NBBJ, the global architecture and design firm, today announced that it has acquired experience design studio ESI Design. The acquisition signals a new era where buildings will be transformed into immersive and interactive digital experiences that engage and delight.
By joining forces, NBBJ and ESI Design’s multidisciplinary team will be able to integrate digital experiences early in the design process, providing clients with more impactful and streamlined services.
Sweeping advancements in technology, from miniaturization to contemporary light projection technology, will make it possible for NBBJ and ESI Design to bring the type of immersive experiences that are increasingly desired as digital centerpieces in museums, stadiums, and transportation hubs to a wider range of industries, including healthcare, education, civic, commercial real estate, and science.
The two firms—which have previously collaborated on commercial real estate and corporate workplace projects in Boston and New York City—will now provide unified solutions as one of the largest and most robust experience design platforms in the country.
“By integrating the design of architecture and dynamic digital experiences, we will create boundless opportunities to energize the places we live, work, and play to stimulate our senses and inspire discovery, learning, and impact” said Steve McConnell, FAIA, Managing Partner of NBBJ. “The acquisition of ESI Design brings this vision to life and increases NBBJ’s ability to serve our clients as they activate their brands, create community, inspire wellbeing, and thrive.”
NBBJ is one of the largest architecture and design firms in the world, with clients that include Amazon, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Microsoft, and the University of Oxford. ESI Design has most recently received critical acclaim for its design of the immersive visitor experience at the Statue of Liberty Museum, which opened in May 2019. Other clients include Barclays, eBay, The Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, PNC Bank, and WarnerMedia.
“We are at an exciting moment in time where the diverse skillsets of digital designers, media architecture technologists, gaming engineers and storytellers will partner with architects to create buildings as places that are lively, engaging and evolving,” said Edwin Schlossberg, the founder and principal designer of ESI Design. “NBBJ and ESI Design share a vision that well-designed spaces can bring ideas and brands to life in ways that inform, inspire, and delight. Through our partnership we will push the boundaries of what a building can be and help our clients bring people closer together through shared experiences – by seeking to design in ways that enable the environment to learn from its users so that it, and them get better with use.”
ALSO SEE: Tech Report 5.0: Digital Immersion
Under the agreement, ESI Design becomes NBBJ’s 18th studio. As part of the acquisition, Schlossberg becomes a partner at NBBJ and will lead the ESI Design studio at NBBJ.
Six ESI Design leaders will become principals at NBBJ: Alexandra Alfaro, Angela Greene, Cara Buckley, Emily Webster, Layne Braunstein, and Susan Okon. NBBJ will retain two office locations in New York City: The NBBJ New York office at 140 Broadway and ESI Design, an NBBJ studio at 111 Fifth Avenue. This will create a presence of 160 NBBJ employees in New York City, bringing the firm’s total employees to more than 800 worldwide.
Related Stories
| Jul 13, 2014
Punishing deadline can’t derail this prison health facility [2014 Building Team Awards]
A massive scope, tough schedule, and technical complexity fail to daunt the Building Team for a huge California correctional project.
| Jul 11, 2014
First look: Jeanne Gang reinterprets San Francisco Bay windows in new skyscraper scheme
Chicago architect Jeanne Gang has designed a 40-story residential building in San Francisco that is inspired by the city's omnipresent bay windows.
| Jul 11, 2014
$44.5 million Centennial Hall opens at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Centennial Hall houses the College of Education and Human Sciences and consolidates teacher education. It is the first new academic building on the UW-Eau Claire campus in more than 30 years.
| Jul 11, 2014
Are these LEGO-like blocks the future of construction?
Kite Bricks proposes a more efficient way of building with its newly developed Smart Bricks system.
| Jul 10, 2014
BioSkin 'vertical sprinkler' named top technical innovation in high-rise design
BioSkin, a system of water-filled ceramic pipes that cools the exterior surface of buildings and their surrounding micro-climates, has won the 2014 Tall Building Innovation Award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Jul 10, 2014
Unique design of Toronto's townhome The Tree House
Plans for a new Toronto townhome brings cutting-edge design.
| Jul 10, 2014
Berkeley Lab opens 'world's most comprehensive building efficiency simulator'
DOE’s new FLEXLAB is a first-of-its-kind simulator that lets users test energy-efficient building systems individually or as an integrated system, under real-world conditions.
| Jul 10, 2014
Steinberg SF Studio launches in San Francisco, plans to transform its own office space
Grant and Saheba left their previous architectural firms, AECOM and Handel respectively, because they saw the opportunity to bring their agile, provocative design aesthetic to clients in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Oakland.
| Jul 9, 2014
Dragon-inspired hotel conveys Vietnamese hospitality [2014 Building Team Awards]
An international Building Team unites to create Vietnam’s first JW Marriott luxury property.
| Jul 9, 2014
Harvard Business School to build large-scale conference center
Expected to open in 2018, the facility will combine the elements of a large-scale conference center, a performance space, and an intimate community forum. The new building will be designed by Boston-based William Rawn and Associates.
