A friend asks this question: How would you feel if there was going to be a barbecue hall of fame in Kansas City — and it featured barbecue by Wolfgang Puck?
Can't believe people around here would appreciate that.
And I can't for the life of me understand the fascination with Frank Gehry.
Gehry, you probably know, is the architect behind the awesome Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and he has expressed interest in designing Kansas City's new downtown arena. Gehry has never designed an actual arena, but he's pretty sure he could break the mold, put Kansas City on the world map, take sports architecture to a place it has never gone before. He has, after all, been to hockey games.
That's all well and good, but here's the thing: Kansas City is already world famous for sports architecture. Just about every corner of the sports world — Sydney to Tokyo, Jerusalem to London, Baltimore to Paris — has been touched by Kansas City architecture. Sports architecture was born in Kansas City. It has blossomed here. It is no exaggeration to say Kansas City has three hundred of the best sports architects in the world.
No, I can't for the life of me understand the fascination with Frank Gehry.
There is fascination galore, though. Already, there is buzzing going around that the city (and AEG) is actually considering bypassing Kansas City's own brilliant and world-renowned sports architects — who have built 25 of the last 28 NBA and NHL arenas — to let Frank Gehry play with our $250 million. It's so strange: Some of the very people who screamed about how St. Louis could not come into our town and tell us what to do are now spellbound by some California architect who once said: “Every architect who's any good, no matter what they say, is trying to make some kind of personal mud pie.â€
This is not to knock Gehry: His buildings are amazing.
But they are buildings. Museums. Wineries. Etc.
Kansas City, meanwhile, has the best sports architects on earth. The best, Jerry, the best. And they care so much about this, they have come together. It's really pretty remarkable. Normally, you would not see architects from Ellerbe Becket and HOK Sport+Venue+Event hanging out. Those companies have been in savage competition for the biggest arena and stadium jobs anywhere. They have been Microsoft and Apple, Ford and Chevy, Yankees and Red Sox.
Now, along with another big player — 360 Architecture — they have come together to form a Kansas City all-star team to build the greatest arena anywhere.
“This is sort of the ultimate project for all of us,†says Rick Martin, an HOK Senior Principal and the point man for the Downtown Arena Design Team. “It defines our career to have a building that our friends and families are going to go to. There's a lot of pressure. The bar is pretty high. We're going to put our heart and soul into it.â€
These are the people, understand, who designed Camden Yards and changed the look of baseball forever. They are the people who blueprinted an old-time fieldhouse in Indianapolis, a futuristic glass arena in Taiwan and a space-age-type building that turns from stadium to arena in Tokyo.
And for months now they have been coming up with the ultimate concept for their hometown. They started a Web site (www.yourkc arena.com) and have read and appreciated all the ideas of people, even from the guy who thinks the arena should be a giant cow. They have met several times, and although everyone involved admits it was weird the first meeting, Martin made everyone feel at ease by playing the clip from “The Godfather†where the five families come together to meet.
“After that the tension was broken,†he says. “Then, we were just a bunch of architects trying to do something.â€
It bugs Martin that some people — most prominently AEG's Tim Leiweke — have said this consortium might fall apart. Martin says there's no chance of that. “Nobody in this group will work for this firm or that firm,†he says. “For three years, they will work only for the Downtown Arena Design Team. We are absolutely together.â€
And it bugs me that this remark-able group is not getting enough respect around Kansas City. Maybe it's because they're from around here, people don't realize: This is the most unique collection of talents ever put together to build an arena. They don't just know how to build a remarkable building, they know how to do it on time and on budget. They've done it everywhere. They know how to stretch dollars — hey, $250 million is a lot of money, but let's be blunt: The American Airlines Center in Dallas cost $400 million.
“It's going to require good sound design decisions,†Martin says. “But for this money you can do a spectacular building. We will do a spectacular building.â€
In the end, of course, it's up to the Kansas City Downtown Arena Design Team to show that they're the right choice: I have no doubt they will. Frank Gehry has never built an arena. Can he build one for $250 million? Can he get it done? Sure, he's a celebrity, a legend even, his name has wowed people. Last week, Gehry made a rather snide remark about how current sports architecture does not impress him much. Martin would like people to know that he is quite impressed with Gehry.
“I'm an admirer of his work,†Martin says. “And if we were competing for an art museum, I'd be really worried. But this is what we do.â€
4 Comments
i am from kansas city. this man is an idot. if kansas city has so many wonderful architects where are all of the amazing buildings?
one more thing. this posnanski guy, he isn't even an architect, he is a sports columnist...i'm not as outraged now, i thought these comments were actually coming from an architect...whew. joe, how would you like it if an architect told you how to write your column?
, from The Business Journal
Selective memory excludes the fact that Kansas City has a dodgy history with arenas. Didn't the Kemper Arena collapse in a rain storm? Was that locally designed?
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