Washington Post Co. hires architecture firm Gensler to design new offices

The Washington Post Co. has hired the architecture firm Gensler to plan and design the company’s future workplace as it considers selling its downtown headquarters and relocating.

Based in San Francisco, Gensler is one of the largest global architecture firms and has done extensive work in Washington for law firms, universities and think tanks. Spokespersons for the Post and Gensler confirmed the partnership.

Gensler has expanded its workplace consulting practice in recent years as many employers transition to more open office designs. Law firms, for example, often no longer require extensive law libraries or large partner offices. Some tech firms and government agencies are looking to utilize less office space per employee or foster collaboration.

Last year Gensler hired Robert A. Peck, who focused on slimming the federal real estate footprint as head of public buildings for the General Services Administration.

Gensler has experience designing newsrooms as well. The company was hired as an interior architect by the New York Times Co. when the Times was in the early stages of planning its own new headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, which was completed in 2007. The Associated Press hired Gensler to design its Washington newsroom and incorporate video, radio and photography operations.

The New York Times offices were designed before the economic collapse (when austerity was less of a focus) but the design demonstrates the open floor plan and high ceilings that have become popular among employers.

The Post declined to elaborate on Gensler’s work. The search for possible new space is ongoing.

The New York Times newsroom is pictured inside the company's 52-story tower in New York. The Times gave up its white terra-cotta chateau-style headquarters just west of Times Square to take 26 floors of the tower it built with developer Forest City Ratner Cos. NIC LEHOUX VIA BLOOMBERG NEWS The cafeteria in The New York Times’s building. NIC LEHOUX VIA BLOOMBERG NEWS Another view of the cafeteria. (NIC LEHOUX - VIA BLOOMBERG NEWS)

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