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Presenter

Peter Wang

Gensler

Peter is a Design Director and Office Developers Leader for Gensler’s Northeast region who continually finds ways to innovate, delight, and inspire. He brings a breadth of knowledge from building design to workplace, brand, and experience design. Peter focuses on creating inspiring environments that support his client’s aspirations, values, and business strategies. Based in Gensler’s New York office, he works for clients across real estate development, retail, media, and technology industries. He holds an unwavering commitment to functionality, budget, practicality and, above all, design that pushes boundaries and lifts spirits. Peter’s projects have won awards from Interior Design, SARA National Design, AIGA, Business Week’s Architectural Record Awards, and IIDA’s Decade of Design. In 2004, the IIDA recognized Peter as one of "Ten To Watch" designers across the U.S. Peter is an active member of the New York AIA and is a NCARB Supervisor. He earned a Bachelor’s of Architecture at Columbia University and a Masters of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Speaking at

Tue Nov 04 2:30 PM — 2:50 PM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time

Pearl House: New York’s Office-to-Residential Exemplar

Pearl House stands as one of New York City's largest post-pandemic office-to-residential conversion by unit count to date, and was achieved without special zoning changes or financial incentives. Its success has attracted attention from developers, industry leaders, and government officials seeking scalable solutions for future conversions, positioning the fully leased project as a leading case study in adaptive reuse. Starting in 2020, Vanbarton Group and global design firm Gensler transformed a 525,000-square-foot office tower at 160 Water Street into Pearl House, a residential building with 588 apartments, 38,000 square feet of amenities, and a new ground-level parklet. Pearl House, a winner of the 2025 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence, achieved success through a phased delivery strategy—bringing units to market in stages to generate early cash flow and meet leasing benchmarks tied to financing.