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

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.

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.