Contrary to popular belief, Gensler's research and internal experience show that younger employees are the most eager to return to the office. They recognize that in-person work is critical for learning, mentorship, and building the "social capital" necessary for long-term career growth.
Gensler's strategy for post-pandemic work is to transform the office into a compelling destination people choose to visit. This involves reducing individual desks in favor of diverse, flexible collaboration spaces that offer experiences and social connections unavailable at home, making the commute worthwhile.
Gensler intentionally avoids a singular design style. Instead, they operate as a "constellation of stars," empowering diverse designers with a shared purpose—enhancing human experience—rather than a top-down aesthetic. This flexibility is key to their ability to serve a vast range of clients and scale globally.
Architecture giant Gensler implements a co-leadership model not just at the CEO level but throughout the firm. This structure thrives by pairing leaders with complementary skills ("aces and spaces") and is built on a foundation of deep trust, allowing partners to defer to one another's judgment in disagreements.
Gensler's founding principle was to design buildings from the "inside out," prioritizing the user's experience and emotional response within a space over the external aesthetics. This human-centric approach, more common in software UX, dictates their entire process, from team building to client collaboration.
Beyond productivity, the physical office plays a vital societal role. Gensler's survey data shows it's a primary venue where people form relationships with those outside their immediate demographic (race, age, religion). This makes the workplace a critical tool for fostering social cohesion in an increasingly polarized world.
For NVIDIA's headquarters, Gensler went beyond traditional design by using the client's own AI technology in the creative process. This co-design approach allowed them to optimize everything from walking distances to natural light, creating a physical space that is a true embodiment of NVIDIA's technological identity.