If you happen to be in the market for an Art Nouveau building near the center of Brussels, then you may want to check out this listing from Architecture de Collection. Built in 1897 and designed by architect Victor Horta -- one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement -- the property consists of three distinct units, including multiple office spaces and a large art gallery.

It's listed for €3,900,000 and has a total of 930 m2. That works out to about €4,194 per square meter or about €390 per square foot (inclusive of 6 parking spaces located in a neighboring building). I've never been to Brussels, nor do I need an office and art gallery there, but this is a beautiful building. If you'd like to learn more, click here.

Photos: Jeroen Verrecht

This week, a 1913 Beaux-Arts office building at 69 Yonge Street (here in Toronto) was conditionally approved for conversion to residential. The proposal entails preserving the existing 15-storey building, adding 6 storeys on top, and creating a total of 127 new condominium suites (14 studios, 65 one-beds, 27 two-beds, 21 three-beds, and exactly zero parking spaces).

This is noteworthy for at least 3 reasons.

One, it's a beautiful old building and PARTISANS does great work.

Two, there's no parking. This isn't novel for Toronto, but it's a good reminder that you don't need parking in urban centers (so stop mandating it). It's also something that you often have to accept with office conversions. If the parking doesn't already exist, you're probably not going to build it.

Finally, this approval demonstrates a reversal in the city's view on office replacement. Years ago, this sort of project wouldn't have been feasible, because the developer would have been forced to replace any demolished office space. But obviously that's no longer the case today. And in my opinion, that's a good thing.

Amazon unveiled the design for part of its new HQ2 campus in Arlington today. The plan is a cluster of new office and retail buildings that will accommodate some 13,000 employees. When fully built out, its HQ2 is expected to house upwards of 25,000 employees.

The centerpiece of the proposed campus is something that is being called the Helix, which is a spiraling building with outdoor walkways housing native trees and plants from the Virginia area. The idea is that it will become a place for people to go for walks and hikes "outside."

Here's what that looks like (image from architecture firm NBBJ):

In addition to a cool spiraling building, it's of course also noteworthy that Amazon (along with many other companies) is continuing to forge ahead with its plans to build and occupy more office space in important urban centers.

Here's a quote from a recent WSJ article talking about the HQ2 announcement:

While numerous tech firms have pledged to allow employees to work from home even after the coronavirus pandemic is contained, Amazon, Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and others have continued to expand their urban office footprints. By investing heavily in big city real estate, they are betting that office space will be an important part of their corporate culture after the pandemic is over.

“We have to think about this as a long-term investment,” said John Schoettler, Amazon’s vice president of global real estate and facilities. “These buildings will begin to deliver in 2025. And so we believe that the world will be a much improved place than it is currently.”

Like most companies, they are naturally questioning to what extent some employees won't be going into the office every weekday. But even still, the above announcement is yet another great example of why office space -- and spiraling outdoor spaces -- will continue to form an important part of the future of work.