Seven Benefits as Architectural Firms Acquire Design-Experience Firms

Increasingly, art commissioners request projects that include immersive experiences for viewers, recognizing that user-centered design enhances the participatory experience. Architecture firms are critical partners in the creation of these large-scale art installations designed for museums, healthcare facilities, commercial properties and other public spaces. When those skills don’t exist within the company, acquisition of design-experience firms becomes a key strategy.

Architectural firms have recently come to view design-experience firms as critical partners in fabricating and installing large-scale art projects. In early February, global architecture and design firm NBBJ announced its acquisition of experience-design studio ESI Design. ESI Design becomes the eighteenth studio within NBBJ, and its acquisition is the largest ever of an experience-design firm by an architecture firm.

Both companies have collaborated previously on corporate and commercial projects and intend to streamline services by incorporating immersive digital experiences in the design process for commercial high-rises, sports stadiums, and hospitals, as well as museums.

In fact, mergers and acquisitions within the architecture industry are not uncommon, and in fact, have proceeded at a rapid pace. The 2015 Merger & Acquisition Survey of A/E/P and Environmental Consulting Firms (Zweig Group) found that 78 percent of architecture and interior design firms reported strategic plans for the next five years that include either a merger or an acquisition.

While much of this activity is larger firms acquiring smaller firms, many acquisitions serve to broaden the scope of design capabilities across disciplines. For example, the Interior Design magazine article "13 Design Industry Mergers & Acquisitions" cites instances of architectural firms acquiring companies that specialize in wall treatments, conference room furniture, bath fixtures, outdoor furniture, kitchen products, glass fabrication and residential furnishings.

Reasons to Add Experience-Design Capabilities to an Architecture Firm’s Core Capabilities

Experience-design professionals, in the arts and across the spectrum of how and where we live, add exceptional value. As mergers and acquisitions occur, significant benefits favorably impact the operations of both the acquiring architectural firm bidding on art commissions and the acquired design-experience firm that helps them bring the vision to fruition. These include:

1. Large-scale commissioned art projects increasingly call for opportunities to engage viewers through direct interaction, visual design, functionality, typography and more. The increasing complexity of these projects and the growing influence of user-centered design in large-scale art installations make high-value commissioned artwork projects attractive to both architectural firms and design-experience firms. Architecture firms increasingly find that design-experience firms are integral to their long-term strategy for extending the user experience (UX) beyond building design and into the realm of arts interactivity. Leveraging this internal skill set provides greater opportunity for successful bids on these large-scale art projects.
2. Design-experience professionals understand the ways human behavior best interacts with art of all kinds. These insights mold the development of experiences that excite, stimulate, inform and create memories. Strong user-centered design processes and innovative thinking can transform an art installation through artificial intelligence and interactivity while establishing a strong sense of place through storytelling and narrative. UX professionals such as designers, technologists, writers, creators and software designers bring much to projects beyond traditional architecture.
3. Design partners can help architectural firms meet the various demands of existing clients. In addition to offering professional digital expertise, designers can cross-sell additional services such as LED lighting, interpretive panels, interactive workshops and events, typography services, user interfaces and more. The breadth of services available within one enterprise makes for better service and closer coordination of effort.
4. Design partners provide access to deeper expertise, new markets and increased revenue. Both firms have extensive lists of art commissioners, fabricators, vendors, consultants and a history of previous successful projects. These co-mingled contacts are invaluable for extending geographic reach and notoriety across disciplines. Stronger portfolios in specific markets means greater competitiveness, enabling them to charge more for services and subsequently increase revenues.
5. Good talent brings more good talent. Design-experience professionals know others willing to leave smaller firms with less apparent stability or less fulfilling projects in favor of larger firms with greater opportunity to create and succeed. UX talent is extremely hard to find and the supply is low.
6. Reduction in overhead costs through efficiencies of scale, resulting in more competitive pricing. Economies of scale in purchasing, benefits administration, health insurance costs, administrative expenses and other aspects of running a people-centered company are oftentimes greater with increased, employed staff. More capital is available for information technology and research & development.
7. Greater control of project outcomes. Principals and managers at architectural firms are always concerned about delivering results as promised on time, on budget and with exceptional results. Direct managerial control over employed design-experience staff helps to assure these parameters are met.

As designs of large-scale art installations become more complex, technical specifications require expertise available exclusively to those design-experience firms with a satisfactory track record of successful installations. Architecture firms have realized it is better to acquire partner agencies that can execute the design work as the requirement arises. The collaboration of architects and experience-design professionals within an enterprise brings with it better ammunition to deliver exceptional results. The rapid pace of mergers and acquisitions within the industry is likely to continue and will undoubtedly include more courtship of companies with experience-design capabilities.

Publish Your Projects

CODAworx is a leading authority on commissioned art and we maintain a comprehensive database of information regarding RFPs, commissioning entities, budgets, and awards. Tapping into this database enables CODAweekly to also feature regular Industry Reports by design segment (commercial, hospitality, healthcare, etc.) that will highlight top artists, trends in commission fees, and more.

We encourage you to add information to the CODAworx database by publishing a project to our Project Library. Anyone involved in the collaborative process can publish a project on CODAworx. This includes the artist and creative teams, design professionals and other commissioners, and industry resources including fabricators, engineers, installers, lighting designers, videographers, and more.

The more information we know about our industry, the smarter we can work and create! Contribute to the knowledge base. Potential clients, commissioners, collaborators and your peers will get to know you and your work. They can contact you directly through the CODAworx messaging system.