MARKET ARCHITECTURE: HOW CAN ARCHITECTURE BE DESIGNED TO MAXIMIZE MARKET VALUE?

Abstract

This thesis investigates the relationship between architecture, money and value, and explores how architecture operates within the market. In order to build something, capital is required. Buildings are seen not only as shelter but as investment objects expected to generate financial return. Housing is a commodity on a market and the value is not necessarily defined by the quality of the building but by market mechanism such as supply and demand. The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how architecture in the form of housing acts as a commodity on a market and to speculate on how the market affects and influences architectural design. This project speculates about what happens when architecture is designed primarily to maximize economic value on a market. The main research question is: How can architecture be designed to maximize market value? According to the theory of supply and demand, the value in a market is set by the market mechanisms of supply and demand. In a free market, the price moves towards the equilibrium point. The method is based on letting the market guide the design. To enable this, data about the housing market is collected, analysed and translated into architecture. The method is based on treating the data literally, where it not only describes reality but is also used to shape it. Through a series of investigations, the thesis analyses supply and demand in the housing market of Gothenburg and explores where demand is located and what architectural attributes that are linked to high market value. The findings are translated into architectural design through a speculative design project. The design is located in a context identified through the investigations and incorporates architectural attributes linked to high market value.

The aim of the design is not necessarily to develop a realistic proposal, but rather to speculate on the consequences of allowing market logic to guide architectural design. In this sense, the project also points towards and sometimes exaggerates the potentially absurd outcomes of such a logic.