its class, is a waste—is, to put it in plain English, preventing some one’s money.’ (Willis, Carol, 1996) »

2.

« [The Empire State Building] is one of the most iconic buildings in the world but looking back on its success uncovers some major flaws. It was built in the 1920’s and remained three quarters empty for more than a decade after it opened in 1931; it did not start to make a profit until 1950. »

3.

« The facade of skyscrapers became part of an owners’ marketing strategy as Barr Feree noted in ‘The Modern Office Building’ in 1896.

‘The exterior of a building is generally the criterion by which its success is measured… But office buildings have so little to offer in the way of ornament or of art, that the general public, and perhaps the architectural public, have fallen into the habit of judging them by their facades… a finely designed office building has now a greater commercial value than one that is badly designed… and so the façade has a monetary value in these buildings which it does not always have in other structures.’ (Barr Feree, 1896) »

(all quotes from Murray, James. « Architects Design Buildings But Do They Design Skyscrapers, or Are They Products of Their Times?. » Think James Photo, 2012. iBooks.)