Once and for all, let’s put the tired term “Creative Office” behind us. Used to describe the workplace of new technology industries and a new generation of flip flop-wearing workers, the term was abused and perverted by the real estate profession, I’m sorry to say. First and worst of
all, they tried to define creative office by a type of building (old, obsolete industrial buildings) and where it was likely to be found. The archetypal locations in the Los Angeles region have been Santa Monica, Venice, El Segundo, Culver City, Hollywood, and the Arts District in downtown L.A. But the misguided definitions of structure and place missed the point. The emerging new concepts about the communal office are about the people and the work – and it can take place
anywhere.
The “Creative Office” cliché is being crushed in downtown Los Angeles. In the midst of a breathtaking renaissance, young entrepreneurs and professionals are flocking to its long forgotten core to live and play. (And eat…OMG) And in everyone’s view is Bunker Hill, home to the city’s largest
concentration of skyscrapers. Where better to challenge the notion that the new office space paradigm is exclusive to low-slung, worn down buildings?
If the primary creative office precept is collaboration, then it can flourish in a dense, vertical downtown community brimming with cultural institutions and
richly programmed public spaces. It is starting to happen. Brookfield Office Properties’ experimental DesignHive of six bleeding-edge spec suites in two of their Bunker Hill Towers is a must-see. Give me a call. I’ll give you a tour.
Another perception that is being trashed is that “Creative Office” is just for tech companies. I have accounting and insurance clients that are shifting to more open plan, team work layouts. No longer relegated to the
“creative” pigeon hole, a new concept of productive office space is here. All aboard!
