Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Address | 1601 Broadway Kansas City, Missouri United States |
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Coordinates | 39°05′37″N 94°35′13″W / 39.093698°N 94.586824°W |
Type | Performing arts center |
Capacity | Helzberg Hall: 1,600 Muriel Kauffman Theatre: 1,800 |
Construction | |
Opened | September 16, 2011 |
Architect | Moshe Safdie |
Website | |
www |
The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is in
Construction of the Kauffman Center played a large part in the
Construction
Origins
Muriel Kauffman first discussed her idea for a performing arts center in Kansas City with her family and the community in 1994. After her death the following year, her daughter and chairman of the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation, Julia Irene Kauffman, began to move the project forward. A feasibility study was conducted in 1997; it resulted in a report that gave Julia Irene Kauffman and the rest of the board a practical foundation on which they could begin to build Muriel Kauffman's vision.
In 1999, the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation purchased an 18.5-acre plot of land just south of the central business district. The Foundation announced that this site would be the home of the proposed performing arts center. By 2000, the then-named Metropolitan Kansas City Performing Arts Center board had narrowed down the pool of potential architects to four.[1] They ultimately chose Moshe Safdie, an award-winning modernist known for such buildings as Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada; the Khalsa Heritage Centre in India; the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore; and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.[2] Soon after, he arrived in Kansas City to see the site for himself, and while at dinner with Julia Irene Kauffman he sketched an idea for the center on his napkin. Soon, that sketch would evolve into an architectural icon and the home for performing arts in Kansas City.
Safdie presented his plan in May 2002, and four years later, on October 6, 2006, ground was broken for what had now been officially named the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.[1]
Design and construction
The technical requirements and exacting standards required of a facility like the Kauffman Center made it one of the most complex structures in the world to design and build. The building, which took nearly five years to complete, contains 40,000 square feet of glass, 25,000 cubic yards of concrete, and 27 steel cables. The main lobby, Brandmeyer Great Hall, is built of a glass ceiling and sloping glass walls that provide a panoramic view of Kansas City to the south. The twenty-seven steel cables on the south façade are anchored in embeds that weigh approximately one and a half tons, and the embeds are an extension of the foundation and bedrock beneath the building. When the steel cables were pulled taut during the construction process, the entire steel structure shifted two to six inches to the south. This tensioning provides stability to the structure and keeps the glass lobby securely in place. The Kauffman Center covers 13 acres (53,000 m2), including landscaped grounds over the 1,000-space, city-owned Arts District Garage. The cost of the project was approximately $413 million, which includes both a $40 million operating endowment and the city's $47 million construction of the parking garage. The Kauffman Center was designed by lead architect
Architecture
The center's exterior consists of two symmetrical half shells of vertical, concentric arches that open toward the south. Each shell houses one acoustically independent performance venue, although the backstage area is shared. The south façade of the Center is made entirely of glass. Safdie describes the lobby as "an expansive glazed porch contained by a glass tent-like structure". For those inside Brandmeyer Great Hall, the glass puts Kansas City on display; for those on the outside, the Kauffman Center becomes like a terrarium, revealing the thousands of attendees backlit against the white interior.[2]
Performance facilities
The 285,000-square-foot (26,500 m2) Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts houses two performance halls: Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall. The venues share
This decision to have two halls, each tailored to a specific purpose, rather than a multipurpose building, reminded many Kansas City residents of a similar decision in the 1970s—when
The Muriel Kauffman Theatre is a 1,800-seat theater whose design was inspired by the great European
Helzberg Hall is a 1,600-seat, oval-shaped concert hall, and it is the performance home to the
Brandmeyer Great Hall links Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall, and features an expansive view of the Kansas City skyline to the south. It serves as a lobby for patrons on performance nights and is also available for special events.[6] The white great hall provides access to the performance halls by a series of stacking, open balconies. This means that on performance nights, patrons attending events in either hall are visible to each other, and to the city below.
Partnerships
The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts also provides partnership opportunities for local, regional, and student organizations in the Kansas City area. In the inaugural season, such partnerships included the Kansas City Friends of
Education
The Kauffman Center's Open Doors Program is an educational program and community initiative that gives schools across the Kansas City metropolitan area the opportunity to bring children to the Kauffman Center. Through the Open Doors Transportation Fund, donations help make the cost of bringing children to performances at the Kauffman Center more affordable. Through the Open Doors Tickets Fund, donations help offset the cost of tickets for various events at the Kauffman Center, in order to provide free or low-cost performing arts experiences for program recipients supported by select non-profit agencies.[7]
On February 13, 2012,
Arts District Garage
Adjacent to the south side of the Kauffman Center is the city-owned and operated Arts District garage. The $47 million project was paid for in
Terpsichore
As a part of the City of Kansas City's One Percent for Art ordinance, a mixed media art installation called "Terpsichore for Kansas City" was placed in the Arts District garage. Named after the Muse in Greek mythology who ruled over choral song and dance, the installation is a combination of original musical compositions played over speakers in the ceiling and a four-story "light organ".[10] The light organ consists of seven acrylic tubes that encase a series of LED lights, which move in sync with the music overhead.[11]
See also
References
- ^ a b "The Project's History," The Kansas City Star, September 11, 2011.
- ^ a b "Safdie Architects". www.safdiearchitects.com. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
- ^ "The Center". Archived from the original on May 27, 2012.
- ^ Steve Paul, "Eyes on the Prize", The Kansas City Star, September 11, 2011.
- ^ "The Son of All Pipe Organs," The Kansas City Star, May 20, 2007.
- ^ "Special Event Rentals".
- ^ Lisa Jo Sagolla, "Bringing Kids to the Arts,",The Kansas City Star, September 11, 2011.
- ^ "The GRAMMY Museum's Music Revolution Project". Archived from the original on May 16, 2012.
- ^ Maria Cote, "The Drama Begins Outside," The Kansas City Star, September 11, 2011.
- ^ "Terpsichore for Kansas City". Americans for the Arts. 2014-05-15. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
- ^ "Four-story "Light Organ" is New Public Art in A Kansas City Garage Stairway | Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation". Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation. 2011-12-01. Retrieved 2018-01-11.