BIM Design

GENSLER

SIMULATION TAKES CONTROL

SHANGHAI TOWER

The prevailing reputation of Gensler as a practice that primarily executes corporate interiors is based on the work of its New York office, which is predominantly interiors oriented, but there is a wide diversity to what the practice does and certain offices tend towards specific types of projects. Gensler Shanghai, for instance, has focused over 80 per cent of the practice on architectural design, and specifically high-rise design. Gensler is a global practice, so offices from within the US support a certain amount of that work. When viewed from outside the New York lens, it is possible to understand the genuine diversity of Gensler’s practice.

Gensler designed and delivered a successful mixed-use tower for PNC in downtown Pittsburgh in 2009. This work led to both a second Pittsburgh tower for PNC – the Tower at PNC Plaza – which is slated to be the greenest tower in the world, and the 21st- Century Tower in Pudong, very close to the Shanghai Tower. The practice has been increasingly engaging in high-rise work. The towers recently and currently being undertaken by the practice are non-standard, despite the fact that Gensler does not have the precedents and completed work that many practices engaging in high-rise design can claim. Design teams are expected to respond to environmental criteria and develop their own logics of material, structural and energy efficiency. Gensler attracts a diverse body of work, bringing a variety of expertise ...