A few years ago, while touring the Coliseum in Rome with my family, I was surprised to learn that its fallen walls were not the result of years of deterioration from the elements but rather the result of the Roman citizens’ need for reasonably accessible and inexpensive building materials for their homes and other buildings. Fortunately for us, somewhere along the line, a decision was made to put a stop to this and to preserve what serves as a symbol of Rome’s rich cultural heritage.

Office Buildings are like that. Once people realized that we didn’t need as much of it – office space owners, investors, developers, builders and financiers started looking for ways to use their remains, each with his own economic end in mind.

Initially, in order to allow the space to be offered more economically, some clever agents, came up with the expression “Spec Suites” –  a fancy term for new carpet, paint and a new sink and cabinets. Then we had “Trophy Towers” with piano players in the lobbies, fancy exercise facilities and conference facilities. These were the newer, bigger buildings, with the highest rental rates! They deserved all the tenants to move to them … right?

These marketing concepts were so novel that, for many in our industry, they became accepted as reality without question.

In the meantime, as for the other buildings in the market, they might as well be converted to apartments or torn down to build mixed use communities … and more apartments.

Without commenting on merits of any of that, let’s take a minute to look at the buildings and their intended use as office space.

Office space does not demand a health club or conference center – not even a piano player. Office space because of its cost should demand efficiency and functionality.

This requires simple, rectangular floor plans with central cores for lobbies, restrooms, elevators, mechanical rooms, stairways. Nothing works better. A need for natural light and spacial comfort would dictate shallower bay depths and a corresponding greater amount of window area which typically translates into smaller floors. Ceiling heights also affect the spacial comfort factor.

Sadly, towards the end … right before the pandemic, the office building industry lost its way and started putting in saw-toothed, curved and pointed designs which, where architecturally interesting, were never done for the purpose of efficiency. When we start tearing down buildings, these should be the first to go. This would include quite a few of the Trophy buildings.

Unfortunately, because so many of us have bought into the “Trophy” concept, many of the really good buildings will end up being torn down as well or, what’s worse, replaced with buildings with “saw-toothed, curved and pointed designs”.