Kauffman Centre Curves and Shadows, Kansas City Postcard

The late afternoon sun casts bold shadows on the iconic Kauffman Centre for the Performing Arts in downtown, Kansas City, Missouri, at 16th and Broadway. The centre is near the Power and Light Centre, the Sprint Centre and the Crossroads Arts District. The Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Kansas City Ballet perform in the centre's performance venues. Moshe Safdie, an award-winning modernist, was lead architect. Others on the design team were acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, theatre 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 centre’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 Centre is made entirely of glass.