Design Is an “Experience Multiplier” for the Built Environment

March 12, 2024 | By Andy Cohen and Diane Hoskins

Editor’s Note: The following excerpt is from Design for a Radically Changing World, by Gensler Global Co-Chairs Diane Hoskins and Andy Cohen.

People are craving phenomenal, visceral experiences in every part of their lives. Whether we’re designing a workplace that feels like a clubhouse, or a sports stadium that becomes the engine for a mixed-use entertainment district, design can serve as an “experience multiplier” for the built environment, elevating the ways in which people exist and move through the world.

Sports and entertainment projects are transforming from inward-looking, stand-alone, single-use facilities into multipurpose entertainment districts with 24/7 activation that appeal to users with diverse interests and needs. By creating an entire ecosystem of activity and engagement, good design invites the public to immerse themselves in the vibrancy of these developments.

Design can serve as an “experience multiplier” for the built environment, elevating the ways in which people exist and move through the world.

Inside today’s sports arenas, from standing-only tickets with access to communal viewing decks to sponsor zones and boxes, a wider range of ticketing options is expanding access to people of varying means and improving the game-day experience. “Neighborhoods,” or zones designed for different activities — such as expanded retail, activity space, and food and beverage offerings — provide choices besides watching a game. VIP lounges, deluxe suites, and celebrity-chef concessions are part of the flavor of “being there,” as are fantasy-sports lounges and ample Wi-Fi access.

Design for a Radically Changing World

A new perspective positioning design as a strategic tool for creating meaningful, lasting, and positive change in the built environment.

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By connecting audiences before, during, and after events, these design approaches can also increase the return on investment for venue owners, encouraging broader use of both venues themselves and the surrounding commerce, entertainment, and culture districts in which stadiums are increasingly located.

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Andy Cohen
Andy is global co-chair of Gensler, the world’s most influential architecture and design firm. He served as co-CEO from 2005 to 2024 and has spent his entire 43-year career at Gensler. Cohen is a frequent speaker for premier industry groups, including the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Urban Land Institute, the Young Presidents Organization, the Milken Institute Global Conference, the Pension Real Estate Association, and more. His insights have appeared in Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Quartz, Curbed, and many other general interest and trade publications. Cohen is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a graduate of the Pratt Institute.

Full Bio All Posts

Diane Hoskins
Diane is global co-chair of Gensler, the world’s most influential architecture and design firm. She served as co-CEO from 2005 to 2024. Hoskins is the 2023-2025 Global Chair of the Urban Land Institute and was a featured speaker at the United Nation’s Habitat Assembly in Nairobi (2023) and Climate Action Summit in New York (2019). She has also spoken at the UN Climate Change Conference for three consecutive years. Her insights have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, CNN, Forbes, Fast Company, NPR, and elsewhere. A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Hoskins graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.