Review

Architecture matters: Join the AIA-KC in 'A Question of Relevancy'

Missouri Bank & Trust's new location at 117 Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, hosted an open house First Friday, October 3. Atop the building, which is still in the final stages of construction, are ArtBoards, which will rotate different artists' work every four months. Currently, work by Jaimie Warren is visible on the east-facing boards (shown), and work by Warren Rosser is on those facing west. The boards are printed on Eco-flex, a new environmentally-sensitive material. The building overall is expected to earn a LEED® Silver designation. Photo: T. Abeln

The October 2008 issue of Review magazine is available now at these locations and at the Review, Inc. office. Focused on architecture's intersections with contemporary visual arts, the articles this month highlight recent developments in Kansas City, such as the Missouri Bank & Trust project, which is the first Art through Architecture project, a collaborative initiative of the American Institute of Architects-Kansas City and the Charlotte Street Foundation. Launching its own Web site next month, AtA's goal is to provide architects and clients with tools and incentives to integrate artwork by Kansas City-based artists into new design and construction projects.

The Missouri Bank building, which includes exterior sculpture by Jesse Small, earned an Art Achievement award from AtA at the gold level and was designed by Kansas City-based Helix Architecture + Design.

Detail of Golden Hedges by Jesse Small. Photo: T. Abeln

This week, the American Institute of Architects Kansas City is hosting hundreds of colleagues here for the annual Central States Regional Conference. Emerging professionals and established architectural leaders from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma will be here to discuss the relevancy and importance of the work designers are doing in and beyond the five-state region. Review has taken the opportunity to partner with the AIA-KC in celebrating the strengths of Midwestern architectural talent and the increasing collaborations between architects and visual artists.

View from inside Missouri Bank & Trust's new location, showing Warren Rosser's ArtBoards, based on his painting, Constellation. Photo: T. Abeln

The October print edition includes essays about some of these collaborations, which are reaching a level of systematic innovation through conscious design. In other words, we are building on the strengths of what makes our community strong, its talent. The AIA Central States Regional Conference is aiming high with tough questions about how to attract and retain talented young professionals to the Midwest: "How can we firmly establish that a progressive design culture exists in the Central States that is both distinct and competitive with other reputed cultural centers in the U.S.?"

The conference presents a number of opportunities for non-architects — artists, residents, and enthusiasts alike — to expand their knowledge of architectural trends and challenges. The AIA-KC invites the community to get involved, to learn, and to celebrate:

Thursday, October 23
8:20 p.m. — Pecha Kucha night
Crosstown Station, 1522 McGee Street
Presented by the Young Architects Forum; free and open to the public

"Pecha Kucha" is Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of chatter, of talk. Kansas City has hosted several Pecha Kucha nights already, which are based on the presentation formula devised by Tokyo-based architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham: imagine 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each, no exceptions. Artists, designers, architects, and others talk about their work at a rapid-fire pace that inspires. Learn more about Pecha Kucha.

Friday, October 24
All Friday events held at Bartle Hall Ballroom, 16th & Wyandotte

8-9:30 a.m. — A Question of Relevancy: A Panel Discussion
$25 single-event tickets available through AIA-KC (click on Events)

Moderated by KCUR-FM and Kansas City Star reporter Steve Kraske, the Central States Conference discussion examines the unique nature of practicing in the Midwest, with its distinct topography and climate as well as the culture, psyche, and traditions of its people. "As our collective work touches those inside and outside our communities and the global marketplace expands, how will our designer and architect practitioners’ unique geographic location impact the built environment?" Panelists include: CEO and President of Park University Dr. Beverly Byers-Pevitt; Principal of Elliott + Associates Rand Elliott, FAIA, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; President of Civitas, Inc. Mark W. Johnson, FASLA; and New Letters Writer-in-Residence at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Whitney Terrell.

5:30-9 p.m. — Design Awards
$50 single-event tickets available through AIA-KC (click on Awards)

Looking to raise the bar, the Central States region will be announcing the Design Excellence Awards "academy awards-style" in a way that celebrates overall good design. The jury represents leaders in the field from outside the region, who will have spent the day ahead of the ceremony evaluating submitted projects virtually (without using paperwork and presentation boards normally associated with such endeavors) and making their decisions.

Jury guests to Kansas City include: Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and independent architectural consultant and commentator Reed Kroloff; Editor-in-chief of I.D. Magazine and author /critic Julie Lasky, of New York City; Studio Practice Leader Julie Snow, FAIA, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; and co-founder of Leers Weinzapfel Associates in Boston, Massachusetts, Jane Weinzapfel, FAIA. Their fuller credentials are available at AIA-KC (click on Awards).

Saturday, October 25
Unity Temple, 707 West 47th St.
11 a.m.-noon — Keynote Speaker Carol Bartz
Free and open to the public

Executive Chairman of the Board of Autodesk Inc. Carol Bartz was chairman, president and CEO of this architectural software company for 14 years (until April 2006). "During her tenure, the company diversified its product line and grew revenues from $285 million to $1.523 billion." Bartz serves on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and on the board of directors of Intel Corporation, Cisco Systems, Network Appliance, and the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology, and before leading Autodesk was vice president of worldwide field operations and an executive officer of Sun Microsystems.

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Other parts of the conference for AIA members include professional development sessions and educational tours of Kansas City-area's architectural highlights such as Liberty Memorial, the Federal Reserve Building, IRS processing facility, Midtown contemporary art museums, downtown's Power & Light Entertainment District, the Crossroads Arts District, and the A. Zahner Company, which has a long history of collaborating with architects and artists to realize their ideas through metal fabrication.

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