Rives Taylor

Rives Taylor has more than 30 years of experience in institutional and commercial architecture with 25 years spent focusing on strategic planning, programming, and sustainable design, scaled from facility operations to campus and city planning. A Texas-practicing architect/educator, Rives directs Gensler’s Firmwide Sustainable Design Task Force. He casts a wide net in elevating both the why and how of sustainable design, including students, faculty, professionals, public officials and the general public. In 25 years as adjunct professor at the University of Houston and visiting professor at Rice University, Rives has influenced more than 5,000 students in his technical and high-performance design studios and seminars.

 

The approaches Rives developed for Gensler not only affect the firm’s extensive practice but also influence clients’ building decisions worldwide. He developed a firm-wide green practice primer called “The Four Tiers of Sustainability,” led the inclusion of sustainable design in the firm’s in-house education program, and in partnership with Architecture 2030 and the Design Futures Council, developed an “eco-charrette” process and developed a building performance metric that is now used in all of Gensler’s projects. Design and construction standards Rives developed for clients such as ExxonMobil and Toyota are now embedded in those clients’ protocols and are followed worldwide. He represented Gensler at the Paris Climate Accord in 2015 and co-produces an annual "Impact by Design" publication for the firm focusing on sustainable design strategies and impacts.