Steel superstructure to take Kauffman Center to its full height

Date: October 14, 2008

Author: Kauffman Center

Right after Halloween, appropriately enough, the Kauffman Center’s steel skeleton will begin to take shape.   Once fully in place, the steel superstructure will take the building to its dazzling full height, equivalent to a 14-story office building.  It will also change Kansas City’s skyline forever.

More than 4,345 tons of structural steel are needed to build the Kauffman Center.  (About 7,200 midsize cars could be built with this same amount of steel.)  Fortunately, project planners made a smart move in spring 2007, purchasing all of the required steel.   This avoided several cost increases and has placed the steel readily on hand in Texas where it will be fabricated to design requirements.

Steel installation is a giant puzzle in that it must be assembled not only in the correct order, but in a way that allows work to proceed simultaneously in other areas of the building. 

“In most buildings we pour the foundation and work vertically, in a pretty a linear manner,” says JE Dunn project manager Kyle McQuiston.  “But this is like building several buildings at the same time.   We will keep rough-in and mechanical work moving forward in the lower levels, simultaneously with steel installation.”

Since the steel infrastructure goes above the existing concrete floors of the two halls, it will be highly visible from all angles around town.  Here’s what you’ll see taking shape over the next year:

Initial steel work will take place in the space between the two halls (a lobby entranceway).  As steel goes in, concrete floors will be poured.  Then more steel and more concrete floors.  Besides creating the lobby spaces, this dual process of steel and concrete installation helps the rigidity of the structure.

Next, steel for the concert hall will go in.  Because the concert hall has the most interior finish work required (including a great deal of wood), it is on a “critical path” in the building’s timeline.  Steel must be installed as early as possible to keep the concert hall on track.

Finally, the steel structure for the proscenium theatre will be built.  This is the tallest point of the Kauffman Center, reaching 165 feet from the main entrance to the roof peak (just 30 feet short of the tower crane currently in place).

In January, 2009 a fourth crane will be built on the site.  This 650-ton crane does the heavy lifting required for the gigantic steel trusses that will be put into place toward the first of the year.

Here’s one way to picture the eventual size of the Kauffman Center:  If the Kauffman Center and Bartle Hall were sited at the same elevation, the Kauffman Center’s proscenium theatre would be as tall as the art that tops the Bartle Hall pylons.