PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
site: Downtown: Kansas City, Missouri
collaboration: Scott Johnson, Ashlyn Williams

program description:
Concert Hall . Opera House . Theater . Support Space

This project was developed by professors Stephen Grabow and Wojciech Lesnikowski and was inspired by the original site of Moshe Safdie’s design for a new performing arts center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The site for this project, located adjacent to the Lyric Theater at 11th and Central St. was scrapped because of a lack of funding. When the project was brought back to life, a new, more iconic location was found and is currently well into construction. While the new site serves as a prominent vantage point within the city, the original location, it was felt, would have served the programmatic functions better therefore creating an unimpeded cultural arts district in the heart of downtown.

The intensive program for the performing arts center project consisted of a concert hall, opera house, black box theater, as well as the support space for all of these functions. The exterior space also had to operate efficiently, including a public plaza space and loading area. The overall program was approximately 112,000 sf. and included a direct link to the existing Lyric Theater. [More]