Erinn McGurn Joins A+I as Director of Project Strategy
New hire expands capabilities and perspective for world’s foremost strategy-led design agency
A+I today announced the appointment of sustainable design veteran Erinn McGurn to the role of Director of Project Strategy. The hire comes at a time when organizations increasingly require a strategy-led approach that is the hallmark of A+I’s design process.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Erinn to A+I in this new role. It couldn’t come at a better time,” CEO Kate Thatcher shared. “Alongside the optimism that comes with the ability for people to come back together again, companies are questioning how, when, and why their employees return to work. With her track record of solving complex challenges for organizations across industries, Erinn will be a tremendous asset for helping our clients answer those critical questions.”
Erinn McGurn, Director of Project Strategy
In her new role, Erinn will use research and inquiry to establish the mission, strategies, tactics, and desired impact unique to each project, leading A+I design teams to establish frameworks with clients early in the process to build broad consensus and amplify the capacity of some of the world’s most innovative, impactful organizations.
She joins A+I after founding and leading the social impact design and consulting practice SCALEAfrica + SCALEStudio since 2007. She recently spent three years in Kigali, Rwanda. There, she acted as a principal-level consultant to MASS Design Group - leading projects, as well as their business and strategic partnerships development activities across Africa.
“Strategy has the ability to unearth how space and designed experiences can meaningfully support and help organizations realize their goals.” McGurn added, “I share A+I’s passion for exploring the critical overlaps between human needs, behaviors, and aspirations - then collaboratively building the architectural solutions that effectively support them.”
A+I is currently working with leading brands like Peloton, Squarespace, and Publicis on workspaces that address the new, hybrid way companies will work in space in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Using the insights gleaned from Class A tenants, A+I is also applying learnings across large-scale projects for landlords and developers such as Hines, Lendlease, and Vornado Realty Trust on large-scale projects across the United States and Europe. Strategy is at the center of how A+I is helping both tenant companies and building owners negotiate this seismic shift in the way we work.
“Erinn is the perfect addition as a senior leader within our integrated strategy practice,” A+I Chief Strategy Officer Peter Knutson shared. “Her 20 years of experience with partners and clients in developing and implementing projects which tackle complex and systemic challenges and, at their core, acknowledge the inherent dignity and capacity of all humans will be a significant contribution to A+I’s capabilities to help these forward-thinking organizations.”
About A+I
A+I stands for “Architecture Plus Information.”
Founded by Brad Zizmor and Dag Folger upon graduating from Columbia University in 1996, A+I today employs more than 70 professionals that build strategies and create spaces that embody their client’s ambition, reimagining the future of workplace for some of the world’s fastest growing brands.
The New York-based agency uses information and creativity to better the changing world we inhabit. With an investigative lens, A+I applies critical thinking, rooted in architecture, to solve increasingly complex problems and build more meaningful, more complete, and more integrated design solutions. By applying their craft in new ways, A+I helps courageous organizations on the cusp of transformation see themselves more clearly, embrace change and propel their business and their people forward by showing up in the physical world with purpose.