Real Estate's George Clooney

Well, because everything makes us think of George Clooney. And in the spirit of Ocean's Eleven, we'd like to introduce a few members of the capable team we've assembled for Bisnow's Chicago Creative Office Summit on Thursday. (There's still time to join us.)

The Strategist: Albert de Plazaola

“We’ve basically been using the same metrics for the last 30 years to evaluate workspace,” AECOM director of strategy and amateur chef Albert de Plazaola tells us (perhaps the most likely of the bunch to cook up an Ocean's-worthy scheme). Companies should optimize space with a business lens, determining their broader goals versus “We need to save 10k SF on real estate.” Firms are looking for idea generation, but that might mean an open plan at a tech startup and ample private office space at a research-heavy firm. We’ve been touting collaboration as the workplace panacea to innovation without acknowledging the need for choice and flexibility for other work practices, he says.

Trends like mobility, globalization, sustainability, and big data should be considered when revamping a space, but only in the context of a firm’s particular business strategy and its employees’ quality of life and productivity, Albert says. He has worked with Silicon Valley companies where face-to-face interaction was a priority for building company culture (like Velti, above). On some projects the AECOM team created space prototypes, iterating as they gathered research until they settled on a healthy mix of interactive and heads-down space.