Butterfly Voyage is laying the foundation for Q3 + Q4 with our clients; we anticipate that recovery for our industry has started and will accelerate in the fall.

As we guide our clients through recovery, we want to support them with perspectives from our industry and beyond. These residential real estate development, adjacent markets, and macro-environment perspectives are intended to support with facts, inspiration, and discussion starters to move forward during these challenging times.

Here are our three sets of articles, insights, and thought-starters to inspire your recovery-focused discussions.

Residential Development : Our New Normal

Brookings Institution
The economy will recover; the trillion-dollar question is when, and how. Which curve best describes what it might look like? Z-shaped, V-shaped, U-shaped, W-shaped, L-shaped, or the Nike Swoosh? Louise Shiner and Kadija Yilla explain what each of these means, and which one of these appears most likely.
➤ The ABCs of the post-COVID economic recovery

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Part 1 | The discussion starts with the impact on home prices and volume, then moves to the rumored exodus from densely populated cities, and ends with a focus on existing homeowners. Lauren Murrow leads the conversation and asks "How has social distancing shaken up the market to buy?" and "How can tech streamline the inefficient process of renting, buying, and selling a home?"
➤ Part 1 | Real Estate in a Pandemic: Homeowners and Buyers

Part 2 | a16z host Lauren Murrow begins by discussing the pressures on renters, the uncertainty around federal relief measures, and the cascading effects on mom-and-pop landlords. The discussion then turns to the outlook for prices and volume in the rental market, particularly in large cities like New York and San Francisco, and ends with a discussion about the opportunity for tech to solve outdated and inefficient processes for both renters and landlords.
➤ Part 2 | Real Estate in a Pandemic: Renters and Landlords

Los Angeles Times
The future of architectural + product design will involve embracing existing design pieces, as much as introducing new technologies. “Every crisis is an opportunity,” says Hernán Díaz Alonso, Director of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). “The optimist in me believes that this will force us to reevaluate everything that we do.” This is a time, he says, to ask “the big metaphysical questions” about architecture and its purpose. It’s also about considering the nuts and bolts. “If we don’t get a vaccine, what does that mean? What does that mean in terms of physical space? What do you do with a doorknob?”
➤ Are doorknobs out?

HKS
A brilliant piece that begins with Alexander Briseno, Greg Verabian, Brooke Walbuck, and Kate Campbell reviewing the basics, then moves into specific user-experience case studies (complete with schematic drawings) using specific residence sizes + layouts. HKS believes that “Regardless of whether it’s a market-rate high-rise or an affordable housing development, designers should incorporate details that make it easier for tenants to live, work and learn together in their homes. These benefits should not be considered a luxury.”
➤ How Design Will Shift to Accommodate Post-COVID-19 Multifamily Living

Dezeen
11 significant ways the pandemic will impact future homes. Former ELLE Decor UK Editor-in-Chief Michelle Ogundehin takes us through how the flow of space + details of our future homes can be conceived, programmed, and designed.
➤ In the future home, form will follow infection

The New York Times
In this piece, Tom Acitelli discusses how mixed-use projects have been incredibly attractive to development teams in the past; they offer the opportunity to develop complexes built with an ecosystem of residences, offices, plazas, hotels, shops, and restaurants. Then he raises the big question. How do we make them even more attractive in 2020 and beyond?
➤ Pandemic Threatens to Upend a Thriving Real Estate Model

Adjacent Markets

Gensler
Surprise! Not everyone loves working from home. While we are designing home offices in residences or adjusting our amenity spaces, we need to listen to and seek out perspectives from those who do not consider WFH a desirable situation. While we cannot control the path of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can ensure that our thinking includes all perspectives + desires for flexible spaces.
➤ U.S. Work from Home Survey 2020

CityLab
Without elevators, there would be no tall buildings. In the close quarters of a semi-public space, what behavior should people display and expect of one another? Laura Bliss intelligently navigates the evolving new protocols, from both a mental and physiological health perspective.
➤ Elevators Changed Cities. Will Coronavirus Change Elevators?

The Atlantic
Amanda Mull explains why "visions of an urban ice age" may inspire plenty of people to fire up Zillow in a fit of anxiety to leave major cities, but for most people a lot more than that is needed to actually start filling up moving boxes. Is this the beginning of the end for cities? We think not.
➤ The High Cost of Panic-Moving

Business of Home
Business of Home rounded up three recent virtual panels where design professionals discussed racial inequality in the design industry. Our thought-leadership piece later this month will focus on diversity in the industry; this piece provides great thought starters as to how our industry can respond.
➤ The design industry is talking about race—for real this time

Interior Design | ThinkLab
How do design, approvals and production go more digital? Amanda Schneider takes us through how development collaborators are building processes for and engaging teams in our accelerated virtual world.
➤ 3 Predictions on How Remote Work Will Shift Product Specification

Macro Perspectives : The Rest Of The World

The Just City Lab @ Harvard GSD
We are literally building the future. 26 authors. Two questions, "What would a just city look like? "What could be the strategies to get there?" answered by architects, mayors, artists, doctors, designers and scholars, philanthropists, urban planners, and community activists. Responses from 22 cities across five continents and myriad vantage points. Each essay is meant as a provocation — a call to action. You will notice common threads as well as notes of dissonance. Just like any urban fabric, heterogeneity reigns.
➤ The Just City Essays | Vol 1

Medium
In times like these, layoffs are inevitable. Over the past few months, BV has witnessed them done right and done in ways that made us cringe. Tim Denning says it best: “Being human makes you more money in the long-term." In this piece for Medium, he reflects on how Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky addressed his company’s layoffs in an incredibly human way.
➤ The CEO of Airbnb Taught Us an Extraordinary Lesson When He Fired 25% of His Company

The Atlantic
Editor’s Note: These make you think; make you a bit reflective. Our favorites are "A Commencement Address Too Honest to Deliver in Person" via David Brooks and "Dear Graduates, Never Wait Your Turn" via Jemele Hill who shares this quote from the great Kobe Bryant:

"Everybody wants a happy ending. Now let’s go to the reality of it. Let’s look at Snow White. She gets a happy ending. She finds Prince Whatever. She goes on, she lives happily ever after. Well, I call bullshit on that. Two months later, the fact is, they had an argument and he’s sleeping on the couch. The point is, the story continues. If you fail on Monday, the only way it’s a failure on Monday is if you decide not to progress from that. That’s why failure is nonexistent. If I fail today, then I’m going to try again on Tuesday."

➤ The Atlantic : Class of 2020 : Advice for Recent Graduates

Butterfly Voyage will be sharing more required reading every month as we continue to immerse ourselves in the many perspectives being shared during these times. We hope that some of these are helpful, and we would love to hear your feedback as to why certain pieces resonated with you.

A thank you to Butterfly Voyage contributor Basma Rajper. Her valuable research, insights discussion, and support were a key part of making this piece come to life.