Gensler and the 632-Meter Mammoth
Want to see the second tallest building in the world? Flash forward to 2014, when Gensler, founded by Art Gensler in 1965, plans to complete construction on Shanghai Tower, a 632 meter mammoth, in the city’s financial district. Having already volunteered for monolith projects like BM Plaza and Mary Kay headquarters in Shanghai and three girder giants in the ambitiously austere DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) – Tameer Towers, Tower 38, and Currency House in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), Gensler is no stranger to skyscrapers.
The San Francisco-based Gensler is also more than a collective of architects. They’re reputable consultants who publish surveys and design documentation; they sponsor brand, product, urban and interior design; they also make beautiful things with steel, like Terminal 2 at Singapore Changi Airport, the Hearst tower in New York.
In short, Gensler is the name to remember in large-scale architecture, taking a leadership role in its buildings and its people. They currently have 2,500 employees in 31 countries and just under 2,000 active clients. Of the largest companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia, their clients include 9 of the top 10, 8 of 10, and 5 of 10, respectively. Their forward-thinking principals are active in developing new talent and dominating the industry standard.
