Antony Harbour: 1994 Hall of Fame Inductee
Antony Harbour was born and raised in England, earning his Architecture Degree from University College in London. Post-graduate studies at the University of California in Berkely followed. Then, after a stint with Leo A. Daly on the West Coast, he joined the San Francisco office of
Gensler and Associates Architects
in the late 1960s. In 1972, he moved to the Houston branch, there making his mark by directing his employers’ largest interiors commission, the corporate headquarters of Pennzoil. And two decades later he rounded out the geographical route by taking on the managing directorship in London.
Though his record of completed jobs for global business giants resembles the proverbial Who’s Who of industry tycoons, perhaps even more impressive is his reputation for creative talent equally balanced by down-to-earth reality. He is, in short, that rare breed of practitioner who excels at design as well as management, at the same time implementing his conviction that architecture and inside treatment are interdependent disciplines.
Since assuming the overseas management post, Mr. Harbour has broadened his client base in the U.K. and in continental Europe. Among major achievements are the atypically large 325,000-sq.-ft. spaces for Linklaters & Paines, leading law firm, and the government offices for the European Medicines Evaluation Agency, both in London; and the Babelsberg film studio (of Marlene Dietrich/Blue Angel fame) near Berlin.
Mr. Harbour is on Gensler’s four strong board of directors; serves as university professor, lecturer and industry speaker; holds numerous awards; and has had his work published in varied journals. Asked for a spontaneous wrap-up remark addressed to his Hall of Fame peers, he responds, er, simply: “keep it simple.”
