Diane Hoskins and Andy Cohen

Transformation, evolution, change — whatever you call it, the theme summarizes the year for Andy Cohen and Diane Hoskins.

After working more than 20 years as Gensler’s co-CEOs, both Cohen and Hoskins stepped into the roles of global co-chairs this past winter, focused anew on design as a tool to transform the future.  

“We believe that design is a catalyst for massive positive change,” Cohen said. He referenced the book of design advice he co-authored with Hoskins, titled Design for a Radically Changing World, which was published in February 2024. 

The last few years have cycled through wave after wave of crises, from the pandemic and climate change to economic volatility and geopolitical instability, said Cohen. Design can therefore address accelerating crises. 

Gensler’s recent projects step up to those responsibilities with innovation. At Nvidia’s headquarters in Northern California, for instance, Gensler used artificial intelligence to design the 1.5 million-square-foot campus. 

“Especially [with] what’s been going on in the workplace — which is the greatest rethinking we’ve seen since the Industrial Revolution — this headquarters really talks about how the office is a destination, and not an obligation,” said Cohen.

In line with the shift from office to residential, Gensler also devised an algorithm or rating system that analyzes entire building stocks in cities to assess what can be realistically converted into residential. Within the practices’s four sectors — health and wellness, workplace, cities and lifestyle — workplace has been significantly impacted.

But that rating system isn’t the only tool in Gensler’s hands. The firm released its Gensler Product Sustainability Standards in 2023 to set sustainability performance criteria — and, in the language of Hoskins and Cohen’s book, to meet the needs for a radically changing world. 

“Climate change is the moral and business imperative of our lifetimes, and we are really laser focused on it,” said Cohen.