The first gathering began with a simple idea: bring together people shaping place from different worlds, around one table, somewhere worth talking about.
For Volume I, that place was The Baillie, a historic Seattle mansion in the midst of becoming something new.
One table. One evening. One question.
Set within a 113-year-old mansion on Capitol Hill's historic Millionaire's Row, The Baillie is being reimagined as a boutique hotel, restaurant and gathering place while preserving the character of the original property.
While the project was still taking shape, Jake Santelli and chef Julian Hagood of Harry's Good Times Co. welcomed us into the courtyard for an evening around what they were creating.
Some things were considered. The place. The table. The food. The people in the room.
The rest was left to unfold.
Around the table were people with a direct hand in how Seattle will look, feel and evolve in the years ahead, spanning development, design, investment, hospitality, food and the business of creating place.
Around the tableOlson Kundig · Harry's Good Times Co. · Urban Villages · Kilroy Realty · Sugar Mountain · Eastdil Secured · SteelWave · Lake Union Partners · Schnitzer West · JLL · CBRE · Trammell Crow Residential · Nitze-Stagen · and others.
Why do certain places draw us in, make us want to stay and become part of our lives, while others never create the same pull?
The conversation moved between design and hospitality, familiarity and discovery, and the relationship between the people who shape a place and those who ultimately make it their own.
Different disciplines brought different perspectives, but a common thread emerged: the places that endure offer more than something to see or do. They create a sense of identity, experiences people remember and reasons to return.
The best places give people a reason to make them their own.
There is intention behind that kind of pull, but only to a point. A setting can be designed. A table can be set. The right mix of people can be brought together. What happens from there is harder to prescribe.
You can design the setting. You can't manufacture what happens inside it.
Perhaps that is part of what makes a place magnetic. The most compelling places take on lives of their own through the people, culture, rituals and experiences that gather around them.
A place becomes magnetic when people start building their own rituals around it.