Designing Spaces So People Feel Like They Are Part of the Story
Andy Cohen and Bob Weis have teamed up at Gensler. Photo by Ryan Gobuty, courtesy Gensler
Bob Weis studied architecture and spent the other half of his time in school in the theater department. That combination sparked a love of performance, storytelling, acting, directing, and writing stories. Storytelling and architecture, Weis learned, are natural partners. For the last 30 years Weis put his skills to practice leading Disney’s global Imagineering program. During this time, he oversaw more than 200 major projects around the world, including theme parks, resorts, and cruise ships. (He also consulted with Smithsonian, National Geographic, NASA, and the United States Navy.)
Now he’s made a career move and joined Gensler to lead its global immersive experience design practice. In this new role, Weis will take the best of what he has learned and accomplished at Disney and bring it closer to people’s everyday lives, such as workplaces, airports and retail shops.
It’s another natural fit. Weis has worked with Gensler co-CEO Andy Cohen for 25 years. Here, Cohen and Weis share how the immersive experience design market is growing, how Weis will contribute to Gensler’s portfolio, and why it’s important for people to feel like they are part of the story of a space.
Bob, how will your experience in pioneering large-scale, groundbreaking, and story-driven experiences at Disney further expand Gensler’s ability to drive design innovation?
Bob: At Disney, I worked on major projects like Disney Shanghai and Disney California Adventure. Big, life-changing, communal experiences that are great for families and friends. I have always been interested in bringing those experiences closer to where people live and where they can be a part of the vibrancy of daily life. These kinds of experiences have to be immersive to all your senses, not just your eyes, and you have to have some agency in the outcome. That’s storytelling. And this can apply to so many sectors: from airports and transportation to health and wellness to entertainment and retail. I can build a team and influence projects across Gensler’s portfolio of work.
Can you tease a few ideas of what this will look like in an airport, workspace, or other unexpected project type?
Bob: In the movies, you always see transportation hubs as the setting for an emotional turning point. For example, parents going to their child’s wedding. There is opportunity for storytelling in the terminals, to magnify and focus the experiences people are having all around. Or look to the art world, where museums are bringing art to life for all of the senses. Or the way society is more focused than ever on health; we could introduce wellness opportunities into all types of spaces.
Andy: Bob is an incredible storyteller, and we have multiple large-scale, world-class projects in the works that can be greatly enhanced by taking a narrative and experiential approach to the design. At Gensler, Bob is going to bring immersive experiences to our clients and projects across all our 29 practice areas—an exciting step in his renowned career, which previously focused on theme parks, resorts, and other entertainment environments you find behind the Disney gate. Here, he will have an impact on global projects that millions of people interact with while going about their daily lives, in addition to our incredible entertainment projects.
Andy, what are clients looking for with immersive experience design?
Andy: Our clients are clamoring for authentic experiences. Everyone is. After three years of being isolated from one another, people want to be back together, in person, face-to-face, whether that’s in a retail center, a hotel, an entertainment venue, a sports arena, or a workplace.
We’re designing innovative headquarters and offices, and right now our clients are asking us, “How can we draw our people back into the office? How can we reignite collaboration and creativity in the workplace?” Our answer is to design offices that are destinations, not obligations. Places where people want to be, that offer experiences and amenities they can’t find anywhere else. That’s a perfect example where Bob’s expertise makes a huge difference. Space shapes experience, so through immersive, transformative design, we can give people the best possible experience of the places where they live, work, and play.
Bob: Technology has caught up with artistic desire. Now, visitors have technology at their fingertips that they can use to control the outcome. Storytellers have the opportunity to do things that have high participation—not just “I waved and something happened.” But really authentic participation in stories. That field is exploding.
Why is it so important for people to feel like they are part of the story of a space?
Bob: When people are inspired or transported, or in some way, personally, emotionally engaged in a place, they become connected, and their memories go with them. They tell others about it, and they have a higher intent to return.
When you are designing a space, what are the defining components and characteristics you use to tell the story?
Bob: As designers we can be too focused on telling the story of our own development journey. We need to be more visitor-focused—we should know our audience, walk in their shoes. It’s important to organize the flow of stories and ideas and reward our visitors for taking the journey and, of course, encourage them to share it and to come back.
Bob, you have, and will continue to, work on mega-scale projects. What is your ideation starting point?
Bob: Create teams that are diverse and interdisciplinary. Brainstorm. Audience test. Brainstorm again. It’s essential to bring in more writers, people who can predict and plan guest needs and behavior, media designers, artists, people on the cutting edge of technologies that can personally engage the visitor. This emerging field is very likely to bring more voices to the design table and more diverse thought partners.
What has contributed to your successful collaboration over many years, and what is something you’ve learned from the other?
Andy: Gensler was privileged to have had Bob as a client for many years. We think of ourselves as trusted partners to our clients, collaborating with them to help them reach their stated goals, and even their unrecognized needs. Bob would call us in early on global entertainment projects to brainstorm and visualize the future of design together. It was an incredible melding of the minds—he is truly a creative visionary, and working together pushed us all to new heights. We developed a trust and bond over 25 years, and we respect each other a great deal.
Bob: In the early days of us at Disney working with Gensler, we sort of thought of Gensler as an extension. We conceptualized big, complex projects at Imagineering with support from Gensler. But over the years, one thing I learned working with Andy and his team was that we should start working together at the beginning of projects. If we tapped their expertise and creative view from the beginning, the process was much more fruitful. That convinced me this was a great place for me to join.
As for what I’ve learned from and admire in Andy, I can’t believe how many people he has personal relationships with—he knows what their project is, what their goals are, and what they need to do. He gets up from his chair about 40 times a day and finds somebody in the hallway to tell him about their project. Walt Disney would describe himself as a bee who would buzz around Disney and pollinate the whole. Andy follows in those footsteps.
What’s next?
Andy: We are living in a radically changing world. Over the last three years, we’ve all experienced crisis after crisis—what I call the “Crisis Multiplier”—from the pandemic and climate change to social and geopolitical upheaval. And now, we’re facing tremendous global economic volatility. But in spite of all this, we find optimism in design as an answer to these significant challenges. We can see a path forward, because places and spaces matter. Design allows us to view all these crises as part of an ecosystem, and by understanding their interconnected nature, we can devise multifaceted, integrated solutions that make a lasting impact. We are committed to the idea that design can be a catalyst for positive change.
If you’d like to read more from The Creative Factor, subscribe to our newsletter. Or looking to tell your brand story? Introducing the Creative Factor storytelling studio.
Plus, more great reads, right this way…
