Opening Night 'Projections'. Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Kansas City - September 16, 2011 from Quixotic Fusion on Vimeo.
The proposal was to replace the mall with a "lifestyle" center that would include a high-rise boutique hotel, condos and street level retail. Somewhere along the way large aquarium was thrown in for good measure.
Of course, we all know what happened to the real estate market, not to mention the rest of the economy. All that was left of The Gateway development was a giant mountain of dirt and broken dreams.[Cameron Group's] Tom Valenti said his new partners, which include RED’s Tim Schaffer and Caymus’ Dave Harrison, add credibility to the project.It all sounds very promising. Certainly a nice retail/business district will bring in more revenue than a big pile of dirt. Definitely it will look much nicer, though the opossum's and foxes that now live there might have some objections.
“Having RED and Caymus being involved sends a message to the community here that this is real and it is going to happen,” Valenti said.
Valenti said the Gateway project will be built in two phases, beginning with the aquarium and apartments.
Of course it remains to be seen whether we are near enough to the end of the current recession for this to actually happen.
I really like the way this shot of the exterior of the Sprint Center bowl turned out. It was taken with my kick-ass cell phone camera (2 megapixels, baby!).
Here's a shot of the inside of the glass skin, looking down from the top level concourse.
Here's a (fuzzy) view of the concourse from the escalator going to the top level. The guy we put in charge of buying tickets managed to score us seats FOUR ROWS FROM ETHE ABSOLUTE TOP!!! It was great once my nose stopped bleeding and I became accustomed to the thin air. Still the view was pretty damn good.
Of course, burying a gallery under 8 inches of sod could make for a dark, dungeon-like environment. So Holl came up with an innovative skylight system: five giant cubes of glass that jut above ground, channeling natural light into the 840-foot-long gallery (equivalent to a 70-story skyscraper laid on its side). These light boxes, along with strategically placed partitions and computer-controlled window screens, ensure the 220 permanent pieces look their best — and are unharmed by UV rays and the greenhouse effect. Jackson Pollock's paintings are drippy enough.For those who haven't been in, or seen pictures of the interiors, there is a good illustration of the way the shape of the interior walls redirect natural light to the galleries below.
The new Bloch Building looks terrific framed against the lush landscaping. I was very impressed with how well the it integrates with the south lawn of the museum. It becomes almost a wall of a large outdoor room, creating a intimate experience in a large landscape.The addition is set to open in about a month, and I for one am pretty excited. I had an opportunity to tour the addition as it was being constructed.As it turns out, the building, which will open in June, is not just Holl’s finest by far but also one of the best museums of the last generation. Its boldness is no surprise, but, in addition, it is laudably functional, with a clear layout, handsome and logically designed galleries, and a suffusion of natural light. Furthermore, Holl’s five glass structures, punctuating the hill, don’t mock the old building as you might expect; they dance before it and engage it.
This is a secondary lobby between the main lobby and the arena. I guess you can watch free Spanish rock videos on that TV in the corner.
I received an email from my inside source, Matt the Architect, with a link to an "e-preview" of the building's interior. It's not as much a video as a slide show in video form, but still a good preview of what the experience will be like.
If you're at all interested in Kansas City and/or architecture, then you no doubt are aware of the controversy this project has spurred locally. Some keyboard critics have likened the structures to Butler Buildings, calling them an eyesore and an insult to the original neoclassical museum.But the most delicate and entrancing aspect of the building is the way it pushes the current ideal of drawing natural light into exhibition spaces to its limit.The article notes (in sometimes painful detail) the thought processes that went into solving the lighting challenges that come with building a museum out of translucent glass.
"For an architect whose passion has been light from the beginning, it's really a rare opportunity to get to work with the sequence of natural light in a gallery and then have the building itself be kind of made out of light."Read the article for more on how the particular lighting issues were addressed. There's a really good image gallery that includes some of the design sketches as well as shots of the nearly finished addition.
"It began an uncompromising, fundamental conceptual strategy that was radical vis-a-vis all the other architects who approached the project. And it was supported by the trustees and the director of the museum not to be compromised in the process.The design is being featured in an exposition in Japan called "Luminosity/Porosity"
All those things in place, that's very hard to get that to happen in your life. So it's a special chance, this building. It's a very special chance and plays a special part in my work."
tagged: Steven Holl, Nelson Atkins, art, architecture, Kansas City, museum
