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"I have found that clients abroad believe what we do is very important, and they express a great appreciation and respect for creativity and technical expertise ."
Dan W. Winey
MANAGING PRINCIPAL, PAC IFIC NORT HWEST AND ASIA, AT GENSLER
Discusses the culture and creative pursuit of building an international practice In what countries do you primarily wo rk?
Does one develop a specific expertise in working with a selected country?
How h as as a country's culture affected your architectural design?
United States. Gensler currently has offices in
As part of our f irm's strateg ic plan, we are
Of course the cu lture is always a maj or
Lon don, Tokyo, China, Singapore, Dubai, Abu
comm itted to building local design practices
cons ideration, but because of the scale an d
Dhabi, India and Costa Rica. At this point in
t hat serve our clients around the wo rld. By
complex ity of our work, I am not sure that I
t ime, we have p roj ect s throughout Europe,
develop ing local d esign ta lent, along wit h
view our design philosop hy in that way. My
Eastern Europe, Asia, North and South America
Gensler expat talent, we believe that we have
belief is that our work is grounded in t he very
an d the Middle East. Personally, I have been
a clear advantage over our competitors. Our
culture where the project is located. There are
involved p ri mari ly in the As ian and Indian
p hilosophy is to be un iq uely Gensler and
three distinct influences on o ur work- the
markets over t he last 18 years.
uniquely local, and th is perspecti ve helps
practical, the cultural and t he symbolic. The
We work across t he globe, and outside of the
make our work more relevant and responsive
practical consists of site constraints, zoning
to the local cu lt ure.
regulations and other techn ica l aspects. The
So it's importa nt to actua ll y open a rchitectural practices aroun d t he world?
cultural includes the history of the site, surrounding architecture and other broader influences. And the symbolic involves what
I t hink that t he wo rk is more relevant from
the building represent s to the citizens, the
a d esign p erspective when you are bot h
city, or the country. In combination with one
international and loca l. I also believe
another, these influences provide a very strong
strong ly in the sharing of techno logy an d
underlying foundation for the design of the
intellectual capital for t he bett ermen t of
building. This is very d ifferent than designing
human life. The more we work side by side
a building that is "contextual," wh ich I tend to
with local arch itec t s, t he more we learn
believe is another word for contrived.
from them and the more t hey learn from of design excellence, higher performing
How has culture affected the way you wo rk with the clients?
build ings, and higher quality constru ction.
The culture affects everyt hing that we do-
us. This understanding leads to a higher level
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The Shanghai Tower will be the second
pursuing the work, negotiating the contract
ta llest skyscraper in the world.
and executing the design. For examp le, most