Join AIA Kansas City on an in-person tour of the AIA Kansas City 2020 Project of the Year and Honor Award recipient: the Kansas City Art Institute’s (KCAI) Barbara A. Marshall Residence Hall and Wylie Dining Center.

After setting forth an ambitious vision in its campus master plan to establish a dynamic and supportive freshman experience, KCAI identified a new residence hall as the cornerstone of achieving this goal.  

Nestled within a premiere arts corridor — “a studio between two showrooms” — the residence hall’s orientation along the picturesque Warwick Boulevard acknowledges KCAI’s park-like campus and creates a new, programmatically vibrant interspace. The building envelope and its articulation is a lesson in the exploration of materials, integrated in such a way that these discerning residents can appreciate their execution.

Many of KCAI’s studio spaces have enabled students to arrange them in a way that best supports their creative process. The residence hall offers the same flexibility while offering a balance of personal and private space. The team incorporated a variety of materials and textures that align with what KCAI students will delve into during their courses of study.

Members of the design and construction team will lead groups on a walking tour of this award-winning facility. The tour will discuss the opportunities and constraints with achieving a multi-faceted program on a narrow site; demonstrate how an in-depth understanding of the unique characteristics of the KCAI student informed the architecture and interior design; and showcase the construction techniques that brought the residence hall from vision to reality.

*This event will be in person. For the safety of those attending we ask that masks be worn for the indoor portions of the event.