M. Arthur Gensler Jr.

Redefining an Industry from the Inside Out

by AAP Communications

From the moment M. Arthur "Art" Gensler Jr. (B.Arch. '58) received notification of his acceptance into the Bachelor of Architecture program at Cornell, he began what would become a 60-plus-year career as an architect, business builder, global leader, and philanthropist. Gensler was born in 1935, the only child to parents whose overriding goal, he shared, was for him to go to college. "It was one of the biggest days of our lives that I got into Cornell."

Throughout his time at Cornell, Gensler participated in athletics, the Greek system, and was actively involved in the architecture community. After graduation, he spent six months in the Army as part of his ROTC obligation and then embarked on a series of stints with a few architecture firms, starting on the east coast, moving to Jamaica, and finally landing in San Francisco. In 1965, at 30, with three kids under ten and $200 in the bank, Gensler founded M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates, Inc., a three-person practice in San Francisco, with his wife Drucilla "Drue" Gensler and James Follett. Driven by a need to "make a living," Gensler began the journey of building a firm that would ultimately become the largest design practice in the world and transform the architecture discipline in myriad ways.

According to those who knew him, from the earliest days of his career, Gensler tended to see things differently. At a time when others focused almost exclusively on a building's exterior, he embraced what he called designing from the "inside out," an approach that ultimately gave rise to the field of workplace design as we know it today. Though in the 1960s and 1970s, as Gensler noted in an interview for the oral history project of the University of California Berkeley Library, even his own team questioned his approach. "My colleagues would constantly say to me, 'Art, when are we going to do real architecture?' I said, 'It's all design. You're helping people. You're creating spaces and places that will enhance the human experience and drive performance … Architecture is design, and design is inside and out,'" he recalled.

"The firm, he always said, was not about him but about all its people moving forward together," says Gensler's son David Gensler, a retired Principal and co-CEO of the firm. "Art didn't want to be a 'starchitect.' In fact, what he built was a constellation of stars by hiring smart people and getting out of their way. It's why Gensler is a pioneer in the industry, and Art's approach and philosophy will remain embedded in the firm's unique culture."

Gensler passed away in 2021 at age 85 after a lifetime of work that bred accomplishment upon accomplishment and evolved the firm, now known simply as Gensler, into an enterprise that includes over 5,500 employees in 52 locations across the globe. Over the course of his career, Gensler remained actively involved and led hundreds of monumental projects around the world. A few memorable projects include the Shanghai Tower in China, CityCenter in Las Vegas, Oracle's headquarters in Silicon Valley, the many terminals at San Francisco International Airport, and the first Gap and Apple stores.

Gensler believed that good design emphasized function, aesthetic appeal, and, above all, the needs of the client, tenants, and other users. He also felt strongly that the design process must be a collaborative effort with clients, a principle he lays out in his 2015 book, Art's Principles: 50 Years of Hard-Learned Lessons in Building a World-Class Professional Services Firm. 

"His vision for our firm was that, together, designers and clients can solve the world's biggest challenges," says Gensler's son Doug Gensler (B.Arch. '91), former Managing Director and Principal at Gensler. "Art created a firm that was a family, and a community that could work together and accomplish anything. He was about empowering others to lead and was passionate about making those around him successful."

In keeping with his "we, not me" philosophy, Gensler invested in his employees' growth, supporting continued education, enabling and encouraging individuals to take on new challenges, and from the beginning, believing in the value of the team and that everyone should be an owner.  He thoughtfully transitioned the firm's ownership by granting stock in the business to the firm's principals rather than selling it to them, and by providing firm ownership for all employees through a stock ownership program. Throughout his decades of leadership, he remained faithful to both business principles and design practices that yielded extraordinary results and earned the architect and the firm many accolades, including some of the discipline's highest honors.

"Art's legacy is built upon his relentless passion for elevating the industry," says current Gensler co-CEO Diane Hoskins. "Art believed that design has the power to create a better world, and we will continue to honor his vision," shares Andy Cohen, also current Gensler co-CEO. 

In 1980, Gensler was elevated to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows. He was inducted into Interior Design magazine Hall of Fame in 1985 and named Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year in 1995. In addition, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Ernst & Young, LLP; the President's Award from the U.S. Green Building Council; and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Service from the American Institute of Architects' California Council. AIA awarded the Gensler firm its Year 2000 Architecture Firm Award. In 2022, for the 42nd year in a row, the Gensler firm ranked first among Interior Design's Top 100 Giants.

Through the Gensler Family Foundation, Art and Drue Gensler endowed the Gensler Visiting Critic and the M. Arthur Gensler, Jr. Scholarship at Cornell to ensure that aspiring architects benefit from similar experiences and can aspire to similar success. In 2020, the Gensler family gave a $10 million gift to name and sustain the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center that Gensler helped inspire and found in 2006.

After many years of service to Cornell and AAP, Gensler was named a lifetime member of the Cornell University Council in 2002. He also received the Frank H. T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award, the highest recognition for alumni service.

"Art Gensler's commitment to Cornell, AAP, and the architecture profession, like the man himself, was larger than life," says J. Meejin Yoon, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of AAP. "He leaves an enduring legacy for our college that will impact many generations to come."