Kansas City Design Center

Reprinted Courtesy of K-State Alumni Association
From Summer 2008 Edition of K-Stater

Wildcats and Jayhawks meet together in Kansas City.  They’ve beaten out the competition to get here, and they’ve brought their A-game…and tracing paper and pencils.

It’s not a rumble in the sports world, but a collaboration between two architecture schools headquartered at the Kansas City Design Center.  Seven graduate students from K-State and eight from the University of Kansas were selected to be a part of the innovative Missouri campus.  Innovative is probably an understatement in describing the first year of this learning arena.

The 10,000-square-foot space is on the ground floor of the Wyandotte parking garage, 1018 Baltimore Ave., nestled in the heart of downtown Kansas City.  It is complete with work areas, cubicles, studio space, a break room, classrooms, and a gallery for exhibits.

When students step outside the center into their work environment, inspirations of architecture loom at every corner.  Turn one way and there is a parking garage that looks like a row of books.  Turn the other way and white, stately columns rise into the contrasting blue sky.  The smell of coffee from the nearby Folgers plant gives energy to the urban air.

But a quick glance doesn’t tell you it took four years to bring this partnership to fruition.

The KCDC was established in 1988 when K-State and KU created an architectural outreach center in Kansas City to develop and promote opportunities for collaborative research, community service, professional development and public education.  Funding for the program is provided by the William T. Kemper Foundation and the Hall Family Foundation.

The KCDC engages university faculty and some of the region’s most talented architecture and planning students in a learning laboratory that actively explores alternatives for Kansas City’s future development.  The KCDC also serves as an independent forum for dialogue about organizations, and promotes excellence in the design of Kansas City’s built environment.

Dean and professor of K-State’s College of Architecture, Planning, and Design, Dennis Law, said there is nothing like this at Seaton Hall on K-State’s campus, or at Marvin Hall on KU’s campus.

“Students need more than studio.  We are in one of the growth areas of Kansas City and at the heart of an exciting center,” he said.  “We crawled out on a lot of limbs to make this happen:  where to house it, credits for students, solving parking - it’s been a lot of fun to see this take place.”

Each student receives a $5,000 scholarship to offset the costs of living in Kansas City.  They are from all disciplines of architecture and will work on projects and study at the center for one year.  The selection process is competitive.  Law said the students who make the cut are “the crème de la crème.” 

Students must be in their fifth year, in good standing and be committed to working with other professionals.  Maturity also is looked at as they go through the application process, which includes meeting with a faculty committee.  Law smiled and said another requirement is that they have to enjoy eating donuts, too, as he had delivered two boxes of fresh Krispy Kreme donuts to the students earlier this morning.

Emily Hagy, St. Louis, Mo., is a fifth-year architecture student at K-State and studying at the center.  She said the KCDC is something that had been missing academically before.

“At K-State, we don’t get a lot of urban planning.  Now we get to go to sites down the street,” she said.

Students were used to focusing on one building in school, but are now looking at the whole city and a much larger scale.  They also are able to present their ideas to members of the community.

Hagy and two other students are working on bridging the gap in the area between the Sprint Center, the Kansas City Star, downtown and the crossroads.

“It’s an urban in-fill project - basically creating a neighborhood.  We have designed for a large green space, an amphitheatre and an urban plaza,” she said.

Riley Anderson, Leavenworth, Kan., a fifth-year landscape architecture at K-State, said he always knew he wanted to work on urban projects.

“This is right up my alley.  Just to be a part of something like this is really awesome,” he said.

The studio is led this year by Richard Farnan, a KU architecture professor, and will be led by a K-State professor next year.  His stories and real-world applications interest the students.

“Richard’s a lot different than what we had at K-State,” Anderson said.  “We’re technical in the landscape architecture program and he’s a lot more theoretical-based , so it’s an interesting adjustment.”

All of their projects are based around two big goals:  increase public space and attract more people to live downtown.  “The goal is to have 34,000 people living downtown - it’s about half that right now,” Anderson said.

About half of the students actually live in the downtown area.  Anderson said it’s easier for KU students to go to Lawrence for their other classes, but it’s harder for K-Staters because of the distance.

“Some of us are going to a lot of colleges,” Anderson said.  Law said the big challenge is for students to get their other credits.

“I’d like to see this as a place where evening classes could be taught - continuing education classes,” Law said.  I see it as being a center for cutting-edge thoughts on urban development, as well as a place for public discourse.”

All of the students agreed they are part of a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will put them ahead of their peers when they begin searching for jobs.

“I recommend this because of getting to work with the interdisciplinary backgrounds and teamwork experience,” said Christina Hoxie, Houston, Texas, an architecture student at KU.  “It sounded like the perfect mix between architecture and planning.  There’s not a lot of crossover at KU.”

The experience is a prelude to their professional careers.  “This is a great resume-builder because they’re exactly where they’ll end up being - in urban environments doing the work,” Law said.  “Why wait to get out of school to learn more?  That’s why we’re here.”

Students also have become accustomed to being filmed at the center.  Ron Frank ‘79, a communications professor at K-State, is filming a documentary about the KCDC’s first year and has become a fixture at the center as well.

“The purpose of the video is to create awareness of the studio and benefactors and to create a promotional video for both schools,” Frank said.  “It’s to the point where I’m not much of an irritant to them anymore.”

Clark Griffith, Clay Center, Kan., fifth-year regional and community planning student at K-State, said at first when being filmed, “I felt like I was on The Real World.”

So does a studio of K-State and KU students really get along - especially after the end of a certain streak?

“Yeah, after the KU game…we didn’t really talk about it.  We all just knew not to say anything, but thanks for bringing it up,” Hoxie said, as several chuckled.  “Now, there was that football game…” she said with a smile.  “Both the football and basketball outcomes were unexpected, so yeah, there’s a little playful banter.”

A “House Divided” flag that hangs from the ceiling testifies to the sports rivalry between the two schools.  But a closer look shows a center that is changing the landscape of Kansas City and lives of these 15 students.