 |
|
· History · Board · Staff · KCDC in the News |
Architect discusses Star plant
Kansas City Star
September 17,, 2003
Mike Sherry
An industrial facility does not have to be divorced from the world around it.
Quite the contrary, the architect of The Kansas City Star's new production facility said at a Tuesday evening lecture at the Union Station City Stage Theater.
"The public component has always been at the core of the design," Juan Moreno, director of design for Austin Co.'s Design Studio in Chicago, said during a question and answer session after his 50-minute talk.
That desire for transparency, he said, drove decisions such as building the $200 million facility primarily out of blue-hued glass. In addition, it will have a museum for visitors and will be easier to use for tours.
"As we started to approach the building three-dimensionally," Moreno said, "we started to look at the community three-dimensionally - not just the project."
In addition, Moreno said, he was mindful of the legacy of the paper's founder, William Rockhill Nelson, who was interested in making Kansas City a beautiful place to live.
With the color scheme, Moreno said, he also wanted to convey the sense that the facility is very much about enhancing color in the newspaper.
The downtown site covers two square blocks between McGee and Oak streets, from 17th Street to Truman Road. The 424,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to begin printing newspapers in early 2006.
Plans call for the plant to rise from four stories on the south to eight stories on the north. It will be big enough to house four new 60-foot-tall presses.
Construction of the plant began in February with the demolition of buildings at the site. A formal groundbreaking was held May 12.
Moreno's lecture was sponsored by the American Institute of Architects-Kansas City, the Kansas City Design Center and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association.
Return to the news index.