KC Masterpiece

Although I grew up in small town Kansas, I've always considered Kansas City to be my city. It was only an hour away and we spent countless days there for softball games, shopping trips, and the like. After all I have learned, I appreciate it even more for the hidden gem it is. 

Located smack in the middle of the country, it is easy to get to from anywhere, easy to get around once you get there, and full of interesting neighborhoods, buildings, and design. Sadly, not many people know about it, or feel it is not worth their time. They couldn't be more wrong. I want to share just a few examples that show why KC is a diamond in the rough.

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

This classic beaux-art building is home to one of the best art museums in the country, according to friends who are experts on art (of which I am not). On top of this, admission is free! How many world class art museums can say that? Outside, the museum is surrounded the sprawling Kansas City Sculpture Garden, full of sculptures by artists known the world over. As if this wasn't enough, there is the stunning addition done by Steven Holl, known as the Bloch Building.

This is the real reason I visited Nelson-Atkins. My art friends would love the art, my sculptor friends would love the sculptures, even my landscape friends would love the gardens. But I, as an archinerd, love the Bloch Building. It bares a striking resemblance to Rapson Hall, the building I study in everyday, due to being designed by the same architect. This really is a case of world class architecture right in the middle of America. It sharply contrasts the classic limestone building sitting atop the hill, while still allowing it to be front and center as the museum's iconic facade. Sitting east of the main building, cascading down the hill, half underground, this addition is an experience all its own. I could try to explain it in full detail, but the only way to do it justice is to visit it. Do it. Go to KC, visit this museum. See great art and architecture all wrapped into one site.

Sporting Park

On the Kansas side of the metro sits one of the newest of Kansas City's world class sporting facilities. Home to Sporting Kansas City, KC's pro soccer team, this stadium is an experience all in it's own. Come for the game, stay for the architecture. Or come for the architecture and stay for the game. Either way you are in for a great time. Designed by world renown Populous (who has an office in KC and also designed TCF Bank Stadium on my own campus) this stadium makes soccer fans and architects alike smile. Designed to be intimate, to be fan friendly, and to promote charity, this stadium achieves all three. The bowl seats just over 18,000 (many games actually see over 19,000 fans due to standing room tickets).  All seats in the stadium are under a roof, while the field is under the wide Kansas sky. This roof not only shades the seats and keeps the dry in rain, it also keeps all noise inside the stadium and right in the ears of opponents. The stadium contains lavish club spaces, areas where fans can directly interact with players as they enter the field.

Again, this is an environment you must see to believe. Pictures don't send the chill down your spine like roar after a Sporting goal, the blue confetti flying, the cauldron going insane, all against the best backdrop in all of major league soccer.

So...what is the moral of this story? Go to Kansas City. Do it. Hop on I-70 or I-35 or, if you are adventurous, even I-29. Introduce yourself to a city much like an awkward junior high student. She has an inferiority complex, being overlooked by the popular kids, like NYC or LA. However, once you get to know her, she blossoms before your eyes. The Country Club Plaza, the Crossroads District, Union Station, the Kauffman Center for the Performing arts, and, yes, the world's best barbecue. Why else would I name this post after a bbq sauce? So stuff your mouth, as well as your eyes. You'll be in for an experience that lives up to it's sauce, a masterpiece.