7.29.05. Detroit Free Press | Gensler unveiled preliminary designs creating a bright, airy look that will replace the dimly lit hallways and low ceilings of the Smith Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport. The design for the half-mile-long terminal, a $443-million project, appears similar to the McNamara Terminal's. The intent is to allow natural light into the terminal, said Bill Hartman, Gensler's design principal and principal in charge of the project. "People ... are at ease when they have natural daylight," Hartman said. A light glaze on the glass means that even on overcast days, the terminal will be flush with light, he said.

7.21.05 | BusinessEurope.com | Businesses can greatly improve their staff productivity with better office design, a new report suggests. Research from consultancy firm Gensler shows that improving work environments can boost staff morale and drive up productivity by nearly a fifth, adding up to £135 billion to firms' bottom lines. The study of service sector businesses reveals a fifth of workers claim they would be embarrassed to show their office to a customer. Another 58% say it has not been designed to support their firm's business objectives, let alone their job function. Only half rate their working environment as above average. Business owners are failing to realise, said Gensler's Gary Wheeler, that a comfortable working environment indirectly leads to more money in their coffers. Proof office design, he said, is a false economy.

5.4.05 | New York Times | Business concerns are now merging with architecture and design at the beginning of the practitioners' development process. Architects were not the only judges at the recent year-end review for 10 architecture students about to graduate from Yale University. The presence of developers constituted an experiment for the architecture school: to incorporate the client, and his real-world concerns about costs, loading docks and maintenance, into the design curriculum. At the same time, France's Insead, the leading business school in Europe, has formed an alliance with Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, in order to teach graduates that design may be as important to corporate management today as Six Sigma. (Registration required for both links)