Moshe Safdie designed the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
Safdie is known for Marina Bay Sands and Habitat 67. He started as an apprentice under Louis Kahn but lately his art has become less Modernist and more monumental.
The back of the building faces a busy road and curls up in striated reflective metal. This shell of metal curls make a jagged wave crest and then falls down to the front of the building. The main lobby, Brandmeyer Hall, slopes outward and is stabilized with 27 tensile steel cables. This sheer glazing offers a superior view of the city from the building’s elevation position. A front lawn provides a grand entrance to the city through this massive glass porch.
The theme of geometric striations continue inside the lobby with stacked curling floors. The Muriel Kauffman Theatre has 1,800 seats and wood striations that wrap around in dynamic symmetry. The Helzberg Hall has 1,600 seats and feels more intimate with stacks balcony seating along undulating walls.
This project cost $413 million and opened in September 2011.
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