First getting his start with Generator Studio in 2010, Peter Baird is the longest-tenured employee at the architecture and interior design firm and is now one of the studio’s partners. As the firm’s Technical Director, Peter has touched almost all of Generator’s projects contributing to the practical application and successful execution of designs with enduring quality. A tinkerer through and through, he sets the fear of failure aside to take things apart, figure them out, and put them back together.
Get to know Peter Baird, one of Generator Studio’s new partners in this Q&A:
What first attracted you to Generator and taking that leap to join Mike and Tom?
“I was really attracted to the idea of starting at the ground floor, you know, just getting it off the ground. You get a sense of people when you talk to them, and the three of us just seemed to click. Also, I could see myself making a real impact here as I’ve always been someone who can operate as an island, so it felt like a job that was made for me because they [Mike and Tom] needed to be off chasing work to build the business. While I was comfortable handling the bulk of that work without a lot of direction. So yeah, that just clicked for me”
What are some of Generator’s characteristics that you feel have contributed to the firm’s growth?
“It’s always been a can-do attitude. From the start, it was just the three of us doing this thing and it’s like we could take on anything and just get it done. The kind of attitude and grit to get things done and accomplish big things, while taking on the juggernauts in the industry and competing against them. For us, three dudes in a carriage house doing what we did in Tampa was a big milestone. And then locally, there was the Sun Pavilion project. Every firm in town, you know, all the main players were competing for that job, but we won, and then we got it done successfully. There were even a few days I was out there actually installing some of the pieces. So I’d describe Generator as hands-on, can do grit, and maybe a kind of fearlessness. And still now for us at our size to compete with who we compete against? You have got to have some grit to do that.”
When you think of what makes Generator different, what comes to mind?
“There’s an encouragement for every individual to advance. To become better. There is an active drive to become a better version of yourself, advance your career, take on new things, and do more, that you don’t necessarily get anywhere else. I’ve worked other places, and nobody was pushing me to go get licensed, or get out there and meet people. It was just, you’re good at Construction Documents…Just keep doing that. That’s just most places, they keep you where you’re comfortable, where you are the most efficient, and they don’t like to disrupt that. But there has always been a culture of advancement here. Do more, learn more, be better.
And it’s not just for the benefit of the company, it’s for those people. We want to see everybody out here become the best architect or designer that they can be and that’s a strong part of our culture. It’s like every project is kind of a 30-person team. Even though we do have project teams, it’s like people can shift over to help or lend their expertise when needed. There’s always an ability to flex a project team, to meet the goals. And I’d also say at Generator there’s access to everybody. Usually, you can’t just go have a genuine conversation with the owner of the company or they aren’t going to really know what you do at other firms. But here, one way we say is there’s nowhere to hide. But the truth is, it really means your contributions are seen.”
Are there any examples you can think of where some of those characteristics came into play?
“In the very early days of the Amalie Arena project, the Lightning wanted to do some kind of celebration when a goal was scored and they didn’t want to do the typical fog horn thing. They wanted to have lightning, so there was a lot of discussion about how we could simulate lightning, and I (half joking) suggested, Why don’t we just do real lightning with giant Tesla Coils? And then we actually did it! It was like…OK Pete, if you can figure it out, we can do it!
I got to have a voice in the room, and it was heard by the people who made decisions, and it actually happened. And I’m someone who, at that point had zero experience in sports architecture, and I had an impact on the project. I was given the opportunity, and then pushed to become a better problem solver and make it happen.”
Looking toward your new responsibility with Generator, what does becoming an owner mean to you?
“I’ve always felt like Generator has been a huge part of myself, like having been through so much growth and change. I’ve always felt that Generator was mine, in a way already, and now I can actually own part of it. It’s special because guys like me don’t usually get that opportunity. Technical guys don’t usually get to be owners, it just doesn’t happen very often. We’re usually shoved in the back and under-appreciated but not at Generator.
What I owe to everybody here, keeping the lights on for people’s families, comes with stress, but being with all my history and my time and seeing Generator grow, it’s like I knew I wanted it when it was available. Thinking about that over my whole career, I never really knew if I wanted to take on that kind of responsibility to people and that risk but for Generator, I definitely do.”
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Peter joins the expanded ownership group of Generator Studio that includes Director of Architecture Andrew Kesel, Director of Interior Design Christina Franklin, and Co-founders Tom Proebstle and Mike Kress.