GBBN

About GBBN

GBBN is an architecture and design practice that works with visionaries to design solutions that enhance experience and empower people. The firm combines creative tenacity, technical mastery, and a global perspective to deliver design solutions that help clients achieve their goals.

As the practice puts it: together we shorten the distance between medical breakthroughs and patient bedsides, set students up for success, connect audiences and artists, and inspire employees to do their best work. At GBBN, architecture is seen as more than just buildings, because positively affecting people is the most important thing the firm does.

Offices

GBBN operates from five offices spanning the United States and China:

• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Beijing, China

The Beijing office gives the practice a genuinely cross-market perspective that is unusual for a firm of its size, and the website is published in both English and Chinese.

Sectors and Project Types

• Health - hospitals, clinical and research environments
• Higher Education - academic buildings, campus facilities and student environments
• Arts and Culture - theatres, performance venues and cultural institutions
• Libraries - public and academic libraries designed to spark engagement
• Workplace - offices designed to foster collaboration
• Residential - housing and rooftop terrace developments
• Mixed-Use - combined commercial and residential schemes
• Adaptive Reuse - repurposing existing buildings
• Event and Hospitality
• Non-Profit - facilities for mission-driven organisations
• Planning and Urban Design - masterplanning and city-scale work

Design Philosophy

Build Wonder

Whether through a monumental vista or a skyline view from a rooftop terrace, GBBN creates joyful moments that catch people by surprise, make them look twice, and reconsider how design can impact their lives.

Curiosity

The needs of clients constantly evolve. GBBN uses its Design Expeditions and Design Issues Series to challenge its own perceptions and enrich its understanding of how space impacts people, so it can help clients create the futures they envision.

Excellence

The practice believes spaces should do more for the people who use them. Theatres that anchor communities, workplaces that foster collaboration, libraries that spark engagement - these inspire artists, researchers, and students to do their best work.

Create to Liberate

GBBN solves problems - like how to connect hospitalised children to their own family pets, or how to reduce disposable bottles in landfills - in new and transformative ways, liberating clients to achieve their goals and envision new ones they could not have imagined.

Research and Development

Design Issues Series

The Design Issues Series (DIS) is GBBN's annual collaborative exhibition between its offices. The goal is to take a step back, explore, understand, and present a relevant industry topic in a new light to foster lively and creative public discourse.

Design Expedition

Design Expeditions (DX) bring together employees from all offices to visit, study, sketch, and document buildings and spaces in a different city each year. The firm uses DX to keep its design rigour sharp, find fresh inspiration, and open new lanes of thought.

Atmys - Data Advisory

GBBN operates Atmys, its data advisory group, applying data analysis to design decision-making. Bringing an analytics practice in-house rather than outsourcing it reflects a broader shift among mid-size practices toward evidence-based design, particularly in healthcare and workplace projects where post-occupancy performance is measurable.

Notable Projects

The practice's published Design Talks cover work including a children's theatre, the Cincinnati Ballet, and Penn State Behrend - a mix that reflects its concentration in arts, culture and higher education alongside its health portfolio.

Working With GBBN

GBBN partners with visionary organisations that drive innovation in their fields, approaching each day as an opportunity to discover and deliver solutions that make a difference for clients and communities. Its drive to advance design shows in its projects, processes, research, and development.