[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 28, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E268-E269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ARTHUR GENSLER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 28, 2012

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Arthur Gensler who today is 
receiving the 2011 Silver Spur Award from San Francisco Planning and 
Urban Research (SPUR). This award recognizes a lifetime of civic 
achievement of a San Franciscan.
  San Francisco is not alone in benefitting from Mr. Gensler's vision, 
creativity and leadership; his impact is global. In 1965 he founded 
Gensler, a San Francisco based architecture and design firm, that has 
grown from a three-person office to a 3000-person firm with over 30 
offices worldwide. Mr. Gensler transformed interior design into a 
recognized profession and his firm serves as a model for design 
professions in the 21st century.
  Gensler designed the stunning new Terminal 2 at SFO, located in my 
district, and Terminal B at Norman Mineta International Airport in San 
Jose. Other notable projects include the Toys R Us store at Times 
Square in New York, the Avenue of the Stars CAA building in Los 
Angeles, Jet Blue Terminal 5 at JFK, Gaylord National Convention Center 
in National Harbor, Maryland, the first LEED certified car dealership 
in McKinney, Texas and Shanghai Tower in Shanghai, China which is 
currently under construction. Among the many Awards Gensler received 
are the American Institute of Architects' IDP Outstanding Firm Award, 
Contract Magazine's Legend Award, Interior Design Hall of Fame, U.S. 
Green Building Council Leadership Award, the Lifetime Achievement award 
from Ernst & Young LLP, and AIA's Architecture Firm Award, the highest 
honor that AIA can bestow on an architecture firm for consistently 
producing distinguished architecture.
  Mr. Gensler is a graduate of Cornell University, which named him 
``Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year'' in 1995. Today he serves on the 
Advisory Council of Cornell's College of Architecture, Art and 
Planning. Mr. Gensler has also been a Visiting Professor at Arizona 
State University, Cornell, and the University of California at 
Berkeley, where he is on the Advisory Board of the Haas School of 
Business. He is a Trustee of the National Building Museum, Washington, 
DC, and the Buck Institute for Aging, Novato, California. Mr. Gensler 
is a Fellow of both the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and the 
International Interior Design Association (FIIDA), which honored him 
with its Star Award. He is also a professional member of the Royal 
Institute of British Architects, and a co-founder of the AIA's National 
Interior Architecture Committee.
  Mr. Gensler and his wife of over six decades, Drue Gensler, live in 
Mill Valley. They

[[Page E269]]

are the proud parents of four sons and ten grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask this body to rise with me to acknowledge the 
craft, talent and lasting impressions of Art Gensler.

                          ____________________