Global architecture practice Woods Bagot has announced its backing of the new consultancy ERA-co. With global headquarters in New York, ERA-co has capabilities spanning the disciplines of Urban Systems and Planning, User Strategy, and Brand Experience. With a global collective of data scientists, strategists and experience designers, ERA-co partners with clients to transform the future of cities, neighborhoods and business to positively impact the lives of people and the places they inhabit.
The consultancy is led by Steven Cornwell, a former chief marketer and brand studio founder, James Calder, an early pioneer in activity-based workplace design and a leader in workplace strategy for the digital age, and Dr. Christian Derix, a pioneer of user-centric spatial planning with AI who has spent the past 20 years developing computational planning systems at the nexus between human-centric design, spatial cognition and machine learning.
With community behavior and expectations changing at increasing speed and technology profoundly changing the way we experience space, the three leaders saw a need for architecture and planning to be complemented by new skillsets.
“We wanted to form a new consulting model that sits in the transformative space between creativity and consulting to enable our clients to tackle the 21st century’s biggest challenges,” says Cornwell. “The importance of evidence-based thinking – from I think to I know – and the growing attention to Experience in the boardroom, convinces me that now is the time to offer something new and different.”
As the founder of the influential Australian brand studio Cornwell and, more recently, CMO of masterplan developer The Howard Hughes Corporation, Cornwell’s experience is something Woods Bagot CEO Nik Karalis values.
“Steven’s experience in the boardroom means he has greater empathy towards the realities clients face every day,” says Woods Bagot CEO Nik Karalis. “His experience, coupled with that of James Calder and Dr. Christian Derix, will bring actionable and evidence-based solutions to business challenges.”
As it relates to ERA-co’s relationship with Woods Bagot, Cornwell emphasizes the consultancy’s independence. “It’s important for us to be fiercely independent. We need objectivity as we offer solutions to our client’s operations. The idea is to produce tangible, actionable insights that align owner’s and operator’s ambitions with the user’s experience.”
With operating offices in New York, Melbourne, Sydney and London (and plans to open in Shanghai at the beginning of 2020), the consultancy reports that it has already begun working on projects with a select group of clients in North America, Europe and Australia, proving its global ambitions from the start.
A Triumvirate of Offerings:
Brand Experience
ERA-co’s brand experience methodology is to define, shape and grow brands from the inside out. The Brand team comes to ERA-co with deep experience working with some the world’s most revered multi-national organizations, start-ups and real estate developers. The Brand Experience aspect of ERA-co is led by Steven Cornwell who most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer of The Howard Hughes Corporation where he oversaw placemaking, vision and positioning strategy for the Seaport District in lower Manhattan and Ward Village in Honolulu. In this role he was instrumental in the regeneration of the district as well as other masterplan communities across the United States.
User Strategy
Think of this aspect of ERA-co as a cross between a management consultancy and a design firm. Led by James Calder, the team has a deep understanding of workstyles, organizational cultures and extensive experience in project delivery. Calder and the ERA-co team have developed workplace strategies and specialist buildings for lawyers, accountants, management consultants, media and technology organizations, investment and retail banks, governments and universities. They also work for real estate owners and developers to design the next generation of buildings for the digital age. Calder is a practitioner, facilitator, author and educator interested in all facets of strategy, design and workplace optimization.
Urban Systems
As a multi-disciplinary research team, Urban Systems explores the dynamic relationship between people and space, ultimately developing digital design systems based on user and spatial analysis. Their findings provide the data-rich evidence for developers, urban designers and governments to create truly human-centric environments. Urban Systems is led by Dr. Christian Derix, who has been a pioneer in computation for architecture and urban design for nearly 20 years, developing fundamental research for user-driven spatial design. Since the 90s, he has led research and development at the nexus between human-centric design, spatial cognition and machine learning.
