Week 3: Studio Update

We're continuing to study cardboard as a modeling material. This week, we were challenged to mock up different joinery forms between cardboard without using adhesives. Our solutions included 3D printed connections, wooden dowels, and tongue-and-groove joints.

Vignette #3: Cardboard Joinery

Our Studio explored Riverview this past Monday morning, gathering more data throughout Wyandotte County to better understand the culture, historical landmarks, and buildable sites. We discovered that the KCK side is tight-knit with a welcoming, bright community featuring small businesses along the main roads.

Wyandot Echoes" (2007) (Artists: Duane Dudley, Jose Faus, Alisha Gambino; Location: 636 Minnesota Ave)

We discovered that Wyandotte County celebrates its heritage through numerous murals throughout the area. In Kansas City, KS, The Avenue of Murals project includes eight murals in a four-block corridor along Minnesota Avenue. These murals highlight the culture and individuality of the communities that live and work in Kansas City, KS.

The mural in the photo above is "Wyandot Echoes" (2007). “This mural represents the migrations of members of the Wyandot Nation, who were forced to leave Ohio, Michigan and Ontario by steamboat. Despite great difficulty, they built a prosperous town that would grow into what we know today as Kansas City, KS.”

Check out more information on The Avenue of Murals project here.

During our visit, we saw a new perspective of the bridge we hadn't encountered before. The plot of land was much larger than we anticipated, and we're excited to explore creative designs that maximize the space.

Site Vignette: A student sketches ideas

With our first site visits complete and corrugate material thoroughly studied, our ideas are developing quickly. Now we are focused on diagramming connections and program zoning to realize the full potential of this crucial node between the Central Area and West Bottoms.

Week 2: Studio Update

This past week, our studio has been busy creating a multitude of corrugated cardboard vignettes to study and analyze the characteristics of corrugate. Students were tasked with experimenting with different manipulation techniques and design approaches. After completing their studies, each student selected their six strongest pieces to present to the class, resulting in a diverse showcase. The class then gathered to share and discuss their explorations. These vignette studies helped students understand the material's properties and potential while also providing inspiration for incorporating corrugated cardboard in their upcoming physical models.

Vignette #2 Wall Display

Our studio welcomed several guest speakers this week. Tim Duggan, founder of Phronesis Landscape Architecture, shared his professional journey and discussed the rehabilitation project at 2000 Vine Street Brewery. Sarah White, executive director of the Missouri and Associated River Coalition and a Stormwater Program Manager with the Unified Government, delivered an informative presentation about the Kansas Levees, Parks, and Riverfront Systems. We also heard from Andrew Moddrell, an Associate Professor in KU's Department of Architecture and founding partner of PORT, a Chicago-based urban design practice specializing in public realm spaces. These speakers provided valuable insights and guidance as our studio begins work on the Central Avenue Bridge project.

Our week concluded with finalizing the scale for our site model. We wanted to ensure proper size and scale for future community engagement meetings, while maintaining sufficient detail to showcase both the site context and Central Avenue Bridge.  After printing multiple scale options, we reviewed them as a class. Through collaborative discussion, we determined the optimal site boundaries, orientation, and scale needed for both production and our final presentation.

Site Printouts

Spring 2025 KCDC Student Fellow, Tristyn Little!

We’d like to introduce our Spring 2025 KCDC Student Fellow, Tristyn Little!

Tristyn is a fourth-year Real Estate and Community Development student at K-State’s APDesign. She is assisting with the People Shaping Cities seminar by coordinating the guest speaker series, which features local and national ‘City Shapers.’

Tristyn has been instrumental in helping the newly established RECD program build connections with real estate and design professionals. The seminar also includes developers as part of the speaker series.

Bio:

Hi, I'm Tristyn, and I am passionate about community involvement and developing affordable housing. In my personal life, I enjoy spending quality time with my friends and family, singing, traveling to new places, and designing and organizing spaces. I am always looking for ways to grow, both personally and professionally, and with the help from KCDC, I will be able to get that jumpstart for my professional career.

Welcome Spring 2025 Students!

Kansas City Design Center is ready to kick off the spring semester and get to work. Our studio includes sixteen students from four states and two schools across four majors. We are hoping that our diverse backgrounds and perspectives will help in ideating well rounded and beautiful projects.

Kansas City Design Center is excited to be taking on a new project. We will be working with Benesch Engineering, El Dorado Architecture and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County to design a bridge proposal for the Central Avenue Bridge. Over the past two weeks we have worked to gain an understanding of not only the condition of the bridge itself, but also an appreciation for the community the bridge serves now and who it could serve in the future. By examining the relevant planning documents for KCK we have begun to understand and dream about what this bridge could bring to the community. 

Though some of the members of our studio are from the Kansas City area very few of us were familiar with the bridge and even fewer had actually been on it. Thankfully, last Friday we were able to complete our site visit and take a physical inventory of how we can use this bridge as a beacon around which to unite the community. 

From this point we look forward to completing our inventory of the site and the surrounding community as we move toward the beginning stages of design. We have gained invaluable information so far and will continue to bolster our knowledge base as we begin model development and generate site plan drawings. 

We encourage you to follow along as we continue to explore the possibilities for the Central Avenue Bridge. Weekly updates will be posted to this blog! Our Instagram @kcdesigncenter will also be a useful tool to stay up to date on the happenings of our studio. We have already learned so much from this project and Kansas City and cannot wait to see what lies in store.

New Year, New Look

Today, we’re launching a new logo, and we’re excited to share the story of how it came to fruition. For the past 17 years, KCDC has celebrated student input and design, so working with students on a rebranding effort felt perfectly in line with our program’s values.

The journey to the new logo has been inspiring. We collaborated with three talented graphic design students from Kansas State University: Abigail Scantlin, Elle Bergerhofer, and Megan Murphy, under the guidance of their professor, Dan Warner. These students brought fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and a thoughtful understanding of the KCDC mission to the design process.

The new logo celebrates our iconic KCDC green, which has become synonymous with our identity. This fresh design adds versatility and adaptability, allowing us to better connect with a diverse audience across platforms.

More than just a visual update, this logo carries a meaningful message of unity. Our work fosters collaboration across state lines, disciplines, and communities. The new design reflects this role, incorporating subtle elements that symbolize connection.

We extend heartfelt gratitude to Dan Warner and his students for their hard work. Their efforts gave us a logo that honors our history and propels us into an exciting new chapter.

As we kick off this rebranding, we invite you to celebrate this milestone. Let’s continue designing a brighter, more connected Kansas City. Stay tuned for updates on our website refresh, events, and ways to get involved in the KCDC community.

Here’s to the next decade of innovation and collaboration! See below for bios of Abigail, Elle, and Megan, and their thoughts on the process.

Abigail Scantlin: Hi! I’m Abigail Scantlin, a junior at Kansas State University majoring in Graphic Design with a minor in Marketing. I enjoy all things art, movies, and traveling. I’ve developed my design skills through classwork and nonprofit projects, and I’ve loved applying them to my work with the Kansas City Design Center. This project was an incredible learning experience, especially when it came to collaborating with and designing for a client. I especially enjoyed animating the logo, which allowed me to further develop my animation skills and contribute creatively!

Elle Bergerhofer: Hi my name is Elle! I am currently a Senior at Kansas State University pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Graphic Design. I am deeply passionate about communicating ideas and telling compelling stories through design. As a Kansas City native, this project has been so impactful to me in the way it has given me the opportunity to gain real world experience in a community I see and love!

Megan Murphy: I'm Megan Murphy, a K-State student pursuing a bachelor of fine arts with a concentration in graphic design. My passion, however, is in illustration and exploring new mediums. Outside of class, I enjoy many creative hobbies like costume design, digital sculpting, and working with resin!