That was the foundation of a fascinating discussion between keynote speaker Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects, Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Architecture Firm in the World,” and David Martin, president of Terra, who has engaged some of the world’s leading architects in distinctive South Florida projects, at the sixth annual University of Miami Real Estate Impact Conference.
Founded in 1996 years ago by professionals who pursued architecture as a second career, SHoP Architects is on a mission to harness the power of diverse expertise in the design of buildings and environments that improve the quality of public life. The firm employs an interdisciplinary staff of 180 and has consistently introduced disruptive thinking that is impacting the real estate industry.
“It was a different time in architecture” Pasquarelli said. “There were strong divisions, with paper architects and service architects that could make a building that didn’t leak. We wanted to understand how to make more beautiful buildings more cost effectively. We invested in understanding and finding technology, politics, sustainability, branding and marketing disciplines and bringing them all in house to form an architectural think tank.”
Article by Jennifer LeClaire, Daily Business Review
