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West Edge Project Demolition on Christmas Eve

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve I snapped up some more deconstruction/demolition progress shots of the West Edge project on the Plaza.

Demolition progress photos on the ill-fated West Edge project by architect Moshe Safdie, who noted he’s had projects fail to make it to the construction phase, but until now never one that got 75% completed and then torn down. The initial developer got into financial trouble and the general contractor walked off the job for not being paid, followed by lawsuits and negotiations back and forth. Eventually it was decided the partially completed structure would be torn down and ultimately replaced with a new building that is yet to come.

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Kauffman Center Exterior & Interior

For the lulz I took a round of snaps Friday afternoon at the Kauffman Center with only my fisheye lens, hoping to promulgate new things both weird and strange. Hopefully I succeeded if even just a little.

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West Edge on Plaza Under Demolition

Fall-ish October shots from just off the Plaza that detail somewhat the West Edge project being deconstructed before it was even finished. Get your pictures now while you still can. Friday 10/28/2011.

This weekend will be busy – there’s a protest/rally for the Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning at Ft. Leavenworth on Saturday and an Occupy KC event Sunday downtown both of which I’m going to try for shots of.

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Kauffman Center Exterior With The Moon

Consecutive posts by coincidence of architect Moshe Safdie’s two buildings in Kansas City – yesterday’s West Edge post and these shots of the Kauffman Center’s northwest side. Last night while working on some photography for subcontractors on the Kauffman Center building I nabbed these shots with the moon while outside. I was able to get up on top of the canopy in Helzberg Hall and will have photos from that posted soon enough.

^ Literary embellishment on above photo – I see a face in the sky looking back at me. As a rule sometimes that’ll happen.

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West Edge Pre-Demolition

Architect Moshe Safdie’s 3/4th’s completed West Edge on the Plaza, being prepped for demolition after it has sat for about three years unfinished. Kansas City MO, Oct 8, 2011.

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Kauffman Center Opening Night Exterior Photos

Ten shots of the new Kauffman Center in Kansas City lit up on its opening night, Friday, September 16, and one shot at the end showing construction progress in November 2009.

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Kauffman Center’s Progress on Brandmeyer Great Hall in Late June

On my brief visit back to the Kauffman Center this past Friday afternoon I nabbed a few new shots of Brandmeyer Great Hall. Progress is noticeable especially from a couple of months back, and it’s now almost complete as the Kauffman Center officially takes possession of the lobby/hall soon.

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Cable and Structure At The Kauffman Center

I went by the Kauffman Center again on Friday the 24th in the afternoon for a little while. One thing I haven’t done before is take out my telephoto lens and point it far across the large Brandmeyer Great Hall lobby area toward the internal cabling and skeletal structuring with glass.

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Hilltop Portrait of the West Edge

Last night at dusk I went up the hill from Ward Parkway to Rockwell Lane and Sunset Drive and used my telephoto lens to get a look at the West Edge project as it’s been for at least a couple of years now – unfinished. I thought I heard something about it again in the news again but I can’t quite remember what.

-May 4, 2011

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Kauffman Center Exterior Close Ups

A couple more shots from my visit to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts construction site on Tuesday –

Above – looking southeast with the fisheye lens giving a view toward the Crossroads and Crown Center.

Below – facing the front of the building with a view inside the grand lobby, Brandmeyer Great Hall.

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Architectural Structure

Kauffman Center Construction in Feb 2011

Something of the Kauffman Center with my telephoto lens focusing on the cables descending from the south end of the building. I tilted to make the building look straight, which makes the traffic light off balance.

Pardon a self-plug, but I’ll also drop mention that a shot of mine from awhile back for AMC Theatres here in Kansas City has been used in an article in the March 4 edition of Entertainment Weekly. (clickable)

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Helzberg Hall Seat Installation

On Tuesday, Mar. 1 I had the chance to go back inside the Kauffman Center on a tour again. At present most of the seats have been installed in Helzberg Hall, pictured in both photos below. The seat installation in the adjacent Muriel Kauffman Theatre is to begin very shortly as well.

Above: Standing where part of the pipe organ will be installed.

View from the upper level at Helzberg Hall.

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Kauffman Center Exterior Up Close

From my visit to the Kauffman Center’s construction site last Friday, here are a couple external up-close shots. From this angle the Grand Lobby is the prominent feature being seen of the new building.

Facing eastward, Canon EF 16-35 L II f/2.8 Lens at f/18, 16mm, ISO 50, Shutter speeds varied.

Facing westward in the afternoon, Canon EF 15 mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens at f/18, 15mm ISO 50, Shutter speeds varied

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Kauffman Center Interior Construction Progress

Last Friday I had the chance again to go on-site and inside the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts for further construction and progress photography. For this post I’m showing the two venues in the building, the Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall.

Muriel Kauffman Theatre Under Construction in January 2011.

In the instance of both photos I stood as far to the top and center of the interiors as I could and used my fisheye lens (Canon EF 15 mm f/2.8 Fisheye) with my 5D Mark II DSLR. I used HDR/Tone mapping in the computer post-processing to even out the differing levels of exposure that were inherent in both scenes.

Helzberg Hall Under Construction in January 2011.

The Kauffman Center is scheduled to open this coming September.

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Kauffman Center In The Snow

Kauffman Center Construction With Snow

It’s winter and that means it’s the worst time of the year in Kansas City. Nevertheless I had to get out and take a photo of the Kauffman Center with the snow. I ended up going back to a familiar spot, at the Convention Center Ballroom sculpture area where I took this photo back in the summer. Truthfully I think the first one taken with my older camera is more interesting, but here I added snow. So, yeah.

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Kauffman Center at Sunset

Sunday night on top of the City Hall garage with the Kauffman Center.

The caption is right. That’s how I live life.

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Kauffman Center Skeletal

From the Grand Lobby in the Kauffman Center under construction, looking south.

One of my shots from the Kauffman Center’s Grand Lobby, seen from the top level outside of the under-construction Muriel Kauffman Theatre. This is the skeletal frame at the south of the building coming together to show a pattern here for me while inside for construction progress photos about three weeks ago.

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Kauffman Center at Sunrise

Kauffman Center Construction at Sunrise

Here we have a look at the Kauffman Center construction site at sunrise on the morning of Wednesday, October 6th. I was mostly hoping for a shot like this, except when I got to the site at Summit Street in the West Side I couldn’t help but think that the billboard and Denny’s restaurant sign between my lens and the Kauffman building seriously messed things up. Whatever… I can’t chop them down.

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Kauffman Center Interior – Pt. 4

The fourth and final installment of pictures from my tour of the interior of the Kauffman Center construction site on September 20th, as a year until the grand opening approached.

In the Muriel Kauffman Theatre

Looking west in the afternoon on the construction site.

Wine and cheese were provided by the Kauffman Foundation and Cellar Rat on Baltimore the for the group touring the Kauffman Center.

In case you missed Parts One through Three from inside the Kauffman Center, CLICK HERE.

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Kauffman Center Interior – Pt. 3

More shots from my visit to the inside of the new Kauffman Center on September 20th.

1) Looking up in the Grand Ballroom

2) The stage of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre

3) Muriel Kauffman Theatre - facing east

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Kauffman Center Interior – Pt. 2

More pics from my tour of the construction site of the new Kauffman Center building.

1) Looking southwest from the Grand Lobby

2) Inside Helzberg Hall, which will house the Kauffman Center's customized pipe organ

3) Looking up at the ceiling of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre

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Kauffman Center Interior – Pt. 1

On Monday Sept. 20 I went on a tour of the Kauffman Center’s interior with a group from Hallmark. Since there were a number of useful photos resulting,  I might stagger this across two or three posts total – so here’s Part One.

Scale Model of the Kauffman Center's Helzberg Hall

In the lobby and looking upward

Looking southeast from the lobby at the skeletal frame

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Kauffman Construction Again


Kauffman Center Construction at Dusk

While over on the lawn of the Convention Center Ballroom on Tuesday night getting telephoto shots of the Crossroads and Crown Center, I put on the wide angle and moved over a bit for yet another shot of the Kauffman Center construction and its cranes. I was on the radio show Up To Date with Steve Kraske on KCUR 89.3 a week ago talking about places to get good shots of the city, and this vantage point came up as one of the good sightseeing locales.

Sept. 7, 2010

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Kauffman Center near the Ballroom

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts construction progress

Tuesday evening was a good night to get out and get some dusk pics. I had been meaning to try this angle for myself for a while after noticing some other photos taken around the south entrance to the Ballroom at the convention center. The weather was cool, with nice cloud cover for a change, and it worked out great with the light at dusk.

I used six manually bracketed camera raw files at differing exposures for HDR tone mapping, at f/16, ISO 200, 16 mm focal length, and varied shutter speeds.

-August 17, 2010

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Kauffman PAC Construction at Dusk

Kauffman Center Construction at Dusk

Here’s an angle on the new Kauffman Center that I hadn’t tried yet, looking in a north-westerly direction toward the construction site via telephoto lens from about 25th and Troost, at one of the bridges above 71 Highway as it ingresses to and egresses from downtown.

I hadn’t made any plans for pics, but sometimes you can spontaneously get the urge to make something new. Photo taken about 9:20 pm, Tuesday evening, 07/06/10

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