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3rd February 2021

What does the Venice Biennale have in common with the London office letting experience?

AMELIA HAINES

CREATIVE

Our industry clients are diverse. From private investors to institutional landlords, each has a different brief to the next. However, one thing they all have in common is a desire to make their property letting experience memorable. Given the state of the market, the amount of available space and choice for occupiers, the market is as competitive as it’s ever been. So how do you make sure tenants viewing your property find it unforgettable?

Two years ago, I was fortunate enough to experience the Biennale - a bi-annual art festival in Venice. A mass amount of work is exhibited in three different locations across the city ranging from art, architecture, cinema, dance, music, theatre, and historical archives. My favourite location was The Venetian Arsenal which is a complex of former shipyards and armouries clustered together. A huge warehouse had been taken over by a gallery and filled with paintings, photographs, sculptures, and all sorts of other mediums. As I walked through, so many different pieces stood out. It was as if each one was shouting to get your attention whether due to sound, size, or appearance. Unique in their own right, some pieces were overwhelming and some under, yet as I walked on, I felt myself disengage. The work altogether was too much of an assault on the senses and I didn’t know where to look.

As I reached the end, I saw a dark corridor that seemed as though it led somewhere that I should not miss. I could hear and feel a low hum rumbling through the floor which intrigued me further. As I rounded the end of the corridor I was completely transported. I had walked into a new dimension as I stood in front of an enormous screen that was playing Ryoji Ikeda’s ‘data-verse’. The display was phenomenal and because it was secluded from the rest of the exhibition and demanded its own space, I felt fully immersed in the visual display.

How does this relate to property marketing?

It may seem an abstract comparison, but I like to compare that moment to the world of selling space. Like that exhibition, it can be overwhelming for tenants when everyone and everything demands your attention. But at the Biennale I was able to find the hidden gem and that’s the moment TX strives to recreate for companies looking for their new home. My experience of Ryoji Ikeda’s installation was like none of the others because the artist had, through his creation, considered the importance of fully immersing his audience. No gimmicks.

“Lose your mind and come to your senses”
- Fritz Perl

To make an experience memorable, you need to capture the audience and that can be done in many ways. Stimulating the five senses is a good place to start. By engaging each one, someone can be fully immersed as the senses are used to help us understand the environment around us. Each one taps into a different part of the brain making it hard to forget because while the tactile memory may fade, the scent memory may remain when you inhale a similar smell three years later.

Tech is at the forefront of ‘innovative’ new ideas and whilst it is important, we believe it’s best when it’s balanced by a physical experience too. Think back to an event you’ve enjoyed so much that you’ve taken a piece of memorabilia away with you as a physical reminder.

There is an importance of not just relying on modern solutions that create something beyond what has been done before, but also bringing it back to the basic experiences that trigger ‘nostalgia’ (which is argued to be a ‘sense’ all of its own).

“To be engaging and memorable, experiences must be dramatic”
– Joseph Pine

In order for an experience to be engaging, it needs the user. Neither design nor drama means a thing without the interaction of an audience – in our case, the prospective tenant.

TX is about making those short moments at a viewing seriously count. Not simply relying on the architecture and amenities of a building but focusing on the lasting impression you make on a person by creating a thought-provoking, personal, and above all memorable experience.

“Time is scarce. People’s attention even more so in this fast-paced, user-experience driven world. We need to make sure every moment counts because if we don’t, someone else will’
- Charlotte Toon, TX

We continuously bring everything that TX does back to the fact we are living in a user-experience driven world. Much like my experience at the Biennale, we are navigating people away from the overwhelming distractions and down a corridor to a new, unforgettable way of engaging with commercial space.