view from the southeast ... in general ... big firm ... good reputation ... does lots of good work ... very well organized and sophisticated ... has a profit motive (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) ... can throw a lot of resources at situations when required ... hires a lot of very good people and seems to treat most of them very well ... can be a very demanding work environment ... firm is broadening its target markets very aggressively ... make positive it's a good "cultural" fit for you ... gensler's not everybody's cup of tea.

Gensler is horrible, stay away. Blank zombies walk the aisles, spouting corporate-speak and archi-blather that will rot your brain. Next time you're there, look around and ask yourself - "Will any of these people be here in ten years? Were they here ten years ago? Does anybody care???"

"Will any of these people be here in ten years? Were they here ten years ago?"

this can be said about any firm in any industry.

Oh...I meant that existentially...I guess five years would be a better target. 98% of those people are just passin' thru...and they look it.

guess gensler's not poiuy's cup of tea -- an interesting perspective on what is widely regarded, both within and without the profession, as one of the finest, and most professional, firms around ... what'd they do to piss you off so badly ?

a survey of gensler is the feature in this month's (no. 14) Interior Design.

I once interviewed with Gensler's Boston office... After some confusion with a rather rude receptionist about the interview time, they dug up some perky dingbat from the HR office to meet with me. She "oohed" and "aahed" over my portfolio for about 15 minutes without listening to a single word I said, didn't ask me a single meaningful question, and then sent me on my way.

Gensler may or may not be a great firm, but that interview gave me an incredibly rotten first impression of the firm.

"as designers we draw creative inspiration from many sources.

sometimes we take on unique challenges or reach into new areas to extend our skills and perspective.

this approach keeps our design team fresh and engaged.

AND, it often inspires our client work"

waht?

def not oma inellegintsia type work. but they are quite professional. which is important, even if they will never be cutting edge or important in the historical sense. nothing wrong with that.

i interviewed with a gensler-esque office or two in london and they all left me feeling quite panicked when i did the tour of the offices and saw the staff and projects on deck. That feeling in my stomache that i had just spent 6 years in school and 3+ years as an intern to make architecture that was so safe and uninspiring and where the architects simply and clearly didn't CARE was really awful; the people were a bit zombie-ish, maybe because they had swallowed that feeling and took the job in spite of it.

I am quite sure it would be a great place to learn all the things you need to be competent in a way that rem will never be. but quizzical is right you gotta be ready for that environment because it is really for a particular sorta person.

Gensler is to architecture what white noise is to music...They are the architectural version of WalMart. And yes, I have worked with them in the past...BIZARRE...One Corparatoid designer surrounded by five lackeys scribbling down notes on whatever she said...Meeting after meeting after meeting....A different person on staff every time you called....Pleeeease! A firm that gargantuan can't be expected to NOT be wierd...