Blog Posts By Author: John Goldwyn

It's really satisfying to see one of our most interesting jobs, with such a great client—Haluk Kaya, covered on CNN.

We've been on this one as master planners from the very beginning and have thoroughly enjoyed the journey with Bekay Property Partners. Turkey is a really exciting market for us and the strength of the team on Olivion—from the visionary client through to the consultant group—is apparent. We all share an infectious enthusiasm and desire to see the successful realization of a great master plan in the very near future.

Conde Nast Traveler magazine recently had a big feature on Russia today, and in a sidebar discusses the country’s stereotypical penchant for over-the-top style. This is my take on the notion that Russia is all about bling:

New money is new money, anywhere in the world. Russians certainly have their own style but it is indeed very arrogant and foolish to write them all off as being tacky. I think an anecdote with a client best illustrates this. We were recently asked to look at a very upscale community on a beautiful lake north of Moscow. When we started to talk about architectural styling, we asked the client if she had any ideas. "Yes," she said. "I would like to build residences that look like MY house." She showed us photos. It was a timber, minimal cube. Beautiful, sophisticated and simple…

For some years, there has been a widely acknowledged correlation between building golf courses adjacent to residential and second home developments and a 15-20 percent uplift in the sales price of golf frontage units—regardless of whether the residents play golf or not. Golf is nothing short of a global phenomenon and has an army of devoted followers—both as spectators and players. The big personalities from the game have design studios who are busily creating new courses all over the world. People are excited by the idea of playing golf and the lifestyle it represents, particularly in emerging markets. Playing golf is a sign that they have "made it," and living in a community of like-minded individuals is often very attractive. It is also pleasant to look out onto a green open space while enjoying a drink on the terrace.

What worries me is there simply isn't the millions of gallons of water required to provide golf in many locations. In locations where rain is plentiful—such as in the UK, the US Pacific Northwest, in the mountains or much of the tropics, golf is a logical fit. However, in dry Mediterranean, maqui or desert environments, golf simply doesn't work without huge investment in desalination or other unsustainable means. We are frequently presented with clients who wish to turn deserts green.

This presents a challenge—we are a commercial firm working in every geographical location in the world, and are acutely aware that we are there to help clients maximize their return on investment in their land. We know that golf raises the value of this investment but we know that this comes at a price: shortage of water is one of the biggest environmental problems facing our generation.

What are we to do? This is a huge question that we should not be afraid to ask. We are currently thinking in-depth about what lies beyond golf in the desert and how we can find other, more sustainable ways to increase value and amenity for property on integrated resorts. We are also engaging with golf designers to make sure we team up and follow best practice with them in terms of using drought-tolerant grass species: re-use of grey water for irrigation and smaller fairways so that there is less to irrigate. We don't have all the answers yet, but rest assured that we are committed to a sustainable future. More to follow!

After a two-hour drive through the Moscow metropolitan district, we took a sharp left up a track. Our driver, who spoke no English, introduced us to our host, who also spoke no English. We are now entirely alone in a vast canopy of birch and fir; listening to a blazing fire and excited about designing over the next few days. We are here to design a master plan for a resort project on a lake with residential and recreational components. With inspiration like this, how can we fail to deliver a truly unique master plan? We are so excited by all this that we used a digital camera, a laptop with bluetooth and a Blackberry to share this with you.

From Russia with Love,

Lisya, Aaron and John 

For some months I have been trying to grapple with what the sparkling new WATG brand means to me, and us as a firm.

Sometimes these things are better viewed from the outside. On a recent charrette to India with a colleague (Lisya Sullam) from the London office, a co-consultant managed to elucidate it particularly well for me.

He said that we (Lisya and I) represent a new generation of design professionals who, from their extensive experience of (and exposure to) the new world within which we live, are experts in the aspirations and needs of fast developing economies and the desires which motivate the upwardly mobile individuals of the new global civilization. Young design professionals, due to their collective coming-of-professional-age in this global economy, are more sensitive to world trends and can thus articulate them to clients in a way that's never been done before.

I always tell people that I have the best job in the world. I mean it. I get to go to the most interesting places on earth. As the focus of much of our work is destination design, it makes sense that these places are usually created in stunning locations. I enjoy the adventure of getting there, even though I am an extremely nervous flyer. So the flight is always somewhat harrowing, but the euphoria of landing can't be beaten.

The fabulous thing about working so closely with clients is that they are always so enthusiastic about their homeland. They always want to take us to visit the most interesting places, secret places that no one except for the locals know about: restaurants, temples, parks, caves, views, and bars.

It is always enlightening to engage with local customs and traditions; from toasting business success with smooth Ukrainian vodka to sampling the (delicious) national dish of "horse Lasagne" in Kazakhstan or enjoying a bowl of steaming fish lips in southern China amongst a table full of dim sum. The Chinese are particularly proud to take the whole team out for dinner, sometimes dozens of attendees. It seems that the UK is almost the only country in the world without a fantastic culture of eating and drinking spanning centuries.

I always see a different side of my colleagues when I travel with them. Some get stressed about losing bags (it always happens to someone) and lengthy delays. The best ones just let it wash over them and smile. I remember once losing my bag for a week in the Bahamas and attending client/consultant meetings in (borrowed) flowery shorts. Recently, I was (just) spared speaking at a (rather serious) conference wearing a pink polo shirt.

I have even been lucky enough to swim on a number of our coastal sites-always at the insistence of the client. How can we get the sense of the spirit of place if we don't feel it?

All this sounds like I don't have a very 'serious' job. In fact, quite the reverse is true. We are in the business of helping clients make extremely important decisions about large amounts of valuable and scarce resources such as land, open space, water and fragile ecologies. The expertise of the team works together to make sure that we come up with our best possible collaboration and product.

In fact, this all sounds really very serious, and it is. We just have a lot of fun along the way.