Newspapers are typically considered extensions of the community.
Newspaper buildings, by their very nature, are not. In designing
its new facility, the Kansas City (Mo.) Star
challenged us to create a building that would have a civic presence
and be a catalyst for the downtown, the central business district,
and the crossroads area. The Star’s new headquarters
strives to make both the newspaper and the building synonymous with
"community."
New headquarters of the Kansas City
Star, 2005
Design architect:Juan Gabriel
Moreno, AIA
Photo: Hedrich Blessing |
This challenge certainly provided the initial inspiration. In
looking back, however, several factors played prominent roles in
the design. It began eight years ago when I moved to Chicago from
Los Angeles to start a design studio within a design-build firm.
Our first design-build project was a Media/Technology Center for
the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News. It was during this
project that I was first introduced to the work of Albert Kahn, who
designed the News’s original facility. I was
fascinated by the way in which his work celebrated the industrial
process. Kahn’s legacy of enlightened industrial design was
certainly well represented in the News’s
facility.
Kahn’s influence can be seen in our concept for the Ann
Arbor News Media/Technology Center, which represented our
first attempt at creating a transparent industrial facility. Our
goal was to establish a visual connection between interior and
exterior. We achieved this by exposing the compelling scale
and beauty of the presses through a transparent façade.
(Above and right) The Ann Arbor
News, 1936
Architect: Albert Kahn
Photos courtesy of the Ann Arbor News |
(Above and right) The Ann Arbor
News, 2002
Design architect: Juan Gabriel
Moreno, AIA
Photos: David Clifton |
Rochester
(Minn.) Post-Bulletin, 2003
Design architect: Jim Jobes, AIA
Photo: David Clifton |
Whereas the Ann Arbor News was a study in transparency,
our subsequent projects began to explore other ideas. The Rochester
(Minn.) Post-Bulletin (designed by Jim Jobes, AIA) was a
study in simplicity. It was about taking a building apart and
organizing the parts in a clear and concise manner. This project
was a rather straightforward warehouse addition. Our approach was
to take the elements such as circulation, storage, and mechanical
systems and to organize them in such a way that the building could
be clearly understood inside and out.
Just before beginning the design for the Kansas City
Star, we were hired to design the Palm Beach
Post’s new facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. This project
represented a size that would rival that of the Kansas City
Star, but it was also where we confronted the differences
between the scale of the presses and the users. Our approach was to
blend these two dramatically contrasting scales— human scale
and machine scale—into one cohesive facility.
The Palm Beach Post, 2004
Design architect: Juan Gabriel Moreno,
AIA
Rendering: Nataniel Park, Paul Kwon |
As we commenced design on the Kansas City Star, we
recognized that this project would have to break the stereotype
associated with industrial buildings and the design-build process.
The design of any new building in a downtown, urban area piques
public interest and commentary. The fact that this new "industrial
design-build" building would reside in the heart of downtown
indicated that public opinion would be magnified. Our strategy was
to create a building that is bold enough to say it is
about industry and design. Conventional barriers of solid walls
have been stripped away and replaced with glass. Manufacturing
components are strategically located to highlight the areas of
greatest activity and diminish the mundane.
The Kansas City Star building and
downtown surroundings, 1911
Design architect: Jarvis
Hunt
Photo courtesy of the Kansas City Star |
The premise for this project was about bringing a
state-of-the-art color printing process to the newspaper. We were
intrigued with the idea that the concept of color could permeate
the design. The palette of color in neighboring downtown buildings
is restricted to natural tones. Brick, limestone, and the
occasional accent color pervade. The Star’s design
represents the antithesis. The result is a vibrant exterior that
reinforces the printing process within. Additionally, the concept
of sustainability lies at the core of our ideas. The architectural,
engineering, and construction components were approached with the
goal of creating a "green" building. Although the owner chose not
to pursue LEED®
certification, it would have qualified for a Silver rating.
The new design also refers to the Star’s past for
inspiration. The Star’s previous headquarters,
designed by architect Jarvis Hunt (circa 1910), incorporates
several interesting design ideas into the Italianate-style
building. Some of these ideas have been referenced in the new
building. For example, Hunt creatively reduced the scale of what
was considered a large building at its time by breaking the
building into smaller parts. He located the office component to the
west, the production facility to the east, and separated them by a
definitive vertical element, the water tower. Though we never
intended to design the new building in Italianate style,
Hunt’s manipulation of scale and organization of the
building’s program elements both served as inspiration, albeit
with a contemporary vocabulary.
(Above and right) The design of the new
Kansas City Star building represents the antithesis of the
palette of color in neighboring downtown buildings.
Design architect: Juan Gabriel
Moreno, AIA
Rendering: Paul Kwon |
 |
All of these factors played a role in the design of the Kansas
City Star’s new headquarters. However, credit must be
given to former Star owner Tony Ridder and former
publisher Art Brisbane for their commitment to keeping the project
downtown because the prominent downtown location certainly provided
inspiration. (The McClatchy Co. acquired the Star when it
bought the Knight-Ridder newspaper group in 2006.) The
topography of downtown Kansas City provided a dynamic opportunity
to integrate land and building. The site experiences a vertical
drop of more than 30 feet from northern property line to the south.
A grade transition of this magnitude poses a challenge to any
project, particularly a manufacturing facility that relies on a
contiguous plan to optimize production efficiency. In the
Star’s case, the horizontal plane created by a
contiguous floor plan encounters a diagonal plane created by the
topography. The concept of a dialogue between horizontal and
vertical became a common theme throughout.
As with many buildings, the story behind the design can be equally
as fascinating as the finished product. This project is a study in
teamwork and an unwavering belief that a "newspaper" building could
make a difference. There are those who attribute downtown Kansas
City’s current renaissance in some small part to the
Kansas City Star’s new headquarters. If this is the
case, we certainly exceeded our client’s original
challenge.
Juan Gabriel Moreno, AIA, is director of design for
Ghafari Associates Design Studio in Chicago. A native of
Bogotá, Colombia, Moreno received his bachelor's degree in
architecture from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
He also studied architecture in Florence, Italy, and has worked on
projects in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and North America.
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