Gensler is one of the leading architecture firms in the country and around the globe, with more than 5000 employees across 44 offices around the world. It has a diverse client base from over 120 countries. It is a privately held corporation under the collaborative leadership of Andy Cohen and Diane Hoskins. They’ve designed spectacular pieces of architecture such as the Shanghai Tower in China, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, the Instagram office in California, just to name a few.
We visited the Gensler office in Chicago, which is located in an iconic building designed by Loius Sullivan. The office has a unique design as retains some of the features of the original building, such as the decorative columns, in modern interior spaces. The layout of the workstations is unconventional with about 200 people on an open floor plan. This was interesting as it promotes interdepartmental discussions. They have an extensive and highly impressive materials library and some virtual reality rooms. Research is an integral part of Gensler. Research grants are given to some of the employees each year, which doesn’t allows translate into financial gains, but it informs their work and design.
We met Randy Guillot, who is the design director and firmwide Health and Wellness Practice Area Leader at Gensler. He spoke to us about what they think is the “Future of Health and Wellness” in the industry. Technology is changing the way medicine is practiced. Concepts like the “virtual hospital” are being designed today, and so they believe that flexibility and adaptability have become increasingly important. They also spoke about how we should start “thinking outside the hospital”. This means that the focus is shifting from inpatient to outpatient services and from hospitals to health & wellness based community developments.
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