Emerging Professionals Presents the April General Meeting: Behind the Scenes

This article was written and contributed by the BOMA Emerging Professionals Committee.

Often the Emerging Professionals committee at BOMA Seattle King County gets the reputation of being the "fun group,” with just the fun events. Conversely, we are faced with being the next generation of commercial real estate professionals and as a result, are always looking to discover what the future of our industry will look like. In January, Rod Kauffman (BOMA Seattle King County President) approached us to see if we would be interested in organizing the April General Meeting and with this mindset in the forefront, we decided moments later this was something we should definitely tackle.

Our main goal planning the event was to keep that "fun” reputation while presenting something cutting edge, but interesting to anyone attending. Different topics were thrown around, but the idea that seemed to stick was Emerging Trends in Architecture and Design. Part of this was due to the fact that Aaron Blankers (Washington Holdings) had recently met with Sam Stubblefield of NBBJ who is doing some very cutting edge work in how buildings can interact with tenants and visitors. Mick Newell (Kidder Mathews) also had been working with architects from Perkins+Will at the building he manages, so we decided to bring the two firms together to cover this topic.

As we discussed with both groups, it became very clear that the future of buildings revolves around not only owners’ interests, but also ensuring that these built environments are places people want to come to work each day. If both of those goals can be met, then property managers, owners and tenants will be happy.

Sam’s presentation focused on his own journey through his career as an architect. He found himself wanting to move away from the traditional work and explore avenues that could really change buildings and built environments in an impactful way. For example, he was recently involved in a project in the Denny Triangle that included sound being projected in lobby spaces based on the time of the day and the weather outside.  As a result, it enabled occupants and visitors to feel connected to what was happening beyond the walls of the building.

On the other hand, Ryan Bussard and Erik Mott from Perkins+Will focused on a list of the key elements that they take into account when looking at architecture in the future. For them, they focused on how buildings can interact with outside environments and have bright, open, collaborative spaces where employees really want to work. They went so far as to make the case for creating a space that is so great, employees might even blend the idea of home and workplace, resulting in happier workers and increased productivity.

Looking toward the future, it is clear that there will be an increased demand for workplaces that focus on tenant satisfaction and incorporate artwork, all while keeping building owners’ objectives in mind and maximizing income. We were very grateful to have found both the NBBJ and Perkins+Will presenters so that this meeting could give attendees a little bit of a preview as to what is coming next in property management. Our hope is that in future years, the Emerging Professionals committee can be involved at least once a year in planning a General Meeting, bringing a new topic they might never have thought of before, to the BOMA community.