The DADT is a team of individuals from three of the most prolific sports design firms in the world that happen to be based in Kansas City.
Collectively, DADT-member firms have designed 25 of the last 28 NBA/NHL arenas. The DADT focused on its expertise in delivering projects on schedule and budget, operational efficiency, maximizing revenue and designing an arena that takes its cues from its Kansas City surroundings.
The team also unveiled an idea that illustrates the kind of design and creativity that can be generated when representatives of three of the world’s leading sports design firms – Ellerbe Becket, HOK and 360 Architects – work together.
KC team takes arena prize
Group of local architecture firms wins heated competition for project
The hometown team won.
The city-appointed architect selection committee chose local sports-facility expertise over international reputation Thursday for the new downtown arena, capping a hotly contested competition to design a major component of the downtown redevelopment push.
The committee, meeting in private, recommended that the city negotiate a contract with the Downtown Arena Design Team, a consortium of firms with major offices in Kansas City. The team consists of HOK Sport + Venue + Event, Ellerbe Becket, 360 Architects and Rafael Architects. The firms collectively have designed 24 of the last 28 major multipurpose arenas in the country.
The consortium beat out a rival group comprised of world-renowned Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry and Crawford Architects, which has offices in Kansas City and Australia. Gehry’s projects have included the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
Voters in August approved increases in hotel room and car rental taxes to help finance the arena, which will be built on six acres northeast of Grand Boulevard and 14th Street. The awarding of the architectural contract is the next big step to making the facility a reality.
The stakes were high, with the two groups vying for design fees totaling millions of dollars. The hard cost of arena construction is expected to be about $195 million, and the specialty consulting contracts such as those for design could total 8 percent to 10 percent of that amount.
The total cost – including land assembly, demolition, site preparation and other items – could reach $250 million.
The architect selection committee’s decision followed several hours of closed-door interviews with the two firms and a brief private discussion.
Sources familiar with the deliberations said the group quickly reached consensus that the Downtown Arena Design Team made the superior presentation. The winning team emphasized its experience in designing sports facilities on a budget and included a highly polished preliminary design scheme featuring a glass-clad structure, high-tech video imagery and a plaza area with a water display.
“They knocked it out of the park,” said Kansas City Sports Commission President Kevin Gray, who was not on the selection committee but followed the process closely. “These are some of the brightest young minds in sports architecture. …We have a chance to create the finest arena in the country.”
Gray suggested that Gehry, meanwhile, appeared to rely solely on his reputation in his pitch to Kansas City. The Gehry team emphasized its credentials but did not present a fully formed concept for the project.
Bill Nelson, a nonvoting member of the selection committee and a longtime proponent of a new downtown arena, said the committee considered the teams’ credentials, experience and “their overall vision of how the arena would fit into the downtown entertainment district and how it would be compatible with the rest of downtown.”
Besides meeting with the selection committee, the two competing groups made strikingly different presentations to the local media.
The Downtown Arena Design Team displayed an elaborate model of a possible design, plus artist’s renderings, and detailed how it had researched Kansas City history to capture the city’s essence in the architectural concept.
Gehry, meanwhile, departed for Los Angeles immediately after the committee interview and was not available for media interviews. His partners on the project said they had chosen not to come up with a design concept for the arena until they knew that they had the contract and had met with the client.
“It’s just not the way we do things,” said Stacey Jones, a partner with Crawford Architects.
The Gehry group had said, however, that it had the qualifications and track record to give Kansas City an iconic architectural masterpiece, on the scale of the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Opera House.
It argued that Kansas City should not pass up the chance to be one of the few cities to have a Gehry building, which could be a huge tourist draw.
After learning of the decision, Jones acknowledged that his team relied mainly on Gehry’s star power and his past work “and the drawing card of one of his buildings in Kansas City. We backed it up with Crawford’s experience in sports work.”
Members of the Downtown Arena Design Team countered that they could be every bit as creative as Gehry, while providing more expertise in the practicalities of arena design. They said their design probably would highlight Kansas City’s river heritage with a water element and its parks and boulevards with a green space element.
The companies that came together on the design team have often competed against one another for projects across the country. Some people had questioned whether they would be able to work well as a team. But they said Thursday that their collaboration over the last few months has been fun.
“There’s no shortage of people who want to work on this project,” said Brad Schrock, lead designer on the downtown team. “We had a great time collecting that energy.”
They also emphasized that their concept is preliminary and could well change after talks with city officials about all the program elements. Among other things, the plan calls for a college basketball hall of fame.
After the committee announced its decision, Schrock said he was mindful of Gehry’s reputation but that his group would work hard to develop a world-class facility.
“I think we’ll create a building that people will be incredibly proud of,” Schrock said.
As one of the biggest investors in the arena, Anschutz Entertainment Group had veto power over the selection and was a nonvoting member on the committee. Tim Romani, whose Romani Group will manage the project for AEG, said AEG was delighted to work with “the finest sports architects in the world.”
“It’s a unique coming together of those firms, and it’s probably only because of Kansas City that it happened, and we’re glad to be a part of it,” he said.
Romani said he was a big fan of Gehry’s work and had no particular concerns that Gehry would have, if selected, gone over budget – which is a frequent accusation of his critics. But now that a team has been selected, he said, AEG will take an active role in the design process.
Mayor Kay Barnes had reached out to Gehry last year, months before the arena project was even on the election ballot, to see if he would be interested in doing the architectural work. But on Thursday, she denied widespread conjecture that she had favored the Gehry team.
“The one thing I said all along is that I would ensure a fair and thoughtful process,” Barnes said. “And that’s what we had all the way through.”
The process was closed, and The Kansas City Star had argued that the presentations of the architectural firms should be open to the press and to the public.
But a judge denied that request on Thursday.
The focus will now turn to completing the contract with the design team and selecting a construction contractor. City Manager Wayne Cauthen said the city hoped to hire the general contractor before Thanksgiving. Officials hope to break ground in April or May and finish the project shortly before Barnes leaves office in April 2007.
An innovator since its founding in 1909, Ellerbe Becket is a leader in architecture, engineering and the construction industry with office locations worldwide.
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