One way to address a whopping large vacancy in your office building is to dress it up a little.

That’s what Brookfield Property Partners, the largest office landlord in downtown Los Angeles, will be doing for two of its properties. The company has set up a competition of sorts among six downtown architecture firms, asking them to design the office of the near future, with only budgets and time lines as the ground rules.

“We envision this project enticing tenants who may traditionally shy away from certain buildings, to show them how this can happen, that they can accomplish everything they want in our buildings,” said John Barganski, senior vice president of leasing for Brookfield.

The canvas the architects will use are in three office spaces in the south tower of the 24 percent-vacant Wells Fargo Center, 355 S. Grand Ave., and three in the 21 percent-vacant Gas Co. Tower, 555 W. Fifth St. Both now contain traditional spaces, with dropped ceilings and enclosed areas that Brookfield has realized isn’t what newer, younger companies want.

Participating in the competition are Gensler, IA Interior Architects, Shlemmer Algaze Associates, Rottet Studio, Unispace and Wolcott Architecture | Interiors. The designs should be finished by April and on display to prospective tenants at a mid-May event. They will be move-in ready and offered at market rate or at a premium market rate. If successful, the team will use the same tactic in its other buildings.

“It’s been a low-key marketing effort until now,” Barganski said. “It’s going to really catch steam when people can see the (finished) product.”