A Conversation With The Architect Of Downtown Kansas City Renaissance

Like it or not . . . Architecture distinguishes a REAL CITY from so many strip mall towns littered with disposable buildings. 

Accordingly . . . For those who care about the past, present & future of Kansas City . . . This talk and an upcoming book should prove worthwhile . . . Check-it . . .

Safdie, of course, is the designer, who, c. 2000, sat at a Kansas City dinner table with Julia Irene Kauffman and sketched the bulbous beginnings of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on a cocktail napkin. They were dining at the American Restaurant in Crown Center, with a view of the vacant Crossroads hilltop that would eventually hoist Safdie’s glass-walled creation to the sky. After its completion more than a decade later, it quickly became an urban trophy, the kind of eye candy that national sports broadcasters can’t help but feature in their colorful nighttime blips of local recognition.

 Also . . . To be fair, there's not a lot of mention of the guy's FAIL on the Plaza which proves that even a genius can have a bad day.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Architect's Imprint on the City is Unmistakable - KC STUDIO

The architect Moshe Safdie has earned a reputation as a visionary designer and thinker with a global portfolio.