Two Legends. Two Days.

The architecture and design industry lost two giants within 48 hours. Their lives, firms, and even their deaths were as different as the two men were - Helmut Jahn and Art Gensler.

On Saturday, May 8th, Helmut Jahn died in a horrific traffic accident in Campton Hills, IL (outside Chicago) when the 81 year-old, while out for a bike ride, was struck by two cars heading in opposite directions. On Monday, May 10th, 85 year-old Art Gensler passed away at home in Mill Valley, CA after a battle with lung disease.

Both Jahn and Gensler led firms that bore their names. And while both took different approaches to their craft, they both had global influence. Art Gensler built the largest architecture design practice but eschewed establishing any singular "Gensler style". Helmut Jahn built a boutique practice in Chicago and Berlin and was the key design leader for each project. Both men were well-respected in their fields and achieved success and recognition by their peers, and were sought out by clients.

I had the privilege of working for Gensler and met Art on his visits to the Dallas office. And while I never had the opportunity to meet Helmut, I "knew" him through his work. I like to think that at some point in the past that Art and Helmut must have met - maybe they served on a panel at an AIA convention, collaborated on a project, or maybe they just ran into each other in a hotel lobby or airport terminal. Those must have been some interesting and memorable conversations.

Both men and their respective eponymous firms created spaces that we live, work, shop, and play in every day. They shaped and influenced our lives in incalculable ways. And while their firms carry on without their founders, we are all a little richer for their passion and influence - and a little poorer for their passing.

No one is immortal and we all leave the planet at some point. So if you should be in a building designed by Gensler or Jahn, take a look around. While they are no longer with us, their work is their legacy. and their influence continues.