Architects say a Springfield convention center should have ‘no dark days,’ with year-round local bookings 

Based in Kansas City and operating around the world, architectural firm Populous Inc. will lead visioning workshops for the proposed Springfield convention and event center Wednesday. 

The workshop is slated for 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Discovery Center of Springfield. 

Populous projects include the $2.3 billion Las Vegas Sphere, a 20,000-person music and entertainment arena that is spherical in shape with an outer envelope consisting of an LED screen, as well as high-profile builds like Wembley Stadium in the United Kingdom and the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.  

Tim Rosenbury, the city’s director of quality of place initiatives, said the contract with Populous is in the range of $300,000-$400,000 for the initial planning phase, including the visioning workshop scheduled for Jan. 28 and a subsequent one planned for mid-February.  

Rosenbury said that if the project advances – pending April voter approval of a 3% lodging tax to fund construction – Populous would have the design contract. Rosenbury said construction of the convention center will likely end up in the $120 million range within the $175 million total project cost, subtracting professional expenses and land acquisition. He said architectural design will land somewhere between 7%-10% of the project cost, meaning it could be as much as $10 million.  Rosenbury added that exact terms of the Populous contract are still being worked on. 

Complete information on companies that submitted qualifications and exact contract figures was not available at the time of this report. Nine firms submitted qualifications, and the city interviewed a shortlist of four teams; Populous met the mark, Rosenbury said. 

The predesign work is being funded through reserves from the city’s existing hotel and motel tax; an allocation of $750,000 was approved by council in October 2025 for convention center planning design and construction.  

“This will allow the city to contract with various providers in this endeavor to begin both the pre-design and the pre-construction phases,” the city staff explanation to the council bill reads in part. “The city intends to reimburse itself for these costs once financing is secured on the event center.”Cora Scott, the city’s director of public information and civic engagement, suggested a Sunshine Law information request as the fastest way to obtain information on architectural firms that made it to the finalist stage, and Springfield Business Journal submitted such a request on Jan. 23. 

Populous officials said Springfield-based Sapp Design Associates Architects Inc., which has a second office in Kansas City, is its local partner.  

Project for the future 
Rosenbury said visioning needs to think beyond the present moment. 

“We’ve got to build a facility that doesn’t look at right now. We’ve got to build a facility that looks into the future,” he said. 

The center was recommended by city consultants Hunden Strategic Partners Inc. in the Chicago-based firm’s fourth study since 2011 of Springfield’s capacity for a convention center, according to past SBJ reporting. 

Rosenbury said the team would be challenging information from the Hunden report by consulting different groups, like people who book conventions. 

“They can talk to the architects about what their more detailed needs are, and the architects can challenge them back about, well, what are those things that really make a difference for you, so that we don’t do default thinking about a big box and a gussied-up box as a ballroom, but instead that we really rethink what a convention center should be,” Rosenbury said. 

A convention center alone doesn’t fit the mandate, Rosenbury said, of making something that will be a great fit for the future and is not solely based on the past. 

“We need to make sure that we go in with really clear thinking about what a convention center in Springfield should be,” Rosenbury said. “That’s why we were impressed that these national leaders – actually global leaders – from, paradoxically, Kansas City, were among the people interested in doing this project.” 

He added that after two visioning workshops, a rendering by Populous is anticipated. 

In-state project 
Colleen Cassidy, associate principal and project design manager, said the Springfield convention and events center is special for Populous, which does projects all over the world. 

“We are so excited to have one in our state that we can actually just drive to and be right there with you guys at all times,” she said.  

She added that her role is to serve as a guardian of the local vision for the center. 

“We make sure the right voices are in the room,” she said. “For us, this is a vision that outlasts the entirety of the project. It’s my role to make sure that that goes from start to finish, with every decision we make, down from the first pen that hits the paper … all the way to the last nail that goes into the building.” 

Populous officials took questions from Springfield news media Friday afternoon, with SBJ asking them to name comparable projects for the Springfield convention center from the company that has designed internationally prominent structures. 

Adam Paulitsch, Populous principal for global convention center design practice, cited what he called “right-size facilities” in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Wichita; and Milwaukee. 

“When we’re working in L.A. – no offense to L.A. – 95% of the people in Los Angeles have no idea that the convention center even exists,” he said. “Everyone in Springfield will know that the convention center exists, so that is a different set of rules that we have to bring to the game. I will say it’s pressure, but it’s healthy pressure for us to do what’s right for the community. That’s why we’re here.” 

According to Paulitsch, smaller convention venues have a chance to be innovative. 

“We always joke that innovating in a convention center is like turning around a cruise ship,” he said. “It moves very slow, generally. There’s a lot of government entities; sometimes people don’t want to take risks.” 

But that’s more the case in legacy destinations like Houston, Dallas and Las Vegas, he said. 

“Cities like Springfield are ripe; they are at the cutting edge of being able to do something different,” he said. “You guys are building a new facility. You have no baggage of an existing facility.” 

He characterized the Hunden report as a jumping-off point for the project and not the last word on the subject. 

“That report is just the first set of information that we need to start to interpret from a design, economic, cost standpoint, and just make sure that we’re checking all the boxes,” he said. “We’re the ones at the table that are going to deliver this. We’re the ones that are going to take all the risks on your behalf to hit your budget, to hit your goals.” 

Local input important 
The information gained in the planning sessions will be important, Paulitsch said. 

“This whole exercise is to explore what a modern convention center is for a community,” he said. “It’s the Hunden report and. … What are you going to build? What’s the economic return? What can you build, but also, how is it going to uplift the community?” 

He called hospitality an ecosystem, from the airport to the Uber to the hotels and restaurants. 

“We have never seen it work where you just show the product,” he said. “People need to be brought along – especially when there’s a vote at hand – when there’s a sales tax or a hotel tax. The community needs to understand the ecosystem and why this is important.” 

He added that meeting planners and associations are looking to put their medium- to small-sized shows in right-sized convention centers – what he called second-tier destinations like Wichita, Kansas; Lincoln, Nebraska; Overland Park, Kansas – and Springfield. 

“We’re seeing a product of a smaller, more intimate facility that is purpose-built for flexibility and community engagement,” he said. 

Paulitsch said the community must feel as though it has access to a building they’ve helped to plan and fund. 

He added that convention centers often play a quiet role as a community hub and noted that across the nation, convention centers were important during the COVID-19 pandemic, with uses ranging from vaccination programs to school classes. 

Award-winning center 
Paulitsch cited a specific Populous convention center project: the BMO Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The center won the 2025 American Architecture Award in the Exposition Center category. 

According to the website of the city of Calgary, the BMO Centre expansion opened on time and on budget on June 5, 2024. The center, operated by the Calgary Stampede, is a venue for shows, events and conferences. It first opened in 1982, and its expansion added 565,000 square feet to the existing 285,000 at a cost of $500 million.  

Reporting on the opening, Maclean’s magazine noted three architecture firms, Populous, Stantec and S2 Architecture, combined efforts on the building. 

Maclean’s states that the center had 500 conventions scheduled upon the completion of its expansion, and it adds that if bookings continue at the same rate, they will add $100 million to the economy annually. 

For the smaller Springfield project, Paulitsch said the visioning sessions will ensure that everyone has a seat at the table. 

“There’s a civic activation piece,” he said. “This is working with you all and how you want to operate the building. Do we want to carve out a little bit of program for the community, like meeting rooms, co-working spaces, things like that, that the community has access to on a daily basis?” 

He said his firm was trying to book a site for its own visioning workshop in Springfield. 

“We kind of went back and forth of where do we go, who do we use, just because it’s bigger than an architectural office meeting room,” he said. “That should have a space in a modern convention center to do these community engagement things.” 

Programming can also include things like dog parks, an on-site restaurant and bar, and a walking track on the roof that’s open to the public. 

“This is new spending in your city,” he said. “Messaging this kind of feedback loop of tourism to unlock additional funds for development – sidewalks, lighting, things like that. I think that’s the message, is really showing how this ecosystem is bigger than just people showing up to the convention center.” 

Cassidy said the building should be used. 

“We have what’s called no dark days,” she said. “This building shouldn’t sit dark if there’s not a convention or something going on.” 

Populous-designed convention centers have been used for youth sports, like volleyball and gymnastics, and for weddings, graduations and family parties, Cassidy said. 

“That’s what we want it to be – there’s no dark days, it’s being used 365, let’s host the farmers market there on Saturdays,” she said. “This all comes from community input that we can then program into the building.”