Kauffman Center Curves and Shadows, Kansas City Postcard

The late afternoon sun casts bold shadows on the iconic Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown, Kansas City, Missouri, at 16th and Broadway. The center is near the Power and Light Center, the Sprint Center and the Crossroads Arts District. The Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Kansas City Ballet perform in the center's performance venues. Moshe Safdie, an award-winning modernist, was lead architect. Others on the design team were acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, theater consultant Richard Pilbrow, and engineering firm Arup. Local firm BNIM was the associate architect. Lead contractor was J.E. Dunn Construction Group of Kansas City. The 285,000-square foot (26,500 m2) structure was one of the most complex structures in the world to design and build and was under construction for nearly five years. The center’s exterior consists of two symmetrical half shells of vertical, concentric arches that open toward the south. Each shell houses one acoustically independent performance venue, although the backstage area is shared. The south façade of the Center is made entirely of glass.