Evaluating Crowdfunding for Architectural Projects

By Rachael Everly, Reprinted from Crowdfund Beat

Crowdfunding is often described as a practice to start off online investment campaign by popular people and generate funds or finances for specific related projects. This practice can leverage entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts or businessmen who can spur some community support and start a petition to motivate people for investing some small dollar contributions. But can it help architects?

How is Crowdfunding Relevant with Architecture?

Crowdfunding can be applied to a range of investment opportunities provided for a viable project, services or the idea of a physical structure which can present itself as a worthwhile investment option for the people. People like to invest for something which is sustainable and worthwhile. Crowdfunding can fund construction projects if the role of the architect is clearly defined to present investment models and communication digital tools to encourage more and more people for investing. The investment can only be leveraged if architects work with local communities and develop and implement creative design ideas to help the community as a single unit and create both short and long term goals.

The people would only invest for something of value which would help them in the long run and would serve the community such as an urban skyscraper, a pedestrian bridge, a religious structure or any improvement construction plan to renovate or restore any old cultural heritage building. People are willing to invest on improvement projects by making small contributions to help develop their community.

The Real Story

Colombia’s 66 story skyscraper BD Bacatá Downtown is crowd funded through small contributions from local investors and people. The fundraising drive is executed through various crowdfunding campaigns while catering interests of the local community in owning a percentage of the overall project. All crowdfunding investment helped to build the huge skyscraper by using heavy machinery and equipment as the planned skyscraper will comprise of 66 stories, 216 meters high above the city of Bogota.

It easily gathered interests from the people for their community welfare and each citizen had a collective goal and shared regional interest to work together to help architects construct this skyscraper. Crowdfunding for such architectural project can take time for additional research and analysis and help people to understand potential opportunities and implication for the development of such projects through innovative financing mechanisms.

Another project in the making is the ‘I make Rotterdam’ project in the Netherlands. It is how crowdfunding helped the architectural designers to fund for a constructional development to help the community to alleviate pedestrian traffic. All the investors will have their names enlisted across visible planks so that everyone would know who helped in the making of this constructional marvel. Crowdfunding thus can motivate and encourage people to make worthwhile investments and help their community for a noble cause.