The Cornell Real Estate conference was held at Convene in New York City on Thursday and Friday October 9th and 10th. The conference was capped off on Friday afternoon with a unique question and answer panel session focused on emerging trends in real estate development.
Robert Balder, Executive Director at the Cornell University College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) at New York City moderated the “Reimaging Real Estate Panel Discussion”. The panelists featured three industry leaders in the fields of real estate development, architecture, and design. The panel included Kate Bicknell, SVP of Forest City Ratner Companies; Christopher Sharples, Principal of SHoP Architects and SHoP Construction; and Thomas Vecchione, Principal and Director of Real Estate Strategy at Gensler. Each panelist presented on a topic and facilitated an open discussion amongst the other panelists regarding their presentation.
Bicknell spoke on the importance of innovation in creating a product, process, and place for a development project. She spoke briefly on the CornellTech project and the importance of innovation when creating “place” with this transformative undertaking. Bicknell stressed the importance of the project as “the definition of leveraging real estate to create an experience of constant engagement of creative collaboration and activities. It has the potential to be the supplier of intellectual capital for New York.”
Tom Vecchione of Gensler delivered an enthusiastic speech about the power of story telling and the importance of building a lasting brand. Vecchionne emphasized the importance of creating an image as a top tier design firm by explaining, “premium design creates premium value. People come to work for the experience and design creates that experience.” Vecchione finished his speech by discussing the importance of community and the reshaping of work styles. The theme of adapting workspace to the new user was an extremely powerful message throughout each presentation.
Chris Sharples of SHoP spoke last on several different topics ranging from the expansion of private sector companies into African research environments to the complex intricacies associated with creating the Barclays Center. Sharples discussed the difficulties of creating the digital model for the skin of the iconic Brooklyn arena and the transition from the design phase to the execution phase of the project.
Baker students were fortunate to hear from Kate Bicknell earlier in the semester during the Baker Program’s weekly Distinguished Speaker Series. This provided context to the CornellTech project and the unique Roosevelt Island environment. The panel offered Baker students a distinct perspective on the future of real estate design and development. “Listening to Tom Vecchione of Gensler was a great experience. He was incredibly enthusiastic and it was great to hear about the various strategies of new age office design,” explained John Strosser (Baker/MBA ’17).
