Episode summary
Gensler Co-CEOs on Nvidia, AI, and 'the 20-Minute City' | At Barron's
At Barron's
· · Hosts: Andy Serwer · Guests: Elizabeth Brink, Jordan Goldstein
Summary
Gensler’s co-CEOs Elizabeth Brink and Jordan Goldstein described the firm as a global architecture and design business with 57 cities, 16 countries, more than 6,500 people, and close to $2 billion in revenue. They said the 100% employee-owned firm works through 33 practice areas and uses a highly matrixed structure, with weekly calls across markets to match global expertise to local opportunity.
A major theme was how headquarters, offices, airports, sports venues, and mixed-use districts have changed after COVID. Brink argued that offices must be a destination, not an obligation, with a balance of social, focus, and wellness spaces. Goldstein said clients increasingly want “the 20-minute city,” where work, retail, entertainment, and transit are clustered together, and he pointed to projects such as Fifth and Broadway in Nashville and the Hub on Causeway in Boston.
They also said AI is a tailwind rather than a threat. Brink said Gensler uses it to amplify creative leadership and iterate earlier with clients, while Goldstein said the firm hired design technologists, built its own interfaces, and trained more than 2,000 people in 48 hours on new technology. The discussion closed on branding and spectacle, including climbers on towers, which they framed as another expression of human interaction with the built environment.
Key takeaways
- Gensler says it is close to $2 billion in revenue, 100% employee owned, and operating across 57 cities in 16 countries.
- Brink says offices now need to be destinations with both social and private spaces, not just places to plug in and work.
- Goldstein says the firm sees mixed-use and “the 20-minute city” as a major growth theme, with projects like Fifth and Broadway and the Hub on Causeway.
- The co-CEOs say AI is improving design iteration and client storytelling, not replacing architects.
- Goldstein says sports, especially practice facilities and women’s sports, are a fast-growing opportunity for the firm.
Notable quotes
“we really are impacting experiences how people live, work, and connect in cities across the globe”
“we are actually in 57 cities globally. We're practicing in 16 different countries, and it's over 6,500 people globally”
“office should be a destination, not an obligation for employees”
“it is much more hospitality focused much more residential feel much more human- centered”
How the episode opens
Hello everyone and welcome to At Barons. I'm Andy Sirwer and welcome to our guests Elizabeth Brink and Jordan Goldstein, co-CEOs of the architecture firm Gendler. Welcome. Great to see you guys. — Thanks for having us Andy. — Great to be here.
Jordan, I want to start off with you and ask you to give us the 101 about Gendler. Um, tell us how big it is and how the business model works. Sure.
Well, I'll start off with what we do. So, it's architecture and design. And beyond defining skylines and cities around the world, we really are impacting experiences how people live, work, and connect in cities across the globe.
For us, we are actually in 57 cities globally. We're practicing in 16 different countries, and it's over 6,500 people globally.
Go ahead. One of the things that we do like to say um about the experience based on the experience is that with we do over a billion square feet a year and so almost everyone has experienced a Gendler space um whether that is from the San Francisco airport terminal 1 to the stadium in Los Angeles to here in New York. We were just talking about that before we even started some of the spaces like the JP Morgan interior space, the Google headquarters, the IBM headquarters.
So those spaces are spaces that people have really experienced in their day-to-day lives.
Yeah, we're going to get into some of those uh those places because there's there's so many of them. Um but Gendler is is private roots in San Francisco. What do you disclose about the firm in terms of revenue and how the firm is owned? Is it owned by
Sure. Yeah. So we are 100% employee owned. The firm was started actually 60 years ago by Art Gendler in San Francisco.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai
- nvidia
- 20-minute city
- architecture
- co-ceo leadership
Companies and tickers mentioned
- NVDA
- Gensler
- Nvidia
Watch the episode
Watch “Gensler Co-CEOs on Nvidia, AI, and 'the 20-Minute City' | At Barron's” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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