Talent Agencies: When In Doubt, Turn to Gensler

Great story in the LA Times Magazine we were point to by way of Archinect: “Type A Spaces” by Christopher Hawthorne. It’s about the offices of three of the top talent agencies in the world, CAA, Endeavor, and ICM, which is cool enough as it is, as god knows how much money those places take in and can afford to put into some offices, but it’s also interesting to learn that they’re all using the same architecture/design firm in one capacity or another, the mighty Gensler. The basic question is: if your point is to stand out and be different, then why all look so similar? Here’s a bit:

The result — Gensler on Gensler — is an anomaly in an age of celebrity design, when museums, real estate developers and professional sports franchises hire famous architects to give their projects extra buzz. And it turned out that was just the beginning. Gensler went on to land commissions from two of CAA’s closest competitors: ICM and the William Morris Agency. ICM joined CAA in Century City earlier this year, taking four floors in the MGM Tower. William Morris is planning a six-story headquarters in Beverly Hills, with shops and restaurants at its base, that it says should be complete in about two years.

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