My first Publication Arup_BuildingDesign2020_v2 | Page 52

Prodigy Network’s real-estate crowdfunding
platform combined $172m in funding from
3,100 small-scale investors to design and
develop Colombia’ tallest skyscraper, the
66-story BD Bacatá.
Case Study: Fundrise in the United States
Prodigy Network’s successful backing
of the downtown Bogota BD Bacata not
only proves the concept of crowdsourced
real estate but adds ongoing value for
participants. Once a property is constructed
using crowdsourced funds, the investors can
buy and sell shares of the building through
a resale program. The combination of
crowdfunding and co-ownership may
shift real estate power dynamics, enabling
ever-more ambitious and innovative
building design.
Location / Business: New York, NY.
Prodigy Network for commercial use.
Crowd-sourcing and crowd-funding
Fundrise’s real estate crowdfunding platform
allows individuals to invest sums as small
as $100 in professionally-developed local
building projects, potentially transforming a
market long dominated by accredited private
equity investors making million-dollar bids.
While the United States will likely soon
lift current legislation requiring developers to
market their projects to accredited investors
with a minimum net worth of $1 million,
Fundrise has successfully been able to
crowdfund projects in America through an
exception that allows unaccredited investors
to fund local projects that they themselves
can use. Fundrise has successfully
crowdfunded projects often through large
numbers 
of small-dollar investments from
locals in a movement that not only promotes
social power but localised, shared profit.
Location / Business: Washington, DC.
Fundrise for commercial use.
Although the popularity of crowd-
sourced and crowd-
funded projects may
 never fully replace traditional methods
of procurement, financing, and design, trends such as this
present designers with the opportunity to think critically
about the
 end user of building design projects and to adapt
lessons into traditional management structures.
The influence of startup culture upon building design
includes the consideration of innovative social mechanisms to
initiate large-scale projects and engage new sources of private
funding. The implications of crowd-sourced catalyzing in
the AEC sector are substantial, particularly for building
design. Whereas building-scale projects have traditionally
been funded by a small minority of the total population,
crowd-sourced initiation and funding of projects presents the
opportunity for new use cases and entirely new client bases
to emerge.
Challenges for designers of crowd-sourced projects
include the incorporation of a larger number of opinions into
the design, but opportunities include the development of new
usage paradigms that, when coupled with advancements in
data analytics, can be both designed and operated in a highly
efficient manner.
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Case Study: Prodigy Network in Colombia
Building Design 2020
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