by Brianna Crandall — November 30, 2016 — Continuing its exploration of commercial real estate technology and innovation, global professional real estate services and investment management firm JLL recently announced that it is the Founding Industry Partner of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Real Estate’s newly established Real Estate Innovation Lab (REIL). Created to link the built environment to economic impact, the lab will help determine the future of communities and cities by identifying innovations in design and technology.
The MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab will explore three areas: innovations in building design that lead to new building types and urban forms; new processes in construction such as 3-D printing and modular construction; and new data technologies with the potential to transform the organization of cities and the built environment.
The REIL is among the first academic labs to bring together experts in advanced methodologies in statistics, computational architecture, economics and urban design to survey the full commercial real estate landscape. Its goal is to understand what is happening at the frontier of the built environment today, produce statistical and empirical evidence of approaches that work, and communicate those innovations for widespread use
MIT notes that architects and designers can introduce novel ideas from 3-D printed buildings to indoor vertical food farms, but to develop these projects, they have to make the case to the investors that will fund them. The REIL hopes to contribute analysis and evidence that helps innovators and investors come together, with help from the Big Data revolution, which is finally coming to the built environment.
Embracing this new diversity of data, one of the lab’s flagship projects is to create a comprehensive commercial real estate database for the city of New York. The database will go beyond rents, transaction prices, building mortgages and vacant space to include AirBnB locations, co-working spaces, cell towers, fiber optic cables, subway lines and more. Combined, the extensive data will offer a way to view the city with distinct and unique perspectives.
The Real Estate Innovation Lab is also exploring how changes in the built environment over time help create an atmosphere for innovation. By examining successful innovation districts in a number of cities around the world, the lab will identify the benefits in terms of jobs and development, as well as informing urban design.
The research will be linked to DesignX, a new entrepreneurship accelerator in MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning that supports student teams building companies and organizations focused on design and the built environment and fosters new technologies that will address gaps in the marketplace.
