Gensler has reclaimed its crown as the world’s biggest architectural practice, knocking Aecom into second place, according to industry ratings.
It comes as the practice’s Shanghai Tower enters its final year of construction. When it opens in 2015 the 632m office block will be China’s tallest building and the world’s second tallest after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
The prized top slot in the new World Architecture Top 100 was fiercely contested, with both US giants adding to their architectural staff this year, says industry website bdonline which analyses employee numbers in order to produce the ratings.
But the remainder of the practices in the top five – Nikken Sekkei, IBI and Aedas – all shed staff.
Gensler, which employs 1,468 architects in 15 countries, also took the biggest fees of the year, above $600 million.
It attributed its success to a policy of organic expansion rather than acquisitions.
Executive director Andy Cohen said 35% of the practice’s work was now overseas.
The privately owned practice, founded nearly 50 years ago by Art Gensler, is now working in more than 100 countries.