Opened on Sept. 16, 2011, the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo., has not only revitalized the region it serves, but has dramatically changed the city’s skyline. Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, the project encompasses nearly 285,000 square feet of space and has a sweeping façade clad in bead-blasted stainless steel, glass and pre-cast concrete. As practical as it is expressive, the Kauffman Center was designed as a model of functionality, accessibility and sustainability. Kansas City-based A. Zahner Co. supplied its GB-60 Stainless Steel panels to clad the entire roof and metal wall surface of the building.
Home to the Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Kansas City Ballet, the $386 million project has two performance venues: the 1,800-seat Muriel Kauffman Theater and the 1,600-seat Helzberg Hall.
“We had several design objectives for Helzberg Hall,” explains Isaac Franco, AIA, principal at Safdie Architects, Somerville, Mass. “First, we needed to find an acoustically transparent, fine-grained material that would allow sound to go through, reflect on the wall behind the panels and bounce back to the audience. We also wanted to screen the main body of the organ, which is located behind the panels. Finally, we wanted a visually reflective material that would enhance the natural light coming in through skylights during the day and the artificial lighting in the evening.
“We looked at several material options with our acoustician and decided to explore metal mesh. After testing the material, it proved to be adequate for both the acoustic and aesthetic objectives. We
were then able to panelize the mesh in an almost seamless band from top to bottom.”
The dynamic metal fabric backdrop used in Helzberg Hall was supplied by GKD-USA Inc., Cambridge, Md. In the same way the building façade and substructure are formed by a series of undulating and curved surfaces, the interior façade of Helzberg Hall is a mirror image. Although covered extensively with beechwood panels, several exposed bays were left behind the stage area. GKD designed a cost-efficient and aesthetically stunning solution to dress the empty space that extended nearly 70 feet high and radiused from top to bottom in a concave shape.
The project included a series of obstacles, including a small freight elevator that acted as the only access to the space. While the architect originally envisioned a continuous panel of rigid metal mesh that extended from floor to apex, this design proved impossible to install as any material brought into the hall needed to be small enough to fit into the elevator.
In response, GKD worked with the architects to propose a system of stackable, framed modules that were enveloped in GKD’s Tigris PC metal mesh. The metal mesh was manufactured to create a virtually seamless look, as the building’s concrete bays are both concave and tapered, reaching 16 1/2 feet wide at the base and 9 feet wide at the highest point.
Once brought into the space, the stackable modules were tilted into place and secured with fasteners to the building sub-structure. Because one concern was that the series of fasteners and framed modules might “buzz” due to the high-intensity sound waves, GKD devised a method of isolating each framed module, using tapered nubs to prevent metal-on-metal contact and dissipate sound waves. The finished products consist of 101 panels and 8,000 square feet of metal.
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City, Mo.
Architect: Moshe Safdie, Safdie Architects, Somerville, Mass.
Associate architect: BNIM Architects, Kansas City
General contractor: J.E. Dunn Construction Co., Kansas City
Stainless steel cladding: A. Zahner Co., Kansas City, www.azahner.com
Metal fabrics: GKD-USA Inc., Cambridge, Md., www.gkdmetalfabrics.com
