Gensler

Overview

AllianceBernstein’s technology-forward workplace at Hudson Yards brings employees and clients together through hospitality, wellness, flexibility, and an ever-evolving expression of innovation.

Location
Client

Opportunity

A major real estate consolidation became an opportunity to redefine AllianceBernstein’s New York presence around connection, client experience, and future-ready work.

After moving its headquarters from Manhattan to Nashville, AB needed its New York office to play a more focused role. The new workplace would primarily support investors, private wealth, and client-facing teams while preserving the mentorship and apprenticeship culture that drives the firm’s work. Consolidating into a smaller Hudson Yards footprint raised the stakes: the office had to earn the commute, support hybrid participation, advance wellbeing, and make AB’s technology ambitions visible to employees and clients.

[NEEDS INPUT: alt text]

Why This Matters

  1. 01

    Elevated Client Experiences Build Trust

    As an office that will be hosting high-profile clients, the space needed to communicate confidence, hospitality, technological fluency, and readiness for change ahead. This is embodied by “The Dreamwall.”

  2. 02

    Flexibility Drives Performance

    A smaller footprint works harder through choice, adaptability, and shared amenities, supporting focus, collaboration, events, and evolving business needs throughout the day.

  3. 03

    Culture Is Dependent on Space

    AB’s apprenticeship culture depends on proximity, visibility, and everyday exchange, while client-facing teams rely on the workplace as a brand touchpoint ex-pressing confidence, innovation, and long-term value.

FPO Quote

FPO PersonFPO Role

Solution

By reframing real estate consolidation as an experience strategy, AB needed a New York hub that would supercharge workplace culture, client experience, and innovation.

Across four floors, a central stair links reception, cafés, team neighborhoods, meeting suites, terraces, and an event space. A 100% open plan replaces status-based offices with settings for mentorship, focus, and collaboration. Wellness is embedded through daylight, terraces, amenities, and a Fitwel 3-Star rating strategy that supports daily comfort. Hospitality cues shape arrival and event spaces for employees and clients. The Dreamwall translates AB’s investment in AI into an immersive spatial experience, using responsive digital content to create an evolving first impression that reflects innovation and engagement.

Related Content

From brief to build: the team drew on a decade-long partnership with AB to turn the consolidated hub into a fresh, unmistakably New York workplace.

Gensler also delivered AB’s Nashville HQ and a nationwide portfolio of local offices. This familiarity enabled close collaboration with teams across AB to shape programming that supports mentorship, client engagement, and daily work. The design concept centered on identifying a unifying concept that could ground the workplace in its New York context, ultimately drawing inspiration from the High Line. The design team explored how the High Line’s layered pathways, moments of pause, and connection to the city could translate into a workplace experience.

Impact

AB’s New York office at Hudson Yards is a magnet for talent, clients, and next-generation fi-nance.

The office operates as a high-performing hub: enhancing culture and wellbeing, elevating client engagement, and creating a platform to adapt their workplace model over time.

[NEEDS INPUT: alt text]

What Changed Because of This

  1. 01

    An Open Culture

    Private offices give way to open neighborhoods and shared work cafés, making mentorship, visibility, and informal learning part of the everyday workplace rhythm.

  2. 02

    Innovation-forward Client Experience

    The Dreamwall: an AI-generated, motion-responsive art installation spanning a city block. A custom parent/child algorithm, trained on 12,000+ images, pro-duces endlessly evolving visuals aligned to AB's brand identity.

  3. 03

    Well-being Embedded

    Cafés, terraces, amenities, and a Fitwel-certified strategy make the workplace more responsive to employee needs, offering choice, respite, and daily support.

Michael Chappell

The workplace strategy reflects our longstanding partnership with AB, translating years of shared insight into a workplace that supports their evolving business and culture.

Michael ChappellPrincipal

Recognition

01

Newsweek

AllianceBernstein’s Hudson Yards office, which reflects a forward-thinking approach to workplace design. Gens-ler’s Eran Sharon explained the space features an AI-powered, immersive art installation that reflects the spirit of New York and AB’s commitment to innovation.

02

Interior Design

Named the Gensler-Designed AllianceBernstein at Hudson Yards as an honoree of the 2025 NYCxDesign Awards.

FAQ

01

Who designed AllianceBernstein at Hudson Yards?

Gensler designed AB’s New York workplace at Hudson Yards, including the integrated workplace and digital experience strategy.

02

Why did AB need a new workplace in New York?

AB used the relocation and consolidation to give its New York office a more focused purpose after moving its HQ to Nashville: supporting inves-tors, clients, mentorship, and collaboration.

03

How does technology shape AB’s client experience?

The Dreamwall makes AB’s technology ambitions visible from arrival, turning AI into an immersive, evolving experience rather than a back-of-house capability.

04

How does the office support well-being for AB’s employees?

The workplace supports wellbeing through choice, access to terraces, communal cafés, support spaces, and a Fitwel-certified strategy focused on daily employee experience.