2025-Innovators in Commercial Real Estate-Chris Korsh of Gensler

Impact Highlight: Describe a recent program, initiative, or process implemented by you and the impact on your firm, organization, or community. Over 30 years, I’ve reframed healthcare design as a business and community proposition — not just architecture. At Gensler, my team aligns design with business and patient outcomes, developing tools like the Outpatient Experience Index to quantify impact. Our partnerships with several major clients is based on these principles — using data-driven design to enhance patient and caregiver experiences in the built environment.

Innovative Outlook: Where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation in the commercial real estate sector? Innovation in real estate starts with reimagining what already exists. As costs and constraints rise, growth can mean reinvention. University Hospital’s redesigned Emergency Department in Newark improved flow and comfort — without disruption during construction. Another client, Summit Health, just built a multispecialty hub in a former Crate & Barrel, demonstrating how adaptive reuse can expand access, efficiency, and community care.

Beyond Buildings: How do you see innovation in commercial real estate creating a broader impact on communities and the people who live and work in them? The most meaningful innovation in real estate today is where healthcare and communities meet. We’re seeing systems like HSS, Montefiore, Columbia, and Summit Health decentralizing care systems. It’s not about building bigger, but using real estate strategy to bring specialized and preventive care closer to home, tailoring environments to different levels of acuity for operational efficiency, and including resilience strategies to protect assets.