What is the KCDC?

Located in the heart of downtown Kansas City, the Kansas City Design Center (KCDC) is a nationally-recognized, service-learning urban design program that operates as a 501(c)3 nonprofit partnership among local civic leaders, professional designers, and the architecture and planning programs at Kansas State University. 
 

MISSION/PURPOSE

Our mission is simple: promote design excellence within Kansas City’s built environment and serve the professional and civic communities in Kansas City while focusing on design innovation, thought leadership, resiliency, environmental stewardship, and local and racial equity and inclusion. We accomplish this in two ways:

1. EDUCATION

The KCDC engages university faculty and some of the region’s most talented architecture and planning students in a unique learning laboratory that actively explores real-world issues facing Kansas City’s future development. Our educational programs are built around our resident urban design studio, through which faculty and students form partnerships with local client groups and stakeholders to develop design concepts and visioning proposals addressing major architectural, urban design and urban planning issues throughout metropolitan Kansas City. 

2. PUBLIC SERVICE

The KCDC serves as an independent forum for critical dialogues about architecture and planning issues, and offers technical assistance to public agencies and local community organizations. This includes everything from hosting free lectures by internationally renowned architects to collaborating with local organizations and non-profits on projects that seek to improve Kansas City's livability.