OFFICIAL - Performing Arts Center construction

[KCMax]

Let the negative publicity begin!

Police: Woman robbed in parking garage at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

[brewcrew1000]

Let the negative publicity begin!

Police: Woman robbed in parking garage at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Thats sad to see happen but stuff like that happens at Oak Park Mall as well.

[moderne]

After seeing performances here day and night, I am more convinced than ever that a great opportunity was lost in not putting this at 8th and Main. The vast windy and empty grassy plaza in front is a lonely place after patrons descend to their cars. It serves as a great viewing platform, but to do so while walking the irregular shallow steps is to risk broken bones.

[Midtownkid]

So that's it. The center opened...done?

Any more discussion on this?? I was so interested to hear people's opinions on the center and how it has changed the Crossroads!

[shaffe]

So that's it. The center opened...done?

Yup, time to close the thread.

In all seriousness, I think it may be a case of most of us haven't had much chance to check it out for ourselves. The only performances so far were some of the hottest tickets of the last decade in this city and I don't know about the rest of you but I don't carry that kind of coin in my bank account. I do plan on taking in a tour sometime in the near future, though.

[grovester]

It will be interesting to see what the foot traffic is like around that area this First Friday.

[moderne]

"bra for Maria the robot in Fritz Lang's Metropolis" http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... ture/8661/

[Midtownkid]

The comparisons people have been coming up with have not been all that positive so far. It's weird.

Seems like the overall reviews of the facility have been very positive...especially when it comes to the acoustics and dramatic grand hall. People seem to just not like the back as much as I do. I would compare the two shells to a-symmetrical Chrysler building spires. I think they are beautiful.

Oh well, no one can give it too much credit because it's in...KANSAS!!! haha

[KCMax]

The comparisons people have been coming up with have not been all that positive so far. It's weird.

Seems like the overall reviews of the facility have been very positive...especially when it comes to the acoustics and dramatic grand hall. People seem to just not like the back as much as I do. I would compare the two shells to a-symmetrical Chrysler building spires. I think they are beautiful.

Oh well, no one can give it too much credit because it's in...KANSAS!!! haha

This is probably the first time in awhile where almost all the feedback I have heard on a project in KC - a lot of it from suburbanites - has been overwhelmingly positive.

Oh and remember that discussion about how stupid it is that people don't know what it is? I don't think that has really been an issue, at least with the people I have talked to. Do people still feel that suburbanites are ignorant about the PAC?

[slimwhitman]

I went to the opera on Sunday and had a few observations. As time goes on, I find myself looking harder and harder at how “maintainable” a facility is. I see a lot of items that look “cool”, but hard to keep looking good as time goes on. Let’s face it, as time goes on and the newness wears off, pressure to kick-butt and take names with the maintenance items will diminish and the place will start looking shabby. I predict this facility will look shabby faster than most. Generally, I like the facility, but I do have some gripes.

Here is my quick checklist of concerns:
1. The guardrail walls overlooking the lobby. These are white painted drywall and well designed for “coolness”. They were already marred from passing delivery carts and all the people that lean on them. Before and after each event as well as intermissions, EVERYONE comes out into these areas and overlooks the lobby and out the windows. These really should have a lean surface on them that is more cleanable and hard to dent, scrape, chip, etc. These will need to be patched and painted 3 or 4 times a year.
2. The elevator tops are exposed. These are interesting to look at, but magnets for grease, dust and filth. Someone is going to need to detail clean the top mechanical areas several times a year since they are very prominent.
3. What was up with the weird wavy and lit glass fronts to all the balconies? UGLY! A renovation in 10 years should take care of that.
4. Entering the building is far from grand. The main exterior doors on the south place you in a dull space one level below the interesting lobby. It felt like a basement. They needed a lady there to point you in the right direction. If you enter from the north, you feel like you came in the service alley. Those doors are deep within the buttcrack between the two auditoriums/theaters and once you enter, it feels like you got dumped into the middle of the space. That buttcrack is bland and lacking detail despite a grand entry sign/plaza at the street that suggests this is an important entry.
In general, the entry sequence is lacking, and I never felt like I was entering someplace special.
5. The paving design at the valet/south entry is marginal. The plaza spaces generally felt squeezed and contrived. The benches are half pushed into the plant beds. The lack of different colored paving made it boring and hard to see changes in elevation (like the curb). The use of buff colored concrete pavers on the driveway will wear terribly and will be VERY obvious while looking down & out thru all that glass while in the building. In 2 years there will be grey oils slick patterns thru that paving making it look shabby. A dark or true brick paver would have hidden this. The short steps leading into the parking garage entry were roped off because they have proven to be trip hazards.
6. The windows look very hard to clean. It was obvious that they are hard to clean well. The edges of most of the windows were poorly cleaned. This is a big deal since everyone is so high and looking out those windows.

I am sure I can add to this list after another visit.

[KCMax]

PAC was featured on the Lehrer News Hour last Friday.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertai ... 10-14.html

[rxlexi]

I milled around the PAC and the Xroads snapping a few pics yesterday. A few first impressions of the PAC (exterior only), which I hope to add to once I get inside for an opera this season -

- The bare concrete exterior surfaces of the parking garage NEED to be covered in ivy, or something. As it stands, it is very obviously a large parking structure crammed in front of the beautiful PAC. The Nelson's true underground solution incorporating public art is much more elegant. This is my biggest knock against the project.

- Garage should be improved slightly with the addition of the public art piece. It will hang in a rather dramatic 4 story stairwell which can take pedestrians from 17th St. up to the main entrance level.

- The sweeping views from the grassy plaza are spectacular. Finally, some signature architecture that takes advantage of our hilly geography.

- Those grassy plazas really need some kind of public art, benches, landscaping or shallow fountains. Something to inspire their use and enjoyment, as they feel exceedingly empty (I also spent some time up there on First Friday). Maybe this is coming.

- Surrounding streetscape looks great!

- The vast, empty walk from the sidewalks to the building couldn't contrast more with the intimate few steps up into the old Lyric Theater where it met 11th St. Again, more public art, better landscaping or "something" could improve this. You enter this structure by car/parking garage, despite the nice efforts made at the plazas on 17th/Broadway and Wyandotte.

- Can't wait to get inside, the lobby looks incredible, especially at night!

[moderne]

Another good review http://www.aia.org/practicingAIAB091291

[IraGlacialis]

Another good review http://www.aia.org/practicingAIAB091291

Linky no work.

- Those grassy plazas really need some kind of public art, benches, landscaping or shallow fountains. Something to inspire their use and enjoyment, as they feel exceedingly empty (I also spent some time up there on First Friday). Maybe this is coming.

For art, I would recommend that it stay local and be rotating, possibly every FF. This would help showcase the neighborhood as whole, especially to those who would initially just go to a performance.

[moderne]

http://www.aia.org/practicing/AIAB091291

[KCMax]

http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_19159092

[Downtowner]

http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_19159092

Great article (and headline) from Denver. I think the key word here is Ambitious. The Bloch building was hugely ambitious and the PAC has trumped that. All these add up to building a world class assortment of architecture.

[KCMax]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/arts/ ... eview.html

[kboish]

This place is opening to great reviews...Glad to see in this review the performances held within are being reviewed with eqully glowing remarks on a national level.

[KCMax]

Returning to Kansas City

At a time when most cities are reducing investment in the arts, how refreshing it is to be in Kansas City where the arts are flourishing.

(Parenthetically, I would caution that we must ensure that these new wonderful structures are filled with great art. In too many cities, construction of new arts centers attracts substantial funding while raising funds for operating these arts organizations and producing art is far more difficult. As a result, we have many beautiful arts centers around the nation that are simply not living up to their potential.)

But, I am hoping this is not going to be the case in Kansas City. I am hoping that those same donors who have been so generous in building these structures are going to value the work created within them. And I trust that the wonderful arts organizations here will develop work that attracts new audiences and donors. I hope Kansas City's theaters, museums, dance companies, symphony and chamber music ensembles can thrive, grow and develop the important, surprising art that brings local and national audiences as well as donors.

If so, Kansas City can become renowned for its cultural life and the way the arts are engrained in the life of the community. There are great benefits available to cities acknowledged to be great arts destinations: increases in national funding, tourism and access to the best artists to name just three. And when more money, both earned and contributed, flows into an arts ecology, it can create bigger, better more surprising art, and larger audiences and donor bases that support even more growth and financial stability. The payoff can be huge.