21-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
International Architects Atelier promotes new principals, owners
A family-owned Kansas City architecture firm is continuing the family legacy by promoting the founders' daughters to principals and folding them into its ownership group.
International Architects Atelier Inc. named Ava Amirahmadi and Kiana Raab as principals and owners, growing the Kansas City firm's ownership group to four. Amirahmadi already is based in Kansas City, and Raab is moving back, Raab said in an email.
Amirahmadi and Raab both left their hometown of Kansas City to build their careers in New York City.
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Ava Amirahmadi is a principal and owner at International Architects Atelier.
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Amirahmadi has more than a decade of architectural design experience, including working at global firms Snøhetta and Henning Larsen. In November 2022, she joined IAA full-time, where she first worked as an intern during her undergraduate years at Columbia University, according to her LinkedIn.
Raab's background is in museums and art, where she worked at Artsy, Gagosian Gallery, Sotheby's and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her experience navigating this sector will most likely play a role in expanding IAA's museum client portfolio. She started at IAA in April 2021 as the director of business development before being promoted to principal, according to her LinkedIn.
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Kiana Raab is a principal and owner at International Architects Atelier.
Kdog PHOTO LLC
IAA has made a handful of other recent promotions. Andy Short was promoted to director of operations after more than two decades with the firm. Jordan Lake was promoted to senior associate after a decade at the firm. Sarah Tappe was named an associate, according to a release.
The firm was founded by couple Elizabeth and Majid Amirahmadi in 1988. IAA is headquartered in Kansas City at 912 Broadway Blvd., and it employs 13 people locally, 10 of whom are licensed architects.
IAA was one of the architects behind the Kansas City International Airport single terminal and garage, a project recognized with a 2024 Capstone Award. It also renovated Corinthian Hall, also known as the Kansas City Museum, which reopened in 2021 after being closed for four years.
The firm is continuing its work with the museum on two projects. It is revamping a conservatory and planetarium into the JewelHouse, a site that will be open to public and house programming centered on gender equity, leadership, empowerment, health and well-being. The second project is called Skyspace, an underground space where visitors will be able to view the sky and which will be designed specifically for music performances.
IAA is also working on renovations to the Missouri State Museum at the Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City.
IAA's annual revenue topped $3.5 million in 2023, a growth spurt of nearly 33% between 2021 and 2023 that landed it on the Kansas City Business Journal's Fastest-Growing Businesses List last year.
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