The Arcade Advantage

Arcade is a different kind of design company . It is a business that has been designed to meet the challenges of a changing environment. Even if they can't put there finger on it, I am sure that every designer feels the changes that are affecting the industry. Designers are losing control of projects to contractors and suppliers. Designers incomes have declined. Architects were among the highest paid professionals forty years ago, and that is certainly not the case now. If anything indicates the value society places on the profession, income would probably be the best measure.

Why is this happening? The world around us has changed and is continuing to change. Technology is an obvious development, but why it should have a negative impact on designers is less obvious. The real estate industry itself has changed in a dramatic way. The old traditional world of development and ownership was more or less wiped out in the years 1990-92. It's hard to imagine but the dominant form of ownership of real estate today - REITS - is a financial product not much more than ten years old. Pension funds - seeking cash flow - have moved into real estate in a big way. Today's owners are large, often international investors. They are sophisticated financial mangers and they have high demands and expectations for cash flow and return on investment.

The world has changed but designers and consultants have not adapted. Small local firms with highly specialized and narrowly focused skills are ill suited to serve the needs of this evolving industry. Small, undercapitalized and unprofitable, these firms do not have the resources to adapt even if they knew what had to be done. Unable to run and control projects, these companies services have become commodities. Designers now have to competitively bid for the design work often as a sub-contractor to a builder or a furniture manufacturer.

Designers are in a weak situation. Their fees - which reflect society's valuation - have fallen. They are losing control of the construction process. They are becoming marginalized. What can we do?

 

Arcade will reestablish the relevance of designers by increasing the value of what we deliver. We will accomplish this in three ways:

1. Support a building through its entire life cycle rather than pursuing discreet projects.
   
2. Build integrated, multidisciplinary teams of consultants .
   
3. Leverage technology to increase the value of our creativity.
   

Building Life Cycle Management

Traditionally, design consultants have built their practices around the pursuit and execution of projects. An architect is heavily involved with the design and construction of a building but then has little further involvement. A designer will build out an office space and then move on to a new job once it is complete. Work is sporadic. There is a feast and then a famine. Enormous energy is expended in pursuit of the next big job. At Arcade we have a different approach.

Arcade will have the skills to help develop and build a property. We will then stay involved and assist the owner in maximizing value through leasing, tenant and building improvement as well as supporting the technical systems. Arcade will increase value by managing and reusing technical data. When the time comes to redevelop the asset, Arcade will be there to help too.

 

Integrated teams

The design industry today is highly fragmented. Small firms are segregated by profession but are unable to manage the complete scope of a project without collaborating with other small firms in other disciplines. This collaborative process is highly inefficient with enormous amounts of time is spent on non-value creating 'coordination'.

At Arcade, designers and consultants will work together as integrated teams on buildings that they know well. Each consultant will be able to add value and influence the design process towards optimal solutions. An additional benefit will be that Arcade will be reusing accurate and reliable drawing and CAD models.

Arcade will benefit from the drawing management services of Space Database. Once a project is complete, it is archived in the database to support the work of the next team that needs the information in the future.

Technology

Technology has the potential to free designers from the mundane work that consumes much of their time. Unfortunately, most small firms do not have the resources or the skill to implement new technology.

Arcade centralizes services and reduces the cost of back-office management systems. Arcade will also facilitate the implementation of new methodologies and processes such as BIM.

Strategic technologies will not only make us more efficient but it will free designers to focus their time on solving clients real problems and creating more value for them.