Erin Saven.
Erin Saven, 33
Real Estate Design Strategy Director at Gensler
Erin Saven started her career as a traditional architectural designer. After finishing her bachelor’s in business and art history at Emory University and a master’s in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, she got a job at Weiss/Manfredi. Her first big project was the Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech.
“At Weiss/Manfredi, I realized I wanted to pair what I learned in business school — using data and research that goes into a building — with design, and I was less interested in detailed [architectural] implementation at the time,” she explained.
So she ended up at Gensler’s consulting arm, where she helps landlords, developers and brokers strategize. She found herself working on the Tata center again, but as a consultant for the leasing. “I investigated which industries would benefit most from being next to Cornell Tech, what their spaces should be, and how long their leases should be to achieve that result.”
Her job essentially involves using Gensler’s internal research to help develop repositioning strategies for commercial spaces, and working with the firm’s architecture teams to translate those ideas into designs.
She’s also working on a real estate strategy for the renovation of the 1.2 million-square-foot Terminal Warehouse building in West Chelsea. Her other projects include the Farley Building and 550 Madison.
During her time at Gensler, Saven has helped build out the real estate strategy team.
“I found when I came to Gensler seven years ago there was a gap in connecting different aspects of the firm together — workplace, architecture, strategy and consulting,” she said. “And I felt I could stitch those different areas together because of my background. And because Gensler is such an entrepreneurial place to be, I had the opportunity to build a business within a business.”
To cope with the pandemic’s tumult, Saven started to take long morning runs and walks along the East River on the way to her office. “It’s allowed me to see the city from a new perspective and see the evolution of how everything has changed over the past two years. I’ve been able to get all my podcasts and news in, and see the city’s first attempts at outdoor dining.”—R.B.R.
