Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
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Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Brandon DonnellyNew Squarespace HQ
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Brandon DonnellyNew Squarespace HQ
I am a big fan of the company Squarespace. They have a great and beautiful product. I use them for globizen.com.
Recently they moved into a new office in Lower Manhattan (98,000 sf), which was a consolidation of 4 distributed offices. The interiors were designed by New York-based A+I.
Not surprisingly, it’s a beautiful space:
(Photography by Magda Biernat via Contemporist)
But two other things stood out for me.
One: The amount of informal working/meeting spaces. I really had to look for the conventional office seating.
Two: The ground floor presence and the lobby which doubles as a possible event space.
For consumer-facing companies, I am really attracted to having a street presence and having spaces that can be programmed. It’s a way to engage and plug in to what’s happening beyond the office. Here’s a related example.
I’m not sure if their narrative is the same as mine, but regardless: cool space.
I am a big fan of the company Squarespace. They have a great and beautiful product. I use them for globizen.com.
Recently they moved into a new office in Lower Manhattan (98,000 sf), which was a consolidation of 4 distributed offices. The interiors were designed by New York-based A+I.
Not surprisingly, it’s a beautiful space:
(Photography by Magda Biernat via Contemporist)
But two other things stood out for me.
One: The amount of informal working/meeting spaces. I really had to look for the conventional office seating.
Two: The ground floor presence and the lobby which doubles as a possible event space.
For consumer-facing companies, I am really attracted to having a street presence and having spaces that can be programmed. It’s a way to engage and plug in to what’s happening beyond the office. Here’s a related example.
I’m not sure if their narrative is the same as mine, but regardless: cool space.
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