Tall & Urban News

Art Gensler, the American architect, interior designer, and founder of global architecture firm Gensler, has passed away at the age of 85 after being diagnosed with lung disease 18 months ago.

The founder of the world's largest architecture firm died in his sleep at his family home in Mill Valley, California, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Gensler founded his practice in San Francisco in 1965 with his wife Drue Gensler and James Follett in one room with one draftsman and US$200, according to CBS SF BayArea. Today the firm operates in 50 countries around the world and has an annual revenue of $1.5 billion.

Gensler is known for large-scale architecture projects including the 632-metre-high supertall skyscraper the Shanghai Tower, which is the world's second-tallest building.

Gensler was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1935. He graduated from Cornell University's College of Architecture in 1958. Following university, he moved to California on the advice of his mentor the architecture critic Henry Hill and worked for the architect William Wurster, while establishing his own practice.

The firm got its start by focusing on space planning and interiors, which at the time fell under the radar of most architects. Early projects included designing interiors for corporate offices in San Francisco skyscrapers designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. They worked on the 237-metre-high Bank of America Center (renamed 555 California Street) and then the 121-metre-high Alcoa Building (now One Maritime Plaza). Also, early in his career, Gensler saw the need for a new discipline in architecture called tenant development, which is designing and building interior spaces for office tenants.

The practice opened its first office at 555 Clay Street in San Francisco, before expanding around the US. It opened its Houston office in 1972 to design offices for Pennzoil Company and in 1979 opened its New York office.

Gensler also expanded overseas, first in London in 1988, followed by Japan and Hong Kong in 1993. The firm opened its first China office in Shanghai in 2002.

Notable infrastructure projects undertaken by the firm include the long-term renovation of San Francisco International Airport, which lasted 35 years, and the revamp of the JetBlue T5 terminal at John F Kennedy International Airport in 2004.

The firm has designed offices for the New York Times, The Washington Post, the London Stock Exchange, the Salesforce Tower, and the interiors for the new US Embassy in London.

Recent projects include the renovation and expansion of New York's Museum of Modern Art and an extension for the Eagle County Regional Airport in Colorado.

Gensler stepped down as CEO in 2005 and as chairman in 2010 but continued to serve as an advisor until his death. 

Outside of the firm, he devoted himself to the education of design professionals — endowing a scholarship program at Cornell University, his alma mater, and serving as a Trustee of the Buck Institute for Aging, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the California College of the Arts. 

For more on this story go to Dezeen and CBS SF BayArea.