Kauffman Center

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is destined to become a Kansas City icon.   Over the last several years I have watched this building rise during my annual visits there.   Now completed, I am awed by its beauty.   The Kauffman was designed by Moshe Safdie who has built other icons throughout the world like the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.  Closer to home I discovered he is the architect for the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, so this building has been pushed to the top of my "must see" list the next time I go down there.

The exterior surfaces are all glass, concrete and stainless steel.  There are 27 cables holding up the glass front of the lobby.  What I find amazing is how the building fans to look like an accordion.  Set among the old historic brick buildings of Kansas City, it softens the skyline with its sensuous curves.

Inside, there are two performing halls, rehearsal spaces, warm-up rooms and dressing rooms.  On my next visit I must make it a point to see a performance of the Kansas City Ballet.

The landscaping resembles the prairies of Kansas, which again softens the over all effect.  Safdie is indeed a genius.  I applaud Kansas City for its vision.