The former President of Walt Disney Imagineering Bob Weis is joining Gensler as a Global Immersive Experience Design Leader, according to a statement released by the firm. Before the move, Weis spent more than 30 years at Disney.

Having joined Walt Disney Imagineering in 1980, Weis became president of the studio in 2016. He led more than 200 major projects in his time at the studio, encompassing theme parks, attractions, resorts, and cruise ships in the U.S., Shanghai, Tokyo, and Paris. He has also consulted with Disney clients such as the Smithsonian, National Geographic, NASA, and the United States Navy.

“At Disney, we often collaborated with Gensler, and I was able to see firsthand its culture of design innovation that transforms the quality of life in our world,” said Bob Weis as the news was announced. “This is what visionary companies are seeking, and what we all are yearning for as we interact with the world around us.”

In his new role as Gensler’s Global Immersive Design Leader, Weis will lead the creation of “unique experiences” for clients, including entertainment, lifestyle, hospitality, retail, sports, mixed-use, culture, wellness, and workplace sectors. Gensler sees Weis’ appointment as a means of providing engaging, immersive, human-connective experiences in the wake of the pandemic; an effort for which Weis’ background in large-scale story-driven projects will be valued.

“Now more than ever, design has the power to shape how we experience life,” said Gensler co-CEO Andy Cohen in a statement. “Bob is joining us just as we emerge from the pandemic as people are craving compelling, visceral experiences in the places where they live, work, and play.”

Details have not yet been released on specific projects to be led by Weis, though he has previously collaborated with Gensler on the design of Disneyland’s Shanghai resort. “Theme parks take a lot of development time,” Weis told Fast Company. “There’s a lot of infrastructure and capital that goes into them. They last a long time, they take a long time to deploy. [With Gensler] we’re talking about things that want to be very current, that want to be dynamic with the times.”

News of the appointment comes in the same week that Gensler Principal Steven Paynter unveiled an algorithm designed to determine whether commercial buildings can be converted into apartments. In late 2022, Gensler’s Culver Crossings Apple campus took a step forward towards construction, while the firm joined Amazon in donating $4.7 million to the California College of the Arts.