THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
PSYCHIC VALUE AND URBAN REGENERATION: HOW AND WHY SIGNATURE ARCHITECTURE AFFECTS REGIONAL ECONOMIES
ALEXANDER GROSEK SUMMER 2020
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a baccalaureate degree in Finance with honors in Finance
Reviewed and approved* by the following:
Christoph Hinkelmann Clinical Associate Professor of Finance Thesis Supervisor
Brian Davis Clinical Associate Professor of Finance Honors Adviser
* Electronic approvals are on file. i
ABSTRACT
Focusing on buildings designed by winners of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, I create a sample of 509 buildings-designed-by-signature-architects (BDSA) in the United States. This yields 170 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) that contain 509 BDSA. Drawing on U.S.
Census data from 2010 2019, 13 economic data points are collected for each MSA in the sample, yielding 2,210 initial data points. The same 13 data points are collected for each of the 37 states where at least one BDSA currently resides, yielding an additional 481 unique data points
Finally, the same 13 data points are collected for the U.S. economy as a whole. This data is sorted using basic weighted-average calculations to measure the relationship between the number of
BDSA and the regional economic performance of the group of MSAs containing those BDSA, weighted by the number of BDSA in each city. The BDSA-weighted average of these economic statistics is then compared to the state and national averages for the same economic indicators.
The results of this study show that the 170 regions under analysis have BDSA-weighted economic indicators that, when viewed together, demonstrate significantly more robust regional economic environments than the population-weighted average statistics for the 37 state economies in which they reside and the national average for the U.S. The results of this study show that BDSAs overwhelmingly appear in economically vibrant cities that are wealthier, more racially diverse, more educated and more employed than the respective average for the 37 states that contain at least one BDSA, and the United States overall.
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Architecture goes past function. It intelligently solves problems it i n e lici l a ked o solve and inspires awe by demonstrating the creative potential of humans.
- Anonymous
Architecture is aesthetically di inc i e beca e i i an a of de ign . A chi ec e individuality comes from the fact that it is a useful art, and that the aesthetics of architecture should be based on recognizing its usefulness.
- Richard Hill, Purpose, Function, Use
A fit object is one the contemplation of which ought to give rise to a state of mind which is good.
- John Maynard Keynes
Figure 1 - Bank in Kingston, PA Designed by Peter Bohlin (AIA Gold 2010) Figure 2 - A Run-Of-The-Mill Bank Branch, Anywhere-Ville, USA
Image Source | Author Image Source | https://tinyurl.com/ycbewt59
Examine the two bank branches above… Is there one that you would prefer to have in your neighborhood?
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ...... iv
LIST OF TABLES ...... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... vi
PREFACE ...... vii
Chapter 1 Introduction ...... 1
Chapter 2 Literature Review ...... 8
Chapter 3 Methodology ...... 17
Chapter 4 Data ...... 20
Chapter 5 Results ...... 33
Chapter 6 Conclusion ...... 41
Appendix A Cities w/ BDSA By State ...... 45
Appendix B Economic Indicators Used in This Study ...... 64
Appendix C BDSA Dispersal by Zip code ...... 72
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 79
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 - Bank in Kingston, PA Designed by Peter Bohlin (AIA Gold 2010) ... ii
Figure 2 - A Run-Of-The-Mill Bank Branch, Anywhere-Ville, USA ...... ii
Figure 3 - Bhimbetka and Daraki-Chattan Cupules (290 700,000 BC) ...... 1
Figure 4 - Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci ...... 4
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 - Pritzker Prize Winners (1979 - 2020) ...... 20
Table 2 - List of Built Works by Pritzker Laureates in the U.S...... 21
Table 3 - U.S. Cities w/ BDSA (Sorted by # BDSA) ...... 33
Table 4 - U.S. States w/ BDSA (Sorted by # BDSA) ...... 38
Table 5 - 170 Cities w/ BDSA v. United States ...... 39
Table 6 - 170 Cities w/ BDSA v. 37 States w/ BDSA ...... 39
Table 7 - 509 BDSA By Building Type ...... 40
Table 8 - 170 Cities by Type (Urban / Rural) ...... 40
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my parents for encouraging me to be curious. Without their commitment to fostering an imaginative spirit at home, I would not look at the world the same way. I would like to thank Dr. Christoph Hinkelmann for exposing me to the world of research.
Without his invisible hand overseeing my thesis, I would have failed to deliver a research project at all. I would like to thank Dr. Randall J. Woolridge for his unwavering support for me throughout college. Dr. Woolridge showed me how to approach work, life and relationships with confidence, humor and respect. I would like to thank Dr. Brian Davis for reinforcing my academic curiosity; for harboring a community of intellectually curious students at Penn State; and for always treating my ideas with dignity and respect. Thank you to my friends, there are many of you, who challenge my point of view and expose me to interesting and wonderful things.
Finally, I would like to thank my sisters. Julia, thank you for showing me how to face the world with compassion. You push me to seek out an understanding of the bigger picture and to never accept other people s dogma. Katrina, thank you for showing me how to have fun and live for the moment. Because of you both, I wake up every day grateful and happy to be alive.
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PREFACE
This paper begins by introducing art as a measurable and economically relevant component of global financial markets. Chapter 2 discusses architecture as a hybrid form of art that serves a clear functional purpose, as well as a secondary purpose as a medium for creative expression, by summarizing a few prominent studies that guide much of the current debate over the economic value of architecture. Chapter 3 describes the methodology for my empirical analysis that addresses two key questions: 1) Where in the United States is signature architecture concentrated? and 2) How do these regional economies stack up against the state and national economies in which they operate? Chapter 4 presents the data gathered for this study without additional commentary. Chapter 5 provides data tables summarizing the key information gleaned from the data in Chapter 4. Chapter 6 discusses the findings and draws conclusions based on the data. In addition, Chapter 6 recommends further research and offers a few concluding thoughts.
The key finding of this paper is that buildings designed by signature architects (BDSA) are concentrated in many of the wealthiest and most-educated cities in the United States, implying that an appreciation for high design ma be a common element of economicall producti e societies. Further, the available data strengthens the point made in past studies that the very presence of good architecture helps inspire positive mindsets in people, which can indirectly trickle down into higher achievement and increased local economic productivity.
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Chapter 1
Introduction
Art has existed in human civilization long before value was a concept entrenched in economic thinking. In fact, the oldest remnants of art, the Bhimbetka and Daraki-Chattan
Cupules, have been dated to around 290 - 700,000 BCE. This period aligns with the earliest fossil evidence of Homo sapiens, which appeared in Africa some 300,000 years ago (Bhimbetka,
2020). These early stone carvings were created and preserved by humans despite their clear lack of functional value. As time progressed, human societies continued to create and preserve art for no reason other than a shared understanding and appreciation for beautiful things. Today, our world is rich in new, contemporary art as well as vast collections of works preserved over the course of human history, dating all the way back to the Daraki-Chattan Cupules so many years ago.
Figure 3 - Bhimbetka and Daraki-Chattan Cupules (290–700,000 BC) 2 However, despite its constant presence in society, contemporary arguments that encourage investment in the arts are resisted by economic thought as well as empirical analysis.
In 2013, for example, research done by analysts at Stanford found that the real annual return of art since 1973 has been 6.5 percent, well below the 10 percent that is often claimed by proponents of the arts as a reliable financial asset (Korteweg et. al, 2013). They found that selection bias, in which the repeat sale of popular pieces is not considered, drove up the historic average annual returns and, when corrected, yielded a real return of 6.5 percent. While this is still an impressive rate of return, well above current interest rates that can be earned on safe assets such as government bonds, it is an aggregate number. This means that, as a whole, art investments may be quite profitable, but one must correctly choose which individual pieces will appreciate, which is no easy feat.
A popular and oft-cited example of this dynamic occurring in the real world is John
Maynard Keynes famous art collection. In 2018, The Wall Street Journal conducted an analysis and found that, in 2018 dollars, J.M. Keynes spent $840,000 to amass an art collection now worth
$99 million, working out to an average annual return of 10.9 percent (Zweig, 2018). However, when they looked beneath the headline numbers, researchers found that only two pieces of art in the 135-piece collection accounted for half of the growth in value of the entire collection. Further, only 10 pieces constituted approximately 91 percent of the collection s last measured value.
Keynes and other wealthy art collectors will often note that they do not amass art for purely financial reasons, but rather for a simple, human appreciation for art s incredible beaut . While some investors may get lucky and find that a particular piece of art experiences an enormous rise in value, it is more likely the case that lopsided inconsistent returns, if any at all, will be earned.
While the prices of stocks do not vary significantly based on where they trade, art pieces do not have the same luxury of an active and liquid market hosted on a centralized group of exchanges. In the case of art, the asset markets are highly illiquid, falling to a few one-off 3 auctions for pieces, and investors may be able to buy an asset cheaply, if they are lucky. As a result of this illiquidity, dealers, auction houses and private transactions often prices the same work of art at significantly different prices, depending on the time, buyer, location and number of other factors. Additionally, the process of buying art is expensive, with high commissions and markups paid to the intermediary facilitating the sale of the piece. However, while the prices and return on art as an investment is more often less than desirable, strict financial measures fail to capture the psychic value of living a life surrounded by history and beauty. In much the same way with architecture, stakeholders must acknowledge that, in the end, the psychic value of living in the presence of beautiful architecture is the only return one can consistently count on.
However, as will be argued throughout this paper, I believe the financial community is misrepresenting art s value, specifically architecture, by overemphasizing financial value as the key data point when assessing the value of art and architecture in society. Logical actors call investment in the arts superfluous, implying that there are other more productive fields, such as energy, education, healthcare, infrastructure, or technology, that ought to command investment before the arts. And return on investment in the arts is not much better, as is evidenced above.
The reality, though, is that artistic activity is higher in productive economies and tends to indicate a more progressive and innovative society. In 2007, Florida and Melander studied communities with large bohemian populations, defined as every individual employed in arts, design, entertainment and media occupations. The authors concluded that communities with higher bohemian populations enjoy an aesthetic-amenity premium and an open culture premium due in part to their large artistic communities, which was found to have a substantial direct positive correlation with housing values, as well as with regional income, wages, technology and human capital (Florida, Mellander 2007).
The perceived value of art in the modern world is significant. And while assigning an economic value to art is difficult, there is a shared human understanding of the value of the arts, 4 demonstrated b our societ s infatuation ith the creati e pursuits as mediums for entertainment, academic study, and enormous financial investment. To call investment in the arts superfluous, then, is a mistake. The preservation of art throughout human history, as well as modern research demonstrating the vibrant economies associated with artistic cities, makes clear that art has a dynamic effect on its local environment.
The value of art is determined by a combination of often intangible factors. Why did
Salvator Mundi sell for $450 million at Sotheb s in 2017 (Blostein, Libetti, & Crow, 2018)?
You can be assured it is not just the oil paints used, or the parchment, or the frame, but rather a combination of attributes including (most notably) the reputation of its creator, Leonardo Da
Vinci, as well as its innovative use of light, shade and shadow to create a figure that seems alive on the canvas. Abiding by the assumption that art will stay relevant long into the future, collectors view art as a passive form of diversification and a reasonable store of value to combat inflation and earn a return over the long term.
Figure 4 - Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci
5 Ho e er, the argument remains that in the moment, art offers little to societ in terms of real economic value. A painting, sculpture, or beautiful piece of architecture cannot always feed a village and does not translate to predictable rises in income, local GDP growth, or other discernible economic improvement. However, this conclusion ignores an important reality: that the development of the arts has a noticeable connection to the health and wealth of a society. The proliferation of art is often a reflection of the strength and values of a society at a point in time.
Man of histor s greatest artists came to prominence in powerful economic systems, where excess capital was available to fund endeavors that sought to achieve something greater than basic human survival. But does this mean great art only appears as a byproduct of economic growth? Not necessarily. The potential for excellence exists in all people. However, the reality is that an economically downtrodden society rarely has the spare resources needed to support the de elopment of the arts. When one s primar focus is here the ne t meal ill come from, it is difficult to find the time or energy necessary to create.
This helps explain why great renaissance artists were concentrated in a few small cities in
Italy, for example. The inhabitants of fifteenth-century Florence included Brunelleschi, Ghiberti,
Donatello, Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Verrocchio, Botticelli, Leonardo, and
Michelangelo. These ten artists, considered to be among the greatest in human history, all lived and worked in Renaissance Italy, primarily in the city of Florence, during the same general time period. Based on this and other historical and modern examples, it can be argued that good design occurs in chunks of time, guided by geographical proximity. During the fifteenth century, Milan was about as big as Florence. Yet there are few world-renowned Milanese artists from this period.
Florence at this time already had a connected community of incredibly talented individuals working on similar problems, in this case, art, architecture and design. At that time, a promising artist had a significantly greater chance of finding success simply by being born and brought up in 6 Florence instead of Milan, where their skillset could be nurtured by the vibrant artistic community already in place.
These artists found themselves in a vibrant society that aggressively funded their artistic pursuits, benefiting greatly from the social and economic infrastructure laid by the Romans. This environment ensured the artists had the necessary financial support to develop into the masters we no recogni e them as. This instance sparks a fundamental question about the arts: is a region s artistic economy a byproduct of a strong economy and thus an indulgent response to innovation and growth achieved within other fields? Or can investment in the arts itself jumpstart an economy and provide the cultural and environmental influences necessary to spur local innovation and economic growth? In other words, was Florence so wealthy, and thus able to fund the arts, thanks to, in part, an innovative and entrepreneurial social mindset that was encouraged by the artistic community? Or was the explosion of the arts only a happy after-effect of an industrious economy? Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
While it is true that mobility today is much higher than fifteenth century Italy, it is still the case that much of the great creative work is being done in a few hotspots around the world, such as Berlin, New York City, Cambridge, London and Silicon Valley. For anyone interested in leading-edge technological development, biomedical research, great writing, or great visual arts, they would find difficulty in perfecting their craft working in isolation, removed from these creative centers. In the same way that these creative communities prosper by grouping talented individuals together in one geographic proximity, they also cement their status as innovative and creatively important societies through the construction of signature architecture. We will find in this study that signature architecture is overwhelmingly concentrated in those U.S. cities which are already known for being the cultural, political and economic centers of the country (Table 3).
This thesis attempts to explore the concept of art, specifically fine architecture, as an agent of economic change. This paper supports arguments that favor investment in the arts by 7 demonstrating, through a study of award-winning architects in the United States, that the presence of signature architecture in a regional economy will often be correlated with above-average economic conditions, specifically measured by a more racially diverse population; a more educated population; higher earning households and individuals; higher percentage of working adults; and higher housing values and gross rents. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate that thoughtful design can spark economic gro th b acting as a conduit for kno ledge transfer across firms and industries, creating a multiplier effect of sorts (Curried, 2006, 2007) that has a spillover effect, resulting in improving the surrounding economy. My research tests the ability of signature architects to help facilitate urban regeneration through the design and development of flagship buildings. More specifically, I analyze what economic characteristics are associated with regions with high concentrations of buildings-designed-by-signature-architects (BDSA). My hope is to gather data that lends to the argument that the symbolic presence of a signature architect s built works can itself indirectly spark urban regeneration and local innovation, which translates into higher wages, education levels, property values and more civilians in the labor force, by attracting and encouraging innovative thinkers to a regional area. This paper s overarching goal is to further inform the debate over whether buildings-designed-by-signature-architects (BDSA) should be considered premium assets that are uniquely valuable when compared to the masses of repetitive human structures that dominate much of the built environment in the United States, by looking at how their surrounding economies trend and compare to state and national averages for the U.S.
8 Chapter 2
Literature Review
The following review is focused on authors who study art or architecture in a strictly economic context. I only briefly discuss the gentrification of neighborhoods that is inevitably associated with urban development. Nor do I spend much time discussing the underlying systems that allow architecture to be realized at all, such as institutional coordination, large checkbooks, and an intensely focused group of designers, engineers, investors, inhabitants and owners. The reality is that there a diversity of factors at play in any architectural development scenario, and a variety of stakeholders. To summarize the relevance of architecture to all stakeholders, and to weigh the pros and cons of architectural development at all, is beyond the scope of this paper. My focus, instead, is on assessing the works of architecture we are lucky enough to already have built in the United States, and provide context that helps describe the economic zones in which these buildings reside.
In this section, I will present research that demonstrates that there are positive externalities associated with high-amenity regions, including their role in attracting educated populations which results in higher concentrations of human capital and subsequent economic innovation, and that this cycle drives up local wages, property values, and quality of life in a regional area, resulting in a self-sustaining cycle of growth and innovation. Studies have shown that cities with high-artistic character have more established networks of artistic and creative individuals, who act as conduits for knowledge transfers across firms that result in new ideas, commercial innovation and income growth (Florida, Mellander 2009).
The body of literature analyzing the value of art is significant. There are a variety of ways an author can go about defining art, alue and societ . For the purpose of this study, I have chosen to focus on architecture because buildings have an ingrained functional use which 9 prescribes them a clearer economic context than other visual and creative arts, such as painting, sculpture or multimedia work. I view architecture as a hybrid form of art that serves a clear functional purpose as a built environment, but also a secondary purpose as a medium for creative expression. According to Fuerst, McAllister and Murray, architecture can be said to occupy a middle position between pure use value and pure aesthetic value (Fuerst et al 2011). When acquiring real estate assets designed by signature architects, investors are buying both the rights to future income streams and, what many may perceive to be, a work of art (Fuerst et al 2011).
Defining Design
The first step in discussing how design impacts regional economies is to define design clearly. According to Julier, design is the link between the circuits of production, which includes manufacture, materials, and technologies, as well as marketing, advertising and distribution, with consumption, which includes use, ownership and meaning (Julier 2000). The designer is tasked with taking the tools of production and deploying them in a satisfying way that meets the needs of consumption. Cultural economies describe regions where this interplay between production, consumption and design is recognized and celebrated (McRobbie 1999) and is characterized by locales that are innovative and adaptive. In this study, I hypothesize that cities with high concentrations of BDSA have stronger cultural economies, and should therefore expect to record more economically productive, racially diverse, and employed populations, as well as higher housing values and gross rents, when compared to state and national averages for the U.S.
Local Design Spillover
These cultural economies have been subject to analysis. A number of researchers have demonstrated that bohemian (artistic and gay) populations act as urban pioneers and that their location choices tend to result in positively appreciating housing values (Castells, 1983; Ley 10 1994; Zukin, 1995; Smith, 1996). The basic thinking reasons that locations that attract artistic populations will have amenity, authenticity and aesthetic value and thus will command a premium for their cultural amenities, neighborhood character and aesthetic quality of the housing stock. As artists and bohemians themselves produce amenities, their location will directly reflect higher levels of amenities. Thus, where artists and bohemians live can be expected to have an aesthetic amenity premium which translates into higher housing values, local wages and other positive economic indicators (Florida, Mellander 2009)
Secondly, locations with higher concentrations of artists and bohemians enjoy a tolerance, or open-culture, premium. Local economies receive a number of benefits from open- cultures, including reduced barriers to entry for human capital; increased efficiencies of knowledge spillovers; promotion of self-expression and idea generation; and decreased friction facing the mobilization of resources for entrepreneurs (Florida, Mellander 2009). In this study, I consider the presence of signature architecture to be a comparable metric to the Bohemian-Gay
Index created by Florida and Mellander, and thus a factor that contributes to the amenity and open-culture premium that appears in economically innovative societies, as is measured and described in past studies (Florida, Mellander 2009).
Design Led Urban Regeneration
Flagship buildings are premier real estate assets often located in highly visible city centers meant to visually symbolize urban growth. It is normal practice for private developers, foundations, universities, medical systems, local governments, businesses and other wealthy patrons to commission high-profile architects to design flagship buildings in city centers to spur economic and social regeneration. However, according to Bell and Jayne (2003), exactly how these buildings translate into urban regeneration is a fu concept (Bell et al 2003). According to multiple authors, there is little consensus about what strictly defines design-led urban 11 regeneration, sustainable design policy or design economy, and it is not made clear what factors must be present for successful urban regeneration.
Bilbao Case Study
It is not uncommon for flagship building efforts to turn out to be flops. However, a notable positive outcome which must be mentioned occurred in Bilbao, Spain, where Pritzker
Prize winning architect Frank Gehry designed the Guggenheim museum. The positive results, as evidenced by high metrics for isitors numbers (1 million+ per year) and a resulting economic uplift due to tourism and increased media coverage, was imitated by multiple cities around the globe (Plaza 2006). According to Juan Ignacio Vidarte, the museum s director, the flagship building was meant from the beginning to be a transformational project to turn around an industrial city in decline, and it did just that (Plaza 2006). But follo ing the building s unique success, a building boom around Spain was initiated, with multiple cities constructing similar, curvy contemporary buildings, which ultimately failed to spark the same regeneration. What then, was different about Bilbao? And how can its lessons be applied to the broader idea of urban regeneration through flagship architecture?
Beatriz Plaza explores these questions and notes that the case of Bilbao, while successful, should not be uncriticall replicated else here (Pla a 2006) due to the high risks in ol ed in the development project. With Bilbao specifically, much of the success can be attributed to the
Museum Director s effort to offer inno ati e acti ities to keep the public s interest and maintain an inflow of tourists to the area. Where variations of this factor, as well as other local conditions unrelated to the Guggenheim itself, exist, urban regeneration is more difficult to predict.
However, the author warns that such success stories should not be employed as a whitewashed justification for signature architecture or other extreme investments.
12 Economic / Financial Concepts
According to Fuerst, the equilibrium values for the future income streams of real estate assets are tied to economic fundamentals such as construction costs, demand, and cost of capital.
However, the work of architecture as art does not have the same basis for estimating equilibrium values since it is arguably immersed in a more diverse and complex system of values (Fuerst
2009). Objectively speaking, the building has a number of purely economic attributes, including development costs, construction costs, financing, leasing period, professional design fees, operating costs, utilities, maintenance, repair, occupation operating costs, rental productivity, energy efficiency, holding costs, vacancy periods, management costs, depreciation, and finally financial return associated with the building s rent or sale alue. Ho e er, the ork of architecture also has a number of intangible attributes which can generate positive externalities.
These include the possibility that neighboring properties can command higher rents and prices due to proximity to signature architecture; a quality of exterior appearance which can generate positive spillover effects in its general vicinity by acting as a premium view for neighboring parties; and finall the ps chic alue the building ma produce, hich describes the increased sense of utility from positive perceptions of the building by the local public, which may result in a higher willingness to pay to inhabit or purchase the building by occupants and investors.
Understanding Market Participants
According to Fuerst et all, 2011, there are three main categories of market participants in any architectural development: owners / investors, occupants, and neighbors. The first group is owners and investors. These parties are primarily concerned with investment performance driven by changes in capital and rental values of the developed property. The architect influences a number of factors that are relevant to the owners and investors. First, the architect can affect the development and operating costs of the building by efficiently coordinating construction crews, 13 lighting and structural engineers, electricians, plumbers and other human capital, as well as helping to plan for and navigate local zoning and building code laws. In addition, the architect can help save time and money by ensuring the construction project secures the necessary building permits and other legal clearances required through a unique local knowledge of the law, relationships with municipal agents, and the foresight necessary to design a building in such a way so that it is legal to construct and easy-to-follow the blueprints for the human capital in ol ed in its construction. The building s risk premium will be influenced by all the above factors leading up to the unveiling of the building, as well as the quality of the building itself.
For investors, property class is an important consideration because each class, ranging from Class A to Class C, represents different levels of risk and return. Investors use these differences in property class types to consider how any single property fits within their overall strategy of investing, such as return objectives and the amount of risk they are willing to accept in order to achieve the returns they seek. Class A to Class C property classifications reflect different levels of risk and return because the properties are grouped into class buckets according to a combination of both geographical and physical characteristics. The letter grades that are assigned to properties consider a combination of factors, such as age of the property, location of the property, tenant income levels, growth prospects, appreciation, amenities, and rental income.
According to (Fuerst et all, 2011) a capital provider in commercial real estate markets recognizes the higher relative risk-adjusted returns from good design, described above, that would provide an incentive to allocate resources to well-designed buildings. In my own study, I do not consider property class of each building, but the majority of the buildings in my list would be considered
Class A properties (Table 2).
The second ke group of stakeholders are the building s occupiers. In almost every built setting that is not a private residence, the occupiers of the building are primarily concerned with the relative costs of maintaining residence in the building as well as the performance of their 14 business or service within the building. The architect can create potential benefits for occupants in three primary ways. The first is by reducing the gross costs of occupying a building.
Increasingly architecture is adopting a mindset rooted in sustainable building practices, where elements of design such as energy efficiency, water capture, efficient waste management and carbon neutrality guide the design process. This is a relatively new trend in construction, arising as a response to the precipitous state of the global climate. According to architecture2030.org, a non-profit research agency, buildings generate nearly 40% of global GHG emissions and approximately two thirds of the building area that exists today will still exist in 2050. As such, it is paramount that existing building renovations and new construction are done in a way that is environmentally sustainable. Luckily for building occupiers, environmentally-sustainable buildings tend to be lower cost to maintain, due to their ability to generate electricity, conserve waste, collect and distribute water, and generally operate in a passive way that requires less electricity and general utility spending.
Second, occupiers benefit from well-designed spaces through higher productivity associated with a well-planned building, such as ease of access to the building, available work space, appropriate interior spaces to suit the needs of occupants, and various inspirational common spaces to encourage collaboration and innovation among residents. Third, occupants of these buildings gain image benefits. It is no coincidence that the buildings in this study are overwhelmingly occupied by foundations, corporations, governments and other prominent societal actors. These parties all benefit from being associated ith high-design , hich signals their ability to plan and execute for the future and consider the small details that add up to a quality work of design. By inhabiting beautiful architecture, occupants communicate to the world that they hold themselves to the same standard of work as that which underlies the very building in which they reside. 15 Finally, the third primary group of stakeholders are neighbors. These parties experience positive externalities that are generated by real estate assets designed by signature architects. It is this third group of stakeholders that drive the central research question of this thesis: What do the surrounding economies of buildings-designed-by-signature-architects look like? In one study of the local economic impact of museums in four U.S. neighborhoods, Sheppard finds that properties nearest to the museums in his study increase in value between 20 and 50 percent, with the effect tapering off as the distance from the museum increases (Sheppard, 2013). Sheppard accomplishes this study by creating a hedonic regression model used to study the impact of a number of factors that affect housing prices, such as the price itself, the date of sale, the geographic location, and other structure and lot characteristics.
Various authors, such as Fuerst et al, 2009, 2011 and Vandell, 1989, conducted studies that show clear rental and transaction premiums associated with office buildings designed by signature architects. These authors again choose to focus on building-specific cost data, whereas I ignore this data and focus instead on the regional economic indicators for the cities that contain the buildings themsel es. These authors demonstrated that there is a quantifiable marketing