About

Tom Ford has been with Gensler since 2012, initially in Hong Kong, before relocating to the Shanghai office in late 2013 to become the Planning & Urban Design Studio Leader. He is a motivated member of multiple project teams and provides senior leadership and urban design expertise to Gensler projects throughout the Asia Region. Tom is particularly interested in the cultural and physical contexts in which large and complex projects are envisioned, planned, and developed. He is highly successful in maintaining good client relationships and is valued by both clients and team members for his collaborative design approach, work ethic, sense of humor, and communication skills.

Prior to joining Gensler, Tom worked throughout Asia beginning in 2010, generally from a base in Hong Kong, and he provided urban design services as a consultant to international firms. This urban design work followed the founding of The Office of Tom Ford in California in 2008. Prior to that, Tom was the principal-in-charge of urban design projects at an award-winning Berkeley, California planning firm. Over two decades of practice, Tom has developed an ability to enter a project, identify problems, and develop solutions in a timely manner. The projects he has completed are primarily urbanist in their approach and vision.

Tom’s career started in the professional theater, after earning his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis. Following a number of years in the professional theater in San Francisco, including nonprofit arts management, performance, scenic design and stage management as a member of Actors Equity Association, Tom transitioned to urban design and architecture. He earned a Master of Architecture degree at the University of California, Berkeley while serving an internship in the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and launched his architecture career with a five-year period in the office of Peter Calthorpe. During Tom’s years at Calthorpe Associates, the Congress for the New Urbanism was founded and Tom is a Charter Signatory.

Over the course of Tom’s career, his urban design work and form-based design guideline documents have won awards on both sides of the Pacific Ocean from a variety of organizations, including local and State chapters of the American Planning Association and the Hong Kong Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. His drawings have been published in Great Streets, by Allan B. Jacobs and The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl, by Peter Calthorpe and William Fulton. Since 2002, always in concert with his son, Tom has seen the Chicago Cubs play baseball in over 14 ballparks in cities and towns across North America, including the village of Cooperstown, New York.

Tom Ford has been with Gensler since 2012, initially in Hong Kong, before relocating to the Shanghai office in late 2013 to become the Planning & Urban Design Studio Leader. He is a motivated member of multiple project teams and provides senior leadership and urban design expertise to Gensler projects throughout the Asia Region. Tom is particularly interested in the cultural and physical contexts in which large and complex projects are envisioned, planned, and developed. He is highly successful in maintaining good client relationships and is valued by both clients and team members for his collaborative design approach, work ethic, sense of humor, and communication skills.

Prior to joining Gensler, Tom worked throughout Asia beginning in 2010, generally from a base in Hong Kong, and he provided urban design services as a consultant to international firms. This urban design work followed the…

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