M. Arthur Gensler, Jr., FAIA, FIIDA, RIBA, founder of the world’s largest architecture firm, Gensler, offered important advice to more than 65 young AEC stars attending BD+C's Under 40 Leadership Summit in San Francisco, which kicked off last night at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco.
Gensler, who founded his 3,900-person, $807 million design firm in 1965 "with $200, no plan, and one draftsman," said his keys to success have been to place a high level of value on his firm's work and to hire great people and trust them to do great work.
Gensler said too many architects today give away their ideas and concepts when submitting working drawings in competitions. "Clients value what they pay for, not what you give away for free," said Gensler, who stressed the importance of having "strong interactions with the client."
"We have a 'we' philosophy," said Gensler. "For too many people in our business, it's about 'their' building. To us, it's the client's building."
Here is a slideshow from the last night's U40 Summit kick-off event:
Autodesk Fellow and U40 Summit Lead Facilitator, Tom Wujec, explains the Marshmallow Challenge.
Related Stories
AEC Business Innovation | Jul 11, 2021
Staffing, office changes at SCB, SmithGroup, RKTB, Ryan Cos., Jacobsen, Boldt, and Adolfson & Peterson
AEC firms take strategic action as construction picks up steam with Covid openings.
K-12 Schools | Jul 9, 2021
LPA Architects' STEM high school post-occupancy evaluation
LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.
Multifamily Housing | Jul 7, 2021
Make sure to get your multifamily amenities mix right
One of the hardest decisions multifamily developers and their design teams have to make is what mix of amenities they’re going to put into each project. A lot of squiggly factors go into that decision: the type of community, the geographic market, local recreation preferences, climate/weather conditions, physical parameters, and of course the budget. The permutations are mind-boggling.
Industrial Facilities | Jul 2, 2021
A new approach to cold storage buildings
Cameron Trefry and Kate Lyle of Ware Malcomb talk about their firm's cold storage building prototype that is serving a market that is rapidly expanding across the supply chain.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 30, 2021
A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartment buildings
Grimm + Parker’s vision foresees buildings with rentable offices and refrigerated package storage.
Architects | Jun 30, 2021
Perkins Eastman joins forces with MEIS
MEIS’ work on stadiums and entertainment centers spans the globe with state-of-the-art designs in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Architects | Jun 25, 2021
AIA announces Small Project Award recipients
Now in its 18th year, the AIA Small Project Awards program recognizes small-project practitioners for the high quality of their work.
Architects | Jun 24, 2021
Post-pandemic, architects need to advocate harder for project sustainability
An AIA-Oldcastle report looks closer at the coronavirus’s impact on design and construction
Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021
Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]
New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 23, 2021
COVID-19’s impact on multifamily amenities
Multifamily project teams had to scramble to accommodate the overwhelming demand for work-from-home spaces for adults and study spaces for children.