Obituary

Remembering Art Gensler

FOUNDER OF WORLD’S LARGEST ARCHITECTURE FIRM

BY BILL ESLER

Gensler & Associates is arguably the most influential force in architecture, innovating on the levels of design, aesthetics, materials, and approach to its work for clients of every size and stripe.

Architectural industry titan Art Gensler died May 10 at age 85, following a 65-year career as an entrepreneurial architect who transformed the industry. The firm he founded in 1965 is now the world’s largest, with an estimated $1.5 billion in billings and 2,817 employees—more than twice the size of any competitor. clients. Gensler stepped down from the chairmanship of Gensler & Associates in 2010.

His firm forever changed the profession by elevating the practice of interior design, and especially by inviting client collaboration. The firm he founded continues its focus on an even broader swath of interrelated concentrations in design: architecture, brand design, interior design, cities and urban design, and more recently, digital experience design. Habitability and environmental concerns underscore the Gensler approach.

As an architect, he was a member of both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), and a recipient of IIDA’s Star Award. He was also a professional member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and a cofounder of the AIA’s National Interior Architecture Committee.

Gensler & Associates’ knowledge of interiors informs its design, and has resulted in hundreds of components, hardware and casegoods developed by the firm. For example, Art Gensler & Associates collaborated with hardware manufacturer PBA on an ergonomically sculpted stainless steel Everyone Millwork Pulls. The firm designed the Privada line of high end toilet partitions for Bobrick with increased privacy sitelines and high-pressure laminates from Wilsonart, Lamin-Art, and Formica or real wood veneers from Veener-Art. Gensler’s work in casegoods includes the Brera25, created with Italy’s IOC for the private offices of executives, using rich materials, including lacquered wood, melamine, eco-leather, and metal. Art Gensler & Associates also designed the Atelier integrated worksurface, bookcase, and storage system with removable pinboard in steel, MDF and laminate.

Notably the firm has been tapped by a number of commercial furniture firms as they enter the crossover “resimercial” market. One example is the Knoll Chicago Showroom, moved from the NeoCon base at the Merchandise Mart to a consumer-accessible location in the nearby Fulton Market district. In the project description, the firm says the showroom sets the stage for Knoll’s “new lifestyle meets work perspective. The goal for the new showroom design was to create an integrated space well-suited for displaying Knoll’s furniture products, most of which blur the line between residential and commercial.” It also houses the North American flagship showroom for Muuto, Knoll’s Scandinavian brand. s p

If just by reason of its reach around the world—with offices in 49 cities—Gensler & Associates is arguably the most influential force in architecture, innovating on the levels of design, aesthetics, materials, and approach to its work for clients of every size and stripe. This included Apple, for which Art Gensler worked directly with Steve Jobs to develop its first retail outlets. In a recorded interview, he says during the bid process he brought contractors to a warehouse in Cupertino, CA., to assemble a series of prototype store interiors over many months. These were subjected to Jobs’ withering criticisms, and redesigned repeatedly. Competitors eventually withdrew from bidding.

“When Apple finally did the first store, we were the only ones standing. Everyone else had been chased out of the room one way or another,” Gensler recalled. Thus his firm won the contract for a seminal project that epitomizes what remains the firm’s specialty: melding brand, interior design, and architecture in intimate collaboration with its clients.

Born in 1935 in New York, N.Y., Art Gensler studied at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, graduating with a bachelor degree in 1958. He cofounded M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates, Inc. in San Francisco in 1965 with his wife Drucilla “Drue” and James Follett. The firm now has 49 offices in the U.S., the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, China, and Asia, serving 3,500 active