Reimagining a place like Memorial Stadium—so closely tied to Seattle’s civic identity, challenged by aging infrastructure, and surrounded by some of the Pacific Northwest’s most iconic architecture—takes more than just design expertise. It takes a vision that looks ahead and meets the evolving needs of the people and communities it serves.
The design team at Generator Studio, the Architect of Record for Memorial Stadium, understands the profound responsibility and potential that comes with designing venues that serve as both cultural landmarks and community anchors. From partnering with the Kansas City Current on the first stadium purpose-built for a professional women’s team to working with Live Nation on amphitheaters nationwide, we understand both the scale and the significance of projects that bring people together. These projects reflect more than just design expertise—they represent a deep engagement with the communities we serve, shaping places that resonate far beyond their walls.
Finding Opportunity in the Challenge
With a project this complex, it’s easy to get caught up in many of the necessary but often begrudging factors, such as budget constraints, multiple stakeholders, and layers of public process—it’s a long list. But instead of seeing roadblocks, we saw opportunity.
Rather than just trying to avoid mistakes or meet minimum requirements, we focused on the strengths of the site—a national destination that attracts more than 12 million visitors annually—and the voices of our diverse community partners. Their needs didn’t get in the way of our design process; they shaped it.
The reimagining of Memorial Stadium presented an opportunity to provide a home for 47,000 Seattle public school students and create a venue capable of hosting a wide range of events, including regional sports teams, community events, festivals, live performances, and more.
The new stadium adapts to what’s happening, from high school football games to neighborhood gatherings to professional sporting events. Flexible seating and open concourses help to curate the right atmosphere for every event, turning a formerly closed-off space into a community asset.
Turning Stadium Design Inside Out
Most stadiums are designed from the inside out—start with the field, then figure out the rest. But here, that approach wouldn’t work. Memorial Stadium sits at the heart of Seattle Center, surrounded by public spaces, cultural institutions, and everyday city life. So we flipped the script.
Starting from the outside, we asked ourselves: How can this stadium feel open and connected to the city around it? How can it be used daily, even when there’s no game or concert? How can it feel like it belongs here, not just as a venue, but as part of the Seattle Center’s story—as it once was?
By grounding the design in its urban, historical, and architectural context, we let the surroundings guide us, making identity and experience the foundation, not the afterthought.
Breaking Down Barriers
Built in 1947, Memorial Stadium once stood apart—literally walled off from the rest of the city. Those tall concrete walls had become a symbol of separation, cutting the stadium off from the energy and life of Seattle Center.
One of our first and most important moves? Take down the walls.
This wasn’t just about removing concrete. It was about reconnecting with the park next door, with the city’s shared history, and with the people who walk by every day. We opened it up—physically and symbolically—so that Memorial Stadium could become part of the public experience while still being mindful of the high school students it would serve.
Designing A Destination
We set out to create a civic place that works for everyone: students, athletes, performers, tourists, neighbors, and families. Each group helped to shape what the stadium needed to be and create a home for all.
This process is not always about ‘what can we add?’; sometimes a more powerful expression is found through subtraction—fewer seats, fewer walls, less ‘noise’—how much can be taken away in order to find meaning in every move.
Seattle’s Memorial Wall, a notable piece of the Memorial Stadium puzzle, has stood steadfast through seven decades of changing landscape around it. By removing the concrete walls flanking the memorial and replacing them with fencing, a new sense of place allows the wall to compete for the attention garnered by its high-profile neighbors.
The original 11,000-seat grandstands signaled a commitment to premium experiences for an engaged Seattle community. With sweeping rooflines and minimal structure, the design showcased clever engineering and intentional placemaking. Reimagining this meant thoughtful subtraction: reducing capacity and wrapping seating around all four sides creates a more immersive experience. For the first time, stadium activity will no longer be hidden from the surrounding campus, as removing the grandstands and concrete walls opens the concourse to Seattle Center.
A New Kind of Civic Partnership
At its core, this project is about more than design. It’s about collaboration. Community groups and future end users all brought different perspectives and goals. Instead of simplifying or sidestepping those voices, we brought them together to build something bigger.
That collaboration is real and visible in the venue. Throughout the concourses on all four sides of the new stadium, there are new opportunities for creative expression and representation of the local communities. Curated local artists will fill these walls with large-scale murals to tell the story of Seattle and its culture, community, history, and future in a series of evolving and dynamic works of art.
The new Memorial Stadium shows what’s possible when you reimagine aging infrastructure not as something to replace but as something to transform. It’s a stadium, yes—but also a Friday night football game, a Sunday afternoon picnic, and a living part of the city.
Real transformation doesn’t end with its users; it starts with them.
Memorial Stadium serves as a powerful case study for cities nationwide, proving that a single venue—thoughtfully designed—can meet the diverse needs of an entire community. While its connection to Seattle Center is uniquely local, the model it represents is widely adaptable. Urban environments across the country can benefit from a venue of this caliber—one that supports everything from community gatherings to the teams of emerging sports leagues seeking a home base.