Workshop: Branding the Built Environment – The Strategic Process

Brand is as essential as it can seem ephemeral. How do we define it, craft it, and drive its visibility in a noisy and competitive landscape?

How should it evolve over time? And when is it time to throw it all out and start again, with the huge undertaking of a strategic re-brand?

Brand strategy matters to businesses – and to buildings – and there isn’t a fixed formula for making it work.

In this workshop, we’re thrilled to invite Alexandra Thom, Executive Creative Director at Revolver, to walk through project examples with substantial strategic foundations and share some guiding principles that shape the way she and her highly creative team think about designing and developing brands.

Workshop: Cultural Projects — In Conversation with Gabriel Smith

For this online Workshop, we’re thrilled to invite you to join Brick & Wonder Founder Drew Lang as he hosts a conversation exploring the dynamics of cultural projects with acclaimed museum architect and Brick & Wonder member, Gabriel Smith, Principal at Allied Works.

Cultural spaces hold a special place in our hearts, and for good reason: they are spaces devoted entirely to the joy of human expression and creation. They are also spaces to which access is largely democratic. Though great architecture can create exceptional private homes, luxury condo developments, cutting-edge office buildings, and even exceptional infrastructure, museums and galleries are one vehicle for architectural expression and creativity that anyone can enjoy.

Roundtable: Performance Under Pressure

Entrepreneurship, leadership, and management all create great stress and pressure on those who lead, but we don’t always succeed in managing these moments well.

In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss strategies and insights for navigating intense workplace pressure, avoiding failure, and supporting those we lead and manage to do the same.

Site Visit: Newlab

We are pleased to invite Brick & Wonder Pro & Council members to a private tour of New Lab – a remarkable adaptive reuse project located in The Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Newlab is a multi-disciplinary, high-tech design and prototyping center that opened in 2016 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

DBI Projects led the development and project management of Newlab from conceptual planning and financing through entitlements, construction and completion.

DBI engineered the Public-Private Partnership between the developer, Macro Sea, the property owner, Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp, and the State of New York through the Empire State Development Corporation and the City of New York through the Brooklyn Borough President, the City Council and the Economic Development Corporation (EDC).

Newlab was founded to address significant societal needs by scaling and commercializing emerging technologies and companies.

Today, Newlab includes more than 900 entrepreneurs, partnerships with forward-thinking corporate and civic entities, and the support of domain experts—all working together to scale frontier technologies.

Workshop: Is Design + Build the Silver Bullet for Optimizing Construction?

We invite you to join Brick & Wonder Founder Drew Lang as he hosts a conversation with acclaimed Design + Build Architect Tom Gluck, Principal at Gluck+ Architects.

In new construction, renovation, and adaptive reuse, traditional approaches to design and construction involve an architect leading the design phase, and a general contractor executing the construction by assembling the right team of subcontractors, creating a triangular relationship with the client.

While there is certainly room for mastery in both these siloed disciplines were not always as separate as they seem today. Each approach has benefits and drawbacks, but as US construction costs climb ever higher, there is a case to be made for streamlining project delivery. Design + Build approaches promise to do just that – but do they live up to the claim?

Roundtable Austin: Intelligent Risk

Risk is an essential dimension in business (and life!), but it can be the making or undoing of businesses, ideas, partnerships, projects, and teams.

How do you manage and take risks in your business? What are the qualities or factors you weigh in taking risks? What is the course you are plotting with the risks you’re taking?

We invite Brick & Wonder Pro and Council members to join us in Austin for a Roundtable on Intelligent Risk. 

Professional Portrait Day

Are you in need of a new professional headshot?

Join us in January as we offer a day of complimentary headshot photo sessions to Pro & Council members with the talented portrait photographer Harry Zernike. This is the perfect opportunity to update your professional image.

Roundtable: Refining Client Experiences

Research shows eight in ten customers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience.

The moments when we kick off and close out client engagements present opportunities to create high-impact, memorable experiences. There are certainly other opportunities along the way, including how we handle emerging project challenges or bad news about timelines and budgets.

In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss strategies and insights on how to foster impactful, innovative, and sustainable client experiences and relationships.

Stephen Burks at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

We are pleased to invite Brick & Wonder Pro & Council members to a private tour of Shelter in Place, a new exhibition featuring the work of Stephen Burks at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Winner of the 2023 Collab Design Excellence Award, Chicago native Stephen Burks is an industrial designer whose innovative approach to design synthesizes craft, community, and industry. Stephen Burks: Shelter in Place, which originated at the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), surveys the last ten years of Burks’ craft-centered, workshop-based design practice at midcareer.

In addition to global craft projects, furniture, lighting fixtures, and other industrial products, the exhibition features a new speculative project—Shelter in Place—which explores new ideas regarding our relationship with our homes, especially in the wake of a global pandemic, and invites active participation from visitors.

Roundtable: Reading the Room

Everyone has surely imagined what it would be like to read another person’s mind: the potential client, disappointed by the presentation but unwilling to concede exactly why; the potential hire, unwilling to reveal their true levers in a hiring negotiation.

Our inability to read minds is probably a blessing – we may not always like what we’d find. But this doesn’t stop us from trying to anticipate and second-guess people. Occasionally we might nail it, but, perhaps overwhelmingly we’re more likely to be wrong than right. Join us as we dig into the dynamics of trying to read the room, or failing to, and the effects this can have on our business and personal growth.

Council Dinner

We’re excited to invite Brick & Wonder Council Members and select guests to join us downtown for an exclusive dinner at award-winning chef Marc Forgione’s restaurant, Peasant.

An intimate evening of delicious rustic Italian fare, wine pairings, and compelling conversation in a private wine cellar. Iron Chef winner, Marc Forgione, is a pillar of the New York dining scene, and an internationally acclaimed voice in the industry; we’re thrilled to experience and explore his cuisine collectively.

Art as an Amenity in the Built Environment

Join Sugarlift Founder Wright Harvey and Director Sylvie Kuvin to explore the role fine art plays in the built environment.

Whether it is a large-scale installation placed in the lobby of a commercial building, or a small still-life oil painting in a collector’s home, artwork curation and sourcing is a significant and often-overlooked element of spatial design.

Harvey and Kuvin will delve into case studies showcasing the impact that curated artwork can make in transforming public and private built environments.

Pro & Council Fall Cocktails: Maxwell Social

We’re thrilled to invite Brick & Wonder Pro and Council Members and select guests to join us for drinks and canapés at Maxwell Social, Tribeca’s newest private club.

We’ll gather in this lavish, moody, and intimate space for cocktails and conversation. This is the perfect opportunity to explore an exciting new venue and connect with members of our community in person.

Roundtable: Thought Leadership

In this roundtable we will explore ways to build your personal influence through creative thought leadership, and why this work is valuable in your own professional development, and in order to grow your business.

ADFF:NY

We’re excited to invite Brick & Wonder members and select guests to join us at the Architecture & Design Film Festival!

We’re offering complimentary tickets to the screening of the US premiere of The Power of Utopia – Living with Le Corbusier in Chandigarh. This compelling film will be followed by a conversation with accomplished podcaster, Avery Trufelman.

This film dives into Le Corbusier’s planned city of Chandigarh, and explores an important question– did Corbu create a utopian masterpiece or a modernist nightmare?

Workshop: Designing for Smart Homes

We’re pleased to invite Brick & Wonder members and their teams to participate in this online workshop focused on Smart Home design.

Clients and end-users increasingly expect smart interactions with built spaces, whether to control the lighting, music, temperature, or access security.

As the teams building these spaces, we need to understand the user needs to which smart buildings must respond.

WRLDCTY 2023

WRLDCTY is the Global Forum for Urban Innovation. The conference connects a global community around expertly curated sessions and workshops that uncover, provoke, and inspire inventive solutions transforming cities around the world.

Brick & Wonder members are invited to attend and can use the promo code found in our private community site for discounted registration.

Workshop: Productizing a Service

We’re excited to invite Brick & Wonder members to participate in this online workshop exploring the process and experience of productizing a service.

Are you intrigued by the idea of transforming your professional service into a tangible product? Join us for an insightful presentation on the art of Productizing a Service. This program dives into the world of shaping your expertise into a product, offering a path to consistent delivery, predictable outcomes, and enhanced profitability.

Roundtable Austin: Seeding Innovation

We’re excited to invite our community in Austin to join us at Michael Hsu’s studio in Austin, TX for this Roundtable titled Seeding Innovation. 

Innovation in the ways we work, and in the products and services we produce creates opportunity. Yet innovation is an ongoing proposition – it’s not enough just to innovate once. In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss approaches to seeding innovation in your field and nurturing the capability to innovate in your teams – even among the consultants you hire.

Roundtable: Sales & Selling

We’re thrilled to invite Brick & Wonder Pro & Council members to join us at Stickbulb in Long Island City for our Roundtable, Sales & Selling. Stickbulb is an innovative lighting design studio that utilizes reclaimed wood to craft stunning modern pieces, and their large loft space functions as both their showroom and their manufacturing studio.

In this Roundtable we’ll discuss the way survival and growth in business depend on sales and selling, but for many, the process is exhausting, emotionally fraught and a distraction from the satisfaction of doing the work we’re required to sell.

Site Tour: Brooklyn Grange

We’re excited to invite Pro & Council members to a site tour of Brooklyn Grange’s rooftop farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

This working urban farm spans a huge rooftop and is embedded in the fabric of NYC— supplying local communities with healthy food, acting as an educational resource for both children and adults, and bringing much-needed green space to an otherwise very industrial area of the city.

Brooklyn Grange not only has 3 robust and functional farms spread out across Brooklyn and Queens, but they also design, install, and maintain green roofs throughout NYC. This site tour will be led by the CEO and Founder of Brooklyn Grange, Ben Flanner.

Brooklyn BBQ!

We’re excited to invite Brick & Wonder members to a BBQ hosted by fellow member and furniture designer Mark Jupiter at his studio in Dumbo!

Join us for a fun and casual summer gathering, connect with our community over food and drinks, and spend a beautiful evening in the heart of Dumbo.

Space is limited so please RSVP.

Professional Headshot Day

Please join us in July as we offer complimentary headshot sessions with the talented photographer and Brick & Wonder member, Conor Harrigan. This is the perfect opportunity to update your image and this is open to all Brick & Wonder members, but space is limited.

Expanding Business Ownership

We’re excited to invite Brick & Wonder members to join us at the beautiful Henrybuilt showroom in Soho for our July Roundtable, Expanding Business Ownership.

As your business grows, it becomes increasingly critical to retain senior team members that have deep institutional knowledge, valuable client and collaborator relationships, and tailored experience in core business activities.

One of the best means available to promote retention is a structured business ownership program, which gives senior leaders a stake in business outcomes.

In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss the notion of expanding business ownership by extending Profits Interests, or Shares (of different kinds) to senior team members.

PARTY – Summer Social

We’re excited to invite Brick & Wonder members and their guests to our Summer Social at Olympia Dumbo in Brooklyn!

Join us for a fun and informal gathering for Brick & Wonder members, as well as guests interested in learning more about the Brick & Wonder community. We’ll celebrate the summer season on the private rooftop terrace of the newest addition to the Dumbo skyline.

Refreshments will be provided.

RSVP is required!

How to Transition Your Company on Your Terms

We invite all Brick & Wonder members to join us for this workshop on business transition planning, as we explore the ins and outs of transitioning your company on your own terms.

It’s crucial to start planning for your transition, whether it comes next year or in a decade. Given recent business cycles, supply chain challenges, and talent issues, owners may be thinking about their next stage sooner than expected. In this workshop, we will discuss a 3-step framework to transition your business on your terms, and gain clarity on some of the biggest decisions of your life.

This workshop, will be led by Laurie Barkman, who works with entrepreneurs on their journey from transition to transaction, from creating value to letting go. She provides a structured process for business owners to plan successful transitions of their companies.

Social Media Strategy & Branding for the Built Environment

We’re excited to invite all Brick & Wonder members to join us for this compelling workshop exploring social media and branding as it pertains to the built environment industry. The social media landscape is a fast-paced and ever-changing one, it can be challenging to follow and keep up with, but when used to its fullest capacity it can be incredibly powerful. This workshop is the perfect opportunity to discover new tools, discuss best practices & current trends, and ask questions both big and small.

This workshop will be led by Heather Samples, a partner and the head of strategy at Transport, a New York-based creative studio specializing in brand identities and campaigns. Formerly an educator and executive communications leader at CUNY, the Cooper Union and Columbia University, she approaches brand strategy as an opportunity to tell stories that change how people think and behave. Heather has helped startups, global corporations, and many brands in between show up with intention and humanity, including Walmart, Citrix, TIAA, Kate Spade, Cole Haan, and Bonobos.

Intelligent Risk

We invite Brick & Wonder Pro and Council members to join us in Brooklyn at Public Records for a Roundtable on Intelligent Risk. Public Records is an innovative multi-use space that caters to audiophiles and tastemakers, is known for its impact on the global music scene, its design forward aesthetic, and its commitment to sustainability. We’re excited to explore The Nursery, the newest addition to the venue.

We’ll discuss risk, which is an essential dimension in business (and life!), but can lead to the making or undoing of businesses, ideas, partnerships, projects and teams.

How do you manage and take risks in your business? What are the qualities or factors you weigh in taking risks? What is the course you are plotting with the risks you’re taking?

NYCXDESIGN Opening Party

Are you excited about NYCxDESIGN? NYC’s official festival of design — May 18th – May 25th.

Kick-off NYCxDESIGN at The Opening Party on May 18th at The Spiral, one of NYC’s most exciting new skyscrapers.

Join industry professionals and fellow Brick & Wonder members for a special evening hosted by Studio by Tishman Speyer and Hem. Enjoy a playful installation of established design pieces alongside brand-new editions and experience Bjarke Ingles Group’s architectural work of human-centric sustainable design.

Book tickets here

Hiring & Firing

Whether hiring for growth, for a niche skillset, for diversity, or for a new strategic initiative, the process can be time-consuming and even overwhelming.

For small businesses (and especially for service providers) knowing the right time to hire, and making time to get the process right is a difficult balancing act, but one that has the potential to yield transformative results over time.

In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss some of the common pitfalls with recruitment (and firing), and some of the tools and techniques that can accelerate the processes and improve outcomes.

What is a Fractional CFO?

We invite Brick & Wonder members to join this Member Workshop on financial strategies for small to medium-sized companies in the built environment industry.

The ins and outs of owning and operating a business are never-ending and at times can feel overwhelming, leaving business owners without the bandwidth or support to maximize financial opportunities.

With 13 years of financial management of the NYC design studio Roman & Williams under his belt, Jay De Bari leads De Bari & Co., a strategic financial planning practice that focuses on supporting and guiding businesses through all aspects of fiscal movement and growth.

Spring Cocktails – Gessi Soho

We’re thrilled to invite Brick & Wonder Pro and Council Members and select guests to join us for drinks and canapés at the Soho home of Italian wellness brand, Gessi.

Facade Renovation & Retrofits: Cocktails & Case Study

This public panel, in partnership with Passive House Accelerator, will explore current opportunities and challenges in Facade Renovation and Retrofits, with a focus on NYC. Hosted at Brickworks New York Design Studio, we’ll hear from an interdisciplinary panel bringing financial, municipal, owner, and designer perspectives to bear on a thorny issue at the center of NYC’s built environment future.

The panel will be moderated by Michael Ingui, Architect and Founder of Passive House Accelerator. Panelists TBA.

Learning From Mistakes

We invite Brick & Wonder Pro & Council members to the New York home of COOKFOX Studio, an integrated and multidisciplinary architecture firm that aims to design and advocate for a more sustainable future.

If you believe “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” you know the stories we tell about our past are almost as important as the experiences themselves. But how can we ensure we learn the proper lessons? And how can we best apply these lessons to the present and future?

Private Dinner at The Set

We’re excited to invite Brick & Wonder Council Members and select guests to join us for drinks and dinner at Hudson Yard’s newest addition, The Set.

The Set is a stunning residential high-rise, designed by Handel Architects + March and White Design, developed by Related.

Standing at 44 stories with jaw-dropping views, part of what sets this building apart is its commitment to art and design; the developers collaborated with Brick & Wonder member, Sugarlift Gallery, which curated all of the art in the building’s common spaces, furnished units, and the restaurant.

Refreshments and a three-course dinner will be served. The meal will be prepared and executed by James Beard Award-winning chef, restauranteur, and author, Dan Kluger.

Site Visit: 450 Warren

We are pleased to invite Brick & Wonder Pro & Council members to a private tour of 450 Warren Street in Brooklyn, NY, on Thursday March 29th. Designed by SO-IL, and sitting on the crossroads of Boerum Hill and Gowanus, this stunning, modern, multi-unit building, questions the way residential design impacts how we interact with and form community. The architects utilize greenery, light, and shared spaces to inform the way residents move, feel, and connect, both with each other, and with the place they call home.

The tour will be led by Tankhouse + SO-IL, and followed by coffee and light refreshments in the penthouse hosted by Esteban Gomez.

Design your Annual Strategic Marketing Plan

With a clear, quantifiable, and realistic annual marketing strategy, you can continually achieve success with your advertising and sales efforts. No matter your industry or company size, a solid marketing plan can help you effectively meet your company goals.

Making Better Decisions

How do you make decisions? Do you use a values-based decision-making framework, or another framework to check your instincts?

In our Roundtable format, we invite members to come prepared with a specific anecdote, based on personal experience, responding to one of the following discussion prompts in under two minutes.

• What’s an example of a value you engage when weighing decisions?
• What’s an example where you’ve used a framework to lead you to an important decision, and what was the result?
• What’s an example of a decision you made which didn’t use a framework, and what was the downside?

Aligning Vision & Execution

Join us for an open Workshop on connecting vision and execution.

Led by Mark J. Sheeran, the Founder + Principal Advisor at Odyssey Advisors, we’ll be focusing on acquiring the perspective and structure needed to scale your business while reducing your own involvement in the day-to-day.

The Specialist vs. The Generalist

Most are familiar with the adage “jack of all trades, master of none.” You’ve likely debated the pitfalls of specialization or generalization in your business and personal skill set. Whether project types, services offered, or clients cultivated, it can be hard to choose between perfecting your niche or expanding your offerings.

In this Roundtable, we’ll explore how real estate and design rewards and punishes specialization, generalization, and the area in between.

Hiring & Retention

We invite Brick & Wonder members, their teams, collaborators, and colleagues to join this open Workshop on building your creative dream team.

Billy Clark and Clayton Apgar lead BCCM Talent Acquisition and Everett Hollander leads BCCM Advisory, a business strategy and executive leadership practice focused on company culture, corporate finance, operations, and organizational structure. In this Q&A on attracting and retaining talent, the conversation will focus on the following: Hiring is Casting, Centrality of Culture, Comp Question, and Benefits of Benefits.

Resilience in Life and Business

Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as business and financial stressors. As much as resilience involves “bouncing back” from difficult experiences, it can also catalyze personal growth.

In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss methods and strategies for cultivating resilience in your professional life and share lessons learned from past brushes with adversity.

Collaboration for Growth

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members to join us for a conversation focused on collaboration as a tool for leveling up your work and growing your business.

Fall Cocktails – The Spiral

We’re thrilled to invite Brick & Wonder Pro and Council Members and select guests to join us for drinks and canapés at The Spiral.

Designed by BIG and developed by Tishman Speyer, The Spiral features a dramatic series of cascading terraces that reach every tower floor, delivering light, fresh air, and access to outdoor space.

We’ll gather near the top floor for amazing sunset views and endless opportunities to connect.

Ask the Publicist

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members to join us for a conversation focused on the role of publicity in growing businesses and public visibility for teams and leaders.

High-Performance Building: Cocktails & Case Study

This public panel, in partnership with Passive House Accelerator, will explore an expanded definition of high-performance building.

Hosted at Brickworks New York Design Studio, we’ll hear from an interdisciplinary project team on solutions to the built environment’s carbon problem. COOXFOX’s recently completed Betances Residence will serve as a case study. The affordable housing development in the Bronx is passive house certified and incorporates biophilic and active design to support residents’ health and well-being.

Moderated by Michael Ingui, Architect and Founder of Passive House Accelerator, the complete speaker list will be announced shortly.

Present Me vs. Future Me

You’ve probably read about the Marshmallow Experiment and wondered how you might have performed balancing the offer of immediate gratification with the promise of a greater future reward if you could wait a little longer.

Saving, investing, and certainly growing a business requires mastery of the same mechanism – deferring immediate gratification to build and gain something more valuable in the future. In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss how we balance taking care of Present Me and Future Me, and how we can create alignment with the teams we lead around the promise of future value while balancing their nearer-term needs.

Sales & Selling

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members for a conversation focused on sales and selling. Survival and growth in business depend on sales and selling, but, for many, the process is exhausting, emotionally fraught and a distraction from the satisfaction of doing the work we’re required to sell.

Seeding Innovation | Olson Kundig Studio Visit

Innovation in the ways we work, and in the products and servivces we produce creates opportunity. Yet innovation is an ongoing proposition – it’s not enough just to innovate once. In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss approaches to seeding innovation in the work you do, and nuturing the capability to innovate in the teams you work with – even in the consultants you hire to deliver your work. This Roundtable will take place at Olson Kundig’s new studio in New York.

Managing Your Margins

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members for a conversation focused on managing margins in their business operations. In any business, but perhaps especially in service-based business models, managing margins can be an extremely difficult aspect of business management.

The Obstacle is The Way

Everyone knows the axiom “you’ve got to go through it to get to it,” but sometimes it’s not clear whether an obstacle is to be avoided or hurdled, or whether pushing through it the hard way might be the best, or only way. In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss approaches to navigating the business and personal challenges that stand in our way, from confronting them directly to trying to steer clear. What’s the right approach, and when, and how do you asses the kind of obstacles you face?

Summer Social

We’re thrilled to invite Brick & Wonder members and their guests for our Summer Social at Spring Terrace in Tribeca!

This will be an informal gathering for Brick & Wonder members, as well as guests interested in learning more about the Brick & Wonder community.

Refreshments and light bites will be provided at the beginning of the evening.

Hell Yes, or No | Saint Marks Place Site Tour

In all businesses and projects, competing priorities can create decision fatigue that clouds our judgement and impacts the outcomes of our work. How do you decide what really matters to you and your business? And how do you get at your true values? This Roundtable will take place at Saint Marks Place and include a tour of the stunning development.

UAP Foundry Tour

We are pleased to invite Brick & Wonder Pro & Council members to a private tour of the UAP | Urban Art Projects (formerly Polich Tallix) Foundry just outside Beacon, NY on Friday June 17th.

Growth Relationships

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members to join us for a conversation focused on the value of identifying, pursuing and building growth relationships in order to level up in your work.

Catalyzing Success

Sometimes we find ourselves needing or benefitting from steaks of success that build one upon the other. Recognizing this pattern, and the need to make our own luck to benefit from it, how do you think about building from one success to the next in your business?

On Time, On Budget

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members to join our conversation focused on the tools and processes you use to keep projects on time and on budget.

Living in the Future

Are you following the status quo or are you operating ahead of the curve? Real estate is speculative by nature – nothing that is designed is built immediately, so the work is always looking forward to some future state.

Leveraging Thought Leadership

In this Discussion, our conversation will focus on using thought leadership to bring value to your team, clients and industry colleagues, elevating your profile and becoming more visible for the work you do.

Cocktails & Canapés

We’re thrilled to invite Brick & Wonder Pro and Council Members and select guests to join us for drinks and canapés at Zanotta House in Greenwich Village.

Grace Farms Design For Freedom Summit

Join Sharon Prince, CEO and Founder of Grace Farms Foundation, and Design for Freedom Working Group members for a day-long summit exploring corporate ethical responsibility and the government policies that impact forced labor in the global building materials supply chain.

Growth Strategies

In this Discussion we welcome all Brick & Wonder members to join a conversation focused on strategies they are engaging to level up and grow – personally, professionally and for their businesses.

Failed Flooring

We invite Brick & Wonder members, their teams, collaborators and colleagues to join this open Workshop on hardwood and engineered wood flooring installation.

Intelligent Risk

Risk is an essential dimension in business (and life!), but it can be the making or undoing of businesses, ideas, partnerships, projects and teams. How do you manage and take risks in your business?

Brand Stories

In this Discussion, our conversation will focus on approaches to ideating, developing and telling your brand stories to extend your reach and cut through the noise.

The Essence of Leadership

What does leadership mean for you in your business? What leadership mean for you in relation to your work in the built environment industry?

Private Lending for Speculative Development

In this Member-led Discussion, our conversation will focus on understanding the landscape of lending products available for small to mid-scale speculative (spec) development projects.

Successful Contracts

For this workshop, we welcome Jamie Lieberman, Founder of Hashtag-Legal, to guide us through the core components of successfully written contracts, best practices and common pitfalls.

Making Better Decisions

How do you make decisions? Do you use a values-based decision making framework, or another framework to check your instincts?

The Built Environment: Transformed

In this Discussion, our conversation will focus on the changes to the built environment itself – the industry, the world of work, leisure and home life – that have come about due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

How to Spend ERC Funding

Following a discussion thread we ran on the Brick & Wonder forum, we invite Brick & Wonder members to join an informal conversation with fellow members who have received Employee Retention Credit (ERC) funds.

Bring Your Presentations to Life

Want to raise your shortlist interview hit rate? Feel more confident when you speak in public? Successfully navigate your virtual meetings? In this fun, interactive 90-minute Graceworks workshop, we’ll share a strong foundation for presenting and communicating both in person and online.

BassamFellows Design Studio – Private Tour

We are pleased to invite Brick & Wonder members, their families and team members to a private tour of the BassamFellows Design Studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut on Saturday November 6th.

Sales & Selling

Survival and growth in business depend on sales and selling, but, for many, the process is exhausting, emotionally fraught and a distraction from the satisfaction of doing the work we’re required to sell.

Creative Feedback

Providing creative feedback requires the highest engagement of our social & emotional skills in order to be constructive, fair, supportive, helpful and critical all with the same few choice words.  This Workshop will focus on developing your skills and techniques for giving and receiving Creative Feedback.

Rooftop Gathering

We’re thrilled to invite Brick & Wonder members and select guests to join us for drinks and canapés on the rooftop at 488 Sterling Place in Brooklyn, a new passsive house condominium development from The Brooklyn Home Company.

Goal Setting

In this Roundtable our co-leaders will dig into your goals for the coming year, show you how to track and measure progress, and help you reverse engineer a path to achieve them.

Open Restaurants Volunteer Build Weekend

After many weeks of fundraising, research, design and co-ordinating between our volunteer teams, we’ve now raised the funds to go ahead and build outdoor dining structures for Settepani and NBHD!

Helping Your Clients Move

For this Workshop, we’re thrilled to have two Brick & Wonder members sharing their combined decades of experience helping clients prepare for and manage moving house as painlessly as possible.

Around Manhattan Boat Tour

We are pleased to partner with Classic Harbor Line and the AIA to offer Brick & Wonder members a boat tour circumnavigating Manhattan, with architectural commentary from a registered AIA tour guide.

Shop Talk

SHOP TALK is a monthly event for Brick & Wonder members to gather informally, talk shop, share resources, knowledge and project updates.

Rooftop Gathering

We’re thrilled to invite Brick & Wonder members and their guests to join us for drinks and canapés at Spring Terrace in Tribeca!

Supercharging Business Creativity

In this Roundtable our seasoned co-leaders will help attendees explore the meaning of creativity in business, and the value of applying, nurturing and growing organizational creativity as a tool for innovation, problem solving and growth.

The Future of Modular Architecture with David Wallace

We are on the cusp of a transformative change in the way we design and build our cities. Join us as we sit down with David Wallace to dig into his fifteen years of research, technical development and design on the subject of Modular Architecture.

(Re)Building Office Culture

After more than a year of remote work, teams are finally now re-emerging to gather in shared offices and workspaces. But what, if anything has changed? And how do we begin to rebuild the team dynamics, collaboration and workplace culture that was taken from us in the pandemic?

Shop Talk

SHOP TALK is a monthly event for Brick & Wonder members to gather informally, talk shop, share resources, knowledge and project updates. This month our topic focus is on the renovation boom and post-covid supply chain shortages.

Virtual Tour: At The Luss House with Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM and Object & Thing

We’re thrilled to offer Brick & Wonder members and their guests a chance to virtually tour The Gerald Luss House in Ossining, NY on the occasion of the exhibition, At The Luss House, organized by Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM and Object & Thing.

Getting Teams Vaccinated & Back to Work

We invite Brick & Wonder GC’s and any guests to discuss the challenges of getting large teams fully vaccinated and back to work.

Expanding Business Ownership

In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss the notion of expanding business ownership by extending Profits Interests or Shares (of different kinds) to senior team members.

Shop Talk

SHOP TALK is a monthly event for Brick & Wonder members to gather informally, talk shop, share resources, knowledge and project updates.

Self Limiting Beliefs

In our personal lives, and especially in business, where decision making is complex and fraught with risk, breaking out of our established internal models of thinking can be difficult. For this Workshop session we’re excited to invite Brick & Wonder member and business coach, Chris Smith, to get us looking our limiting beliefs in the eye, and then looking past them!

Digital Advertising for Small Businesses

In this session Digital Advertising expert, Taryn Ramos (Content Project @ Google), will guide you in thinking through how to make a start, set strategy and optimize ad spend, even when working with a limited budget.

Financial Times Dream Home Panel Series: The Big Reveal

This three-part series will be produced in partnership with the Financial Times.

Featured Panelist: Tom Kundig, Olsun + Kundig Architects

Financial Times Dream Home Panel Series: Designing and Building

This three-part series will be produced in partnership with the Financial Times.

Featured Panelist: Amin Taha, Groupwork

Shop Talk

SHOP TALK is a monthly event for Brick & Wonder members to gather informally, talk shop, share resources, knowledge and project updates.

Financial Times Dream Home Panel Series: Finding Your Dream Team

This three-part series will be produced in partnership with the Financial Times. Featured Panelist: Deborah Berke, Deborah Berke & Partners

On Time & On Budget

Regardless of the discipline, delivering projects on-time and on-budget is difficult. But there are methods, teams, approaches and collaborators who succeed. What are they doing right? What are others doing wrong?

Shop Talk

SHOP TALK is a monthly event for Brick & Wonder members to gather informally, talk shop, share resources, knowledge and project updates.

Join if you’d like to: Meet other Brick & Wonder members, near and far; Share project updates or project needs; Share resources, knowledge, connections and more with Brick & Wonder colleagues; Update Brick & Wonder team on the things you’re working on or collaborators you’re looking to engage; Share an opportunity to collaborate, partner or work together with other members.

Hiring & Firing

This is a roundtable event for Brick & Wonder members.

In this discussion, we’ll hear from our seasoned co-leaders as they share insights gleaned across hiring markets and different geographies, with companies big and small. We’ll reveal some of the common pitfalls with recruitment (and firing), and some of the tools and techniques that can accelerate the processes and improve outcomes. This Roundtable will be co-led by Lonny Rossman, Principal and Founder at API Partners, and John Piombino, Head of Human Resources, Buro Happold USA.

Building Science Fight Club

In this conversation, we will take Brick & Wonder members and their teams into the details of common mistakes and assumptions in construction and design, while also looking at emerging trends and opportunities for cost-saving and risk mitigation in contemporary building science. Our conversation will be led by Christine Williamson, Founder of Building Science Fight Club.

Exponential Growth

This is a roundtable event for Brick & Wonder members.

In this discussion, we’ll hear from our seasoned co-leaders as they share how they’ve successfully scaled their businesses, from the decisions and tradeoffs made, to the challenges and setbacks they’ve navigated, and the rewards they’ve realized.

The roundtable will be led by Andrei Dolnikov, Founder & CEO, BINYAN, and Andrew Kotchen, Founding Principal at Workshop APD. The Roundtable will be moderated by Drew Lang, Founder, Brick & Wonder.

Food, Design & Influence

This discussion will explore the nuanced relationship between society, food and the spaces that make it meaningful. Food and culinary arts have transformed our homes and social gatherings, as well as being a natural catalyst for spatial design and materiality. Culinary tastemakers, who have galvanized followings and activated compelling spaces, will lead the discussion on the important cultural intersection of food and design. Panelists include Dana Cowin, Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine from 1995-2016; Patrick Janelle, lifestyle influencer and founder of Untitled Secret; Amanda Frederickson, Author restaurant owner; and Skyler Stevenson, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Gaggenau North America.