Getting started in KCK!

The Kansas City Design Center is excited to share the beginnings of the 2020-2021 school year! Our project is focusing on establishing a connection between Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, which are currently divided by the Kansas River, extensive rail yards and major rail ways, and a complex, interweaving system of interstates.  We are 12 students strong this year, connected virtually through a number of platforms that make it possible for us to be physically distant but socially and academically linked.  We come mainly from Kansas and Missouri, but we also have a colleague joining us from Arkansas!

            We are a month into the semester and have been working hard to identify and analyze site conditions, demographic trends, historical events, existing initiatives, and regulatory uses.  Generating these maps and diagrams, studying precedents, and visiting the site have kept us busy and focused.  Our site visit began at Kaw Point Park, where there is access to the river and a great view of downtown KCMO.  From there, we made several stops as we headed to the southern end of the site, including Strawberry Hill, the Riverfront Trail, and the Central Avenue bridge. 

Although many of us are from the Kansas City area, only few had been to and had knowledge about our site.  Thankfully, our partners at HNTB and the Wyandotte County - Kansas City, Kansas Unified Government, as well as other prominent stakeholders in the community have shared information, experiences and current plans to help us understand the site and develop maps and diagrams to further analyze its conditions.

Our next step is to wrap up the inventory phase by drawing conclusions from overlays of these maps and discussing our findings.  We have also begun diving into environmental and physical conditions of the site.  In these groups, we will explore noise and air pollution, brownfield sites, experiential spaces and viewsheds.  These types of mapping will further aid us in our comprehension of the site and its surroundings and better inform our design ideas and decisions down the road.

We hope you’ll continue to follow our journey via monthly updates, our social media (@kcdesigncenter), and eventually public meetings!  The Kansas City Design Center students and staff are excited to learn about this unique site and connect with our city!

Wrapping up another KCDC Project

As we wrap things up here this semester at KCDC, we have some time to reflect on all that we have overcome and achieved as a studio. In the beginning stages of the semester, we organized new groups and a few new students joined the team. We had a couple advisory meetings in January and February that proved to be pivotal to our success down the line. The shape of our project in the East Bottoms reflects the resilient nature that this studio had to develop in order to achieve what we have in the face of COVID-19. In our final review on May 13th, we were joined by former KCDC Director Mark Shapiro, James Pfeiffer, BNIM; Ryan McCabe, BNIM; Sara Hadavi, LARCP/KSU; Todd Gabbard, KSU; Michael Gibson, KSU; Alex Ogata, Populous; Ryan Gedney, HNTB; Tim Duggan, Phronesis; and landscape architect Kevin Cunnigham. The comments and insight they provided makes us all in the studio wish we had more time to take the East Bottoms project to the next level. However, we are very proud of the work we did and hope we can inspire future students to achieve the same level of success in the coming years at KCDC.
Throughout the summer, the KCDC will have three students producing the comprehensive project publication which we hope to have posted online to view for free by August (we will also have hard copies available for purchase on the website).

As always, we want to thank all of our project advisors, reviewers, stakeholders, and, of course, community members that have supported us throughout the year. We hope the project inspires and encourages change in the East Bottoms to make it a more resilient space that serves both industry and the public realm equally.

Final Details for the East Bottoms

While the coronavirus epidemic limits the studio to working from home, it has not prevented strong communication between groups and progress on the project. As the semester draws to a close, the vision study for the East Bottoms has gradually improved and become more refined and in about two weeks, we will present the final design iterations. 
Although we are unable to work face to face, the studio has been using Slack as a platform to discuss  any issues or changes with designs and share progress. Due to the open-ness of the platform, the whole studio is able to see how each focus group is working.

One of our more significant recent changes was to improve and refine the overall structure and details of the Folly and Boardwalk systems after reviewing each groups requirements and comments. After considering the typologies of each focus area, we were able to evolve the Folly’s to better serve the needs of each group while having a consistent design.

Boardwalk structure and sections

Main Folly structure

Each group received positive feedback after the last public meeting, as a result, the studio is in the last detailed design stage and each group has determined their main design direction.  The Working Landscape team has completed the overall design and improvement of the area and is now focused on refining the design of the trail system that runs through their section. The Riverfront Park team is combining different terrain conditions to make the trail design more consistent with the range of human activities that take place. The Industrial District group is now focused finalizing details along Universal Ave and the school area.  The Electric Park team has strengthened the connection between the East Bottoms and the rest of the city and has begun to focus on refining the residential area in addition to creating a connection to Riverfront Park. The whole studio is looking forward to seeing the overall project come together in the next two weeks!

Rendering of the proposed trail and bridge structure traversing a retention basin near Evergy in the design iterations for the Working Landscape area.

East Bottom Project (remote) Review

With the continued development of the Covid pandemic, the studio hasn’t met in person since the beginning of March but the East Bottoms Project is still constantly advancing. The studio adapted and remote communication has not become an obstacle for us. Using a variety of communication platforms and programs has helped us continue our work, and in some instances has streamlined our process and made us more effective.

Kansas City’s ‘Stay at Home’ order hasn’t stopped our reviewers enthusiasm for participating in the meeting— we had our last project review and and project advisory meeting of the semester this week. We are grateful for all of our advisors that have taken the time to give us valuable advice.

Above: axon of Greenhouse elements, renderings of interior of greenhouse and approach the greenhouse.

During the meeting, each group received feedback on their section of the site. The Trail System proposal has become more detailed, particularly in developing a green house landmark which utilizes vertical farming to allow the site to grow more produce in a smaller footprint. In fact, one acre of indoor greenhouse space offers equivalent production to at least 4-6 acres of outdoor capacity. We found that growing leafy greens hydroponically is the most profitable operation because it has the lowest operational cost per square foot.

Above: two examples of the Riverfront Park during different flood networks.

The Riverfront Park group has proposed the creation of more pronounced topography and a constructed edge in order to introduce different habitats and water levels that the public will be able to experience. The connections between Chestnut Trafficway and the Riverfront have also been strengthened to encourage visitors to travel between the two sites and eventually to the rest of the site. For example, the Working Landscape group, which is the eastern part and least accessible section of the East Bottoms, is becoming more accessible with the incorporation of the trail system.

Above: Rendering of the trail bridge in the working Landscape section, spanning a retention basin.

As we continue to develop more details of the project, we are also understanding different elements that impact people; such as lighting, wind, and topography, and how we can use these elements to provide users with multiple experiences while also protecting the environment. We are confident that we can create a proposal that benefits both the industries in the area and the public of KC. This project has the guidance of advisors and reviewers with a vast amount of knowledge that has made our proposal more realistic, resilient, and innovative.

A Successful Public Meeting

Despite the recent changes to the studio format due to the coronavirus and extension of spring break, the students have been pushing the designs and research for the East Bottoms Vision Study. Just before Spring Break, the studio had an opportunity to showcase the project development at our first public meeting, which was in our project area at J.Rieger & Co. We had a great turn out of community members and the students were able to speak with them and develop a mutual understanding of a vision for the East Bottoms. They discussed the issues present on the site and how, with some innovative and analytical thinking, the studio can make the East Bottoms a welcoming place that can benefit the everyday lives of those that live and work there. The students received a lot of positive feedback and valuable questions and they continue to include the needs of the community in every step of the planning process. 

The plans for the Chestnut Corridor area received a lot of attention from the community. The proposed plan would connect Riverfront Park to the East Bottoms and Downtown KC, which would make it one of the first phases to be implemented if this project were taken to development stage by the city. Riverfront Park is currently used for boat access for local citizens, but its connection to the downtown area has been neglected. Development of the social public realm and walkability will activate this area, transforming it into an urban mixed-use environment that considers how flooding impacts the East Bottoms.  Another area that received a lot of feedback and discussion was the Working Landscape (the eastern part of the study area that is mostly industry and private ownership) and their plans for future phasing if the industries in this area were willing to open up public space and if the Evergy plant were to shut down due to technological advances. To offset habitat impacts and pollution, the studio employed strategies of flood control and water remediation in this area since it is the first to flood and the water contains the highest amount of toxins on the site. 

As we move into the final stage of the project, we hope to make this project as relevant, realistic, and practical as possible for future implementation while also using innovative new practices that create resiliency and sustainability so the East Bottoms can continue to adapt to the environment. We will continue to move the project towards realization with all of the community feedback in mind. 

Lastly, a big thanks to Andy Rieger, who provided us the opportunity to use their space; our Project Advisory Group who continues to provide critical input, references, and guidance towards creating a thoughtful and thorough project; and lastly, the community who showed up to our public meeting!