
Diane Hoskins ’79 grew up with plenty of exposure to “beautiful, incredible buildings,” both in Chicago’s famously photogenic downtown and in the pages of Architectural Record, where her mother worked. It was only natural that she should become an architect herself. For the past 15 years, she’s been co-CEO of Gensler, the world’s largest architecture and design firm, known for its focus on workplace interiors. Also known for its green buildings, it has committed to net-zero emissions for all its new designs by 2030.
Hoskins remembers her time at MIT as “the most exhilarating rush of adrenaline,” adding, “You were learning something every single day.” Most of her classes for her architecture major focused on the essentials of building design. But an MIT Sloan class on management psychology got her thinking about the impact of office spaces on organizations. “The connection between physical surroundings and behavior and performance in a work environment always stuck with me,” she says. She went on to earn an MBA from UCLA and design large buildings for several international firms before landing at Gensler.
There, she pioneered a research program to determine how interior spaces influence workers. Through surveys of thousands of employees each year, the firm has identified four modes of working—focusing, collaborating, learning, and socializing—each requiring different kinds of spaces. Hoskins helped develop a “Workplace Performance Index” to track the impact of space design on elements such as productivity, communication, and innovation. The firm uses those insights to custom-design the right combination of spaces for companies such as Microsoft, Etsy, and Nvidia, as well as schools, hotels, and airports. “We start with data and trends,” she says, “and then shape the design to address a company’s culture, brand, and people.”
The firm is using that same data-driven approach to re-envision office life following the covid-19 pandemic. Despite the new emphasis on working from home, Gensler’s recent surveys of workers have found that only 12% want to do so full time; 44% prefer a hybrid arrangement, and another 44% want to work only in the office. While it’s too early to tell definitively, Hoskins imagines that offices will incorporate souped-up air filtering and touchless doors and elevator buttons to prevent spread of infection.
“People want to connect with other people,” she says. “Already we are starting to hear the outcry: ‘I can’t do my best work in isolation.’ Focus, collaboration, and socialization are all intermixed.”
Keep Reading
Most Popular
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?
Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.
A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate
Make Sunsets is already attempting to earn revenue for geoengineering, a move likely to provoke widespread criticism.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
These exclusive satellite images show that Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi megacity is well underway
Weirdly, any recent work on The Line doesn’t show up on Google Maps. But we got the images anyway.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.