Kansas City Design Center

Seven students enrolled in the Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning and Design will participate during the 2008-2009 academic year in the Kansas City Design Center.

The Kansas City Design Center (KCDC) is an interdisciplinary, inter-university urban design/research studio whose mission is to be the agent of public discourse in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Located at 1018 Baltimore in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, the studio is comprised of seven students majoring in architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture and product design, or regional and community planning from the K-State College of Architecture, Planning and Design and eight architecture students from the School of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Kansas.

The studio addresses complex physical planning and design issues relevant to change in metropolitan Kansas City and has a three-part charge:

1)      to bring the student/faculty resources of the partnering universities to bear beneficially on urban issues in Kansas City;

2)      to provide relevant and topical challenges of the urban environment in support of the educational missions of the universities; and

3)      to develop leadership skills in the students that will encourage their future engagement in urban affairs as professionals and as citizens.

Participating students were selected by their academic departments and college-wide committees. Selection was honorific and competitive, with student participation regarded as a reward for outstanding academic achievement. Each student participant received a special scholarship to offset the expense of residing in Kansas City during the school year.

Funding for the KCDC is provided by the William T. Kemper Foundation and the Hall Family Foundation of Kansas City, as well as DST Realty, 360 Architecture, HOK Sport Venue Event, HNTB Architecture, Commerce Banks, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University.

The space may also be used for exhibits, lectures, charrettes and other activities of interest to Kansas City area professionals as well as faculty and students from both participating universities.

Professor Richard Farnan, a faculty lecturer at KU who has practiced at HNTB, will be studio instructor.

K-State student participants for the 2008-2009 studio are:  Andrea Pardo, architecture; Jerald Kohrs, Rachel Koster, Kyle Sherwood and Giannina Zapattini, interior architecture and product design; and Cole Giesler and Shandelle Renyer, landscape architecture.

Throughout the last several decades, the college has played a modest role in Kansas City, but a more viable presence has long been a goal of Dennis Law, dean of our college. “The Kansas City Design Center strengthens our students’ urban design education and does so in an interdisciplinary setting consistent with that found in professional practice,” Law said. “I am also glad to partner with KU, the Kemper Foundation and the Hall Family Foundation, as we share many common goals with respect to our students’ experiences as well as the interests of the Kansas City design community.”

For more information, contact:
Wendy Ornelas, 785.532.5950
Diane Potts, 785.532.1090