Learning from the NT
Having seen Merle Hensel’s fantastic set for The House of Bernarda Alba at the National Theatre, and Soutra Gilmore’s minimalist yet powerful set for The Effect before it, and Chloe Lamford’s superb set for Phaedra before that, I cannot help but wonder why theatre (and film and TV) does it right with architectural design, yet property does it so wrong: Architectural space in drama is bespoke to the production, instigated by the imagination of the script and designed to create worlds and experiences that are sensory stimulating because these spaces are composed of different disciplines that complement each other like props, colours, sounds and lighting; furthermore, these spaces work on so many levels, particularly because they were designed around narrative, characters and tone (undertone even), which make them very relatable to the viewer. Imagination, storytelling and sensory stimulation are also potent strategies in retail (and increasingly hospitality) because such designs are engaging, psychologically trenchant and in tune with the consumer’s needs, desires and aspirations.
In property development, very little time is spent on design. The brunt of the architectural process focuses inordinately on construction, so developers take shortcuts by asking estate agents to advise on popular trends for their architects to emulate. This process creates stale buildings that look like mediocre facsimiles of each other, which is fine when the economy is doing well and demand outpaces supply, but when the economy takes a wobble, the model bursts at the seams. The woes of commercial workplace are a case in point. In fact, it seems that property development is always caught like a rabbit in the headlights at each unforeseen event, and these have been frequent in the last 15 years. This is because there is an erroneous yet unshakable conviction that property is a utility not a commodity, so buildings are conceived as vessels for mundane activities rather than crucibles of mesmerising experiences and exhilarating content creation.
It won't be online shopping that will annihilate retail and it isn't working from home that will kill office buildings, it's how boring and unimaginative architectural spaces and typologies can become.
What if most property typologies learned from popular culture productions, not just retail? Property is a commodity, design is a service and the user is a consumer to be won over.
The House of Bernarda Alba, nationaltheatre.org.uk, photo by Marc Brenner
Phaedra, nationaltheatre.org.uk, photo by Johan Persson