Long story, short, it was a BIG year for Generator Studio! 2024 was a year of celebration for us, from welcoming new partners to the leadership team to completing some exciting projects and announcing a few new ones. Before we step into 2025, let’s take a walk down memory lane and relive the moments that made this year so special.
January 2024
Kicking off the year strong, Interior Architectural Associate Alison Gordon was named an Elevate 2023 Aloft Award Winner from the Mid-America Chapter of the International Interior Design Association. We also announced the 229-key Margaritaville Hotel project coming to Kansas City, Kansas. This was our first project announcement of 2024, but certainly not our last.
February 2024
Midway through February we welcomed Seattle Sounders FC to their new home at the Providence Swedish Performance Center & Clubhouse. The soccer operations, from the Academy through the First Team, and all business operations, now work in one unified space, for the first time in the club’s 50-year history. Since its opening, the team has been able to use the space to host multiple RAVE Foundation events and welcomed FIFA President Gianni Infantino for a visit.
March 2024
In saying goodbye to spring, we said hello to a spot on the Sports Business Journal’s Best Places to Work in Sports list. We were the only architecture and interior design firm among the honorees. We also dressed in our finest teal clothing for the opening of CPKC Stadium, the world’s first stadium purpose-built for a professional women’s sports team. Our clients, the Kansas City Current, had even more to cheer for that day with a 5-4 home opening win.
April 2024
We cleaned up around the office in April to welcome creatives for Kansas City Design Week’s Open Studio Night. With the recent opening of CPKC Stadium, we shared some of our design process, served refreshments from local vendors found at the stadium, and challenged visitors to create a mascot for the KC Current. We capped off the month with our own celebration of World Design Day, as a reminder of the powerful transformation of ideas into impactful designs that shape the world around us.
May 2024
In May we picked up our hardware for two winners of the Kansas City Business Journal Capstone Awards. CPKC Stadium was awarded a Judge’s Special Recognition and the Child Protection Center was awarded in the Community Impact category. We also found ourselves among friends, colleagues, and a parrot named Captain Flint for the topping-off ceremony for Margaritaville Hotel.
June 2024
Spring marked 15 years of Generator Studio and the announcement of the Coca-Cola Amphitheater in Birmingham, Alabama. Set to welcome music lovers in 2025, the venue on Birmingham’s north side will host over 20 shows during the summer concert season.
July 2024
Some of our squad headed west to participate in the ALSD Conference and Tradeshow in Los Angeles. Director of Interior Design Christina hosted a micro-session on designing CPKC Stadium and Director of Architecture Andrew Kesel joined a panel discussing sustainability. Before heading into August, we got the news that TIME Magazine had named CPKC Stadium one of the World’s Greatest Places of 2024. Simply put, we couldn’t agree more!
August 2024
As summer came to a close, we announced our collaboration with Copaken Brooks on The Refinery, a 16-story apartment building on 1818 Main in downtown Kansas City. Located directly on the Kansas City streetcar line, The Refinery will connect where Kansas Citians live to where they work and play.
September 2024
In September our growth helped us claim a spot on Ingram’s Magazine’s list of the Top 10 Fastest-Growing Companies in Kansas City. We also took a pause from the grind to enjoy a build-your-own-pizza event at the office. Turns out we have quite a few people who have a passion for pizza design.
October 2024
As fall continued, we felt some real winner energy after ranking 19th on Kansas City Business Journal’s list of the top 50 fastest-growing companies and watching our clients the New York Liberty bring home the WNBA Championship. On top of that, we celebrated a day of double groundbreakings, marking major milestones for our clients MOCSA and Live Nation.
November 2024
Around the office, we had plenty of reasons to pop some champagne with three promotions. On our interiors team, Alison Gordon was promoted to Project Manager, Interiors, and Claire Gresham was promoted to Interior Designer. On the architecture front, Jared Hagedorn was promoted to Project Manager. On top of our team celebrations, we saw CPKC Stadium become the first LEED Gold-certified stadium in Missouri and host the NWSL Championship.
December 2024
While December for some can be a proper time to wind down, we’ve kept ourselves busy with the groundbreaking of The Refinery on a brisk Monday afternoon, in addition to being named a Best Employer in Sports by Front Office Sports for the fourth time. To finish off the year we had our biggest celebration yet, expanding the leadership team by three. Director of Architecture Andrew Kesel, Director of Interior Design Christina Franklin, and Technical Director Peter Baird were announced as new partners of Generator Studio, joining Co-founders Mike Kress and Tom Proebstle in shaping the future of Generator.