Remembering Art Gensler

Art, his wife Drue (1936–2017), and James Follett co-founded M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates, Inc. in San Francisco in 1965. Today, 56 years later, Gensler has 50 office on four continents, with 32 offices in North America. The Art Gensler legacy page on Gensler's website describes Art as "an architect and astute businessman who propelled a small business into the largest and most admired firm in the industry." The firm attributes this success to "his 'inside-out' approach to architecture" that put human experience at the core of their projects, "a framework our firm still embraces to this day." 

Art shared his advice with the world in Art's Principles: 50 years of hard-learned lessons in building a world-class professional services firm, a book he wrote with Michael Lindenmayer and published in 2015, five years after he stepped down as Gensler chairman. The six-minute film offers similar lessons to the book — "We treat each other like family and we respect, so if someone in the family has an idea you listen to it" — lessons that should appeal to architects geared to the business side of the profession. Ultimately, as the Art Gensler legacy page attests, "his gift to the firm was an ethos that allowed it to grow and prosper against all odds."