Gensler Voices: Emilie Baltz on Community-Based Design

This Q&A is part of a series of interviews with Gensler architects, designers, and others in the firm about their career journey, and the impact that design and architecture can have on our communities and the human experience. Here, we sit down with Emilie Baltz, Creative Director of the Digital Experience Design practice in our New York office.

Why are local communities so important to Gensler’s work?

Design and architecture are needs-based disciplines. As practitioners, we strive to improve the human condition by creating new spaces and experiences that solve problems and introduce opportunities. Engaging with local communities allows for a first-hand understanding of real needs and wants that drive purpose in design. In consequence, community engagement is also a direct inroad to building trust, connection and an authentic, empathetic understanding of place. By listening to locals, we develop real empathy that can drive human-centric innovation. This process requires active listening, relational abilities, and a true love of people - all the qualities that make for great design.

What impact do you want to leave on the world?

In high school, I was voted Most Likely to Save the World. 30 years later, my definition of that focuses on impacting how people feel. Feelings can create meaning in a human life: I believe that the stories that we Feel, are the people we Become. At Gensler, I am interested in harnessing the power of design and architecture to make experiences that positively affect human behavior in everyday life. I believe that by fostering joy, possibility, hope and belonging we can develop resilience and love, both of which are requirements for our continued existence and quality of life.

Most career journeys aren’t linear. What has yours looked like?

I am originally trained as a screenwriter and contemporary dancer. Along the way, I also pursued a Masters Degree in Industrial Design, with a specialty in Food as a Material for Design. I’ve worked in photography, filmmaking, performance, hospitality, product design, strategy and art. The throughline with all these various backgrounds is my passion for exploring how we tell, feel and distribute stories as people. This human-centric lens goes beyond any one discipline and offers me a unique ability to craft experiences that start with a people-first approach.

What unique perspective and experience do you bring to Gensler?

I have a unique specialty in Multisensory Design which allows me to marry the scale of architecture with the scale of human experience. We enter the world through our senses, and when we change our relationship to them, we can design new worlds. Over my career I have worked closely with architects, chefs, technologists, performers, artists (and more) to craft experiences that use the human senses as a medium for storytelling. I think of the senses as our Human Technology and am interested in how our environments and experiences can be designed to program different behaviors through sensory storytelling.

How do you continue learning throughout your career?

Over the last 25 years, I have discovered that by saying yes to the most uncomfortable moments, I learn the most. Tension is something that suggests a threshold. Instead of recoiling from this feeling, I try to see it as a signal for growth and possibility. I’ve come to look for it in everything from learning a skill, to taking on design challenges. For me, it’s a sign that I am expanding my circle of comfort and that I have the opportunity to learn something new.