STEEL AND GLASS 

APPLICATIONS IN BUILDINGS 
 
CASE STUDY REPORT 
 
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS II 
ART - 205 

​KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE 

PERFORMING ARTS 
 
SUBMITTED BY - 
 
RISHIKA SONI 
2017UAR1308 
B. ARCH., III​rd​ SEMESTER 
 

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING 

MNIT JAIPUR 
 

 
 KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS​ 1 

CONTENTS 

I. Architect, contractor 
II. Dimensions 
III. Location and site information 
IV. Natural features and views 
V. Requirements as per building 
functioning 
VI. Concept of design 
VII. Importance of building  
VIII. Building features 
IX. Buildings’ pictures 
X. Use of steel 
XI. Use of glass 
XII. Structure details 
XIII. Pictures of structural elements 
XIV. Pictures during construction 
XV. Awards and recognition of building 
XVI. References and bibliography 
 KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS​ 2 

ARCHITECT, CONTRACTOR  architect Moshe Safdie and his firm, Cambridge, 

Mass.–based Safdie Architects, the project sits 
confidently on the city's horizon, and its unique 
● Architect - Moshe Safdie, Safdie architects 
architectural form—a ribbed, helmetlike shape—gives 
Somerville, Massachusetts, USA 
Kansas City a notable landmark” 
● Contractor - JE Dunn Construction Co. Atlanta, 
 
Georgia, USA 
● Planning, structural analysis and atrium 
NATURAL FEATURES AND VIEW 
construction - Novum structures LLC   
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA  Artfully lit this exterior space in a seemingly simple, 
  yet technically sophisticated, way. Five different 
luminaires work in concert to illuminate the drive and 
DIMENSIONS  its architectural features 
  In-ground LED marker lights provide the edge for the 
❖ Length - 127 m  building side of the roadway 
❖ Width - 99 m   
❖ Height - 52 m  REQUIREMENTS AS PER BUILDING 
❖ Floor space - 27000 m​2 
❖ Number of nodes - 5008 
FUNCTIONIN​G 
❖ Members - 9685   
❖ Cross sections - 126  Muriel Kauffman Theatre, with 1800 seats - 
❖ Project cost - $413 million  proscenium theatre 
  Helzberg Hall with, 1600 seats - concert hall 
 
LOCATION AND SITE INFORMATION 
 
CONCEPT OF DESIGN 
Location - Kansas City, Missouri, USA   
5 acre site  Project type - Cultural 
“Sits on sedimentary bedrock consisting of  High rise, mixed use corporate campus with 5 storey 
interbedded limestone and shale formations”  steel framed open parking garage 
“The building helps weave together three distinct  lLighting to a focused minimum in order to highlight 
neighborhoods: downtown, the Crossroads Arts  the architectural features 
District, and the Power & Light District. Designed by   
 KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS​ 3 

IMPORTANCE OF DESIGN 
 
“Among world’s finest performing art venues because 
of its superior acoustics, complex geometry and 
momentous space of exquisite design, detailing and 
construction” 
 
BUILDING FEATURES 
 
Began as a sketch on a napkin 

 
 
Muriel Kauffman Theatre 
  18,900-square-foot 
3400 visitors at a time in its two large performance  Stage: 5,000-square-foot stage; width of stage opening 
halls- ​Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall  may be adjusted from 40’-50’ 
Halls linked by grand main lobby enclosed by signature  Stage curtain contains motorized counterweight 
cable - stayed curved glass facade and a glass roof  lineset; center and intermediate splits allow for 
Open staircase and gallery overlook lobby  motorized split travel or guillotine opening
Exterior surfaces include glass, pre-cast concrete and 
bead-blasted stainless steel   
27 cables are anchored by the weight of the pre-cast 
walls​ ​and hold up the glass in the lobby 
196 public restroom stalls in the building 
Houses office space for Kauffman Center staff plus 
rehearsal spaces, warm-up rooms and dressing rooms 
 
MATERIALS 
➔ 40,000 square feet of glass 
➔ 10.8 million pounds of structural steel 
➔ 25,000 cubic yards of concrete 
➔ 1.93 million pounds of plaster 
➔ 27 steel cables, each holding up to 500,000 
pounds of force 
 
Helzberg Hall 
16,800-square-foot 
Stage: 2,700 square feet 
Six 1,000-pound point hoist systems to hang custom 
curved trusses. five skylights allow natural daylight to 
filter into hall 
Oval in shape and the stage extends approximately 
 
one-third of the distance into the Hall 
Inspired by the great opera houses of Europe, 
40 percent of the seats alongside or behind the 
audiences are seated in a vineyard-style, semicircle 
orchestra 
configuration facing the stage 
 
Audience seats that are 22-24 inches in width provide 
maximum comfort. 
 KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS​ 4 

5,000-square-foot stage  This dramatic expanse of glass is further highlighted 

The stage’s flexible proscenium opening allows the  by 27 high-tension steel cables that anchor both the 
width and height of the stage to be adjusted, making it  glass wall and the sloping metal roof above it, and this 
tremendously adaptable and allowing for both intimate  canopy of cables is one of the key elements of the 
and larger-scale productions  entry drive 
   
Brandmeyer Great Hall  BUILDINGS’ PICTURES 
One large glass-enclosed area, called The Brandmeyer   
Great Hall, serves both halls 
A box office, coat check, refreshment bars and a gift 
shop are available 
65-foot-tall by 330-foot-wide glass curtain wall, which 
wraps the front of the building and reveals the interiors 
to passersby 

 
 KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS​ 5 

 
 

 
Steel brace frame designed for high seismic demands 
Entire roof and metal wall-surface cladded in GB-60 
stainless steel 
Steel cable NETS supporting the atrium facade and 
roof, that span above an adjacent roadway; these 
members have one hour fire resistance rating. 
“Fire protection of steel cables or rods under tension is 
challenging. It is sometimes not possible to adhere 
sprayed-on fire protective materials of the thickness 
required to achieve required fire resistance levels to 
  small diameter cables or rods. Materials are available 
  that can be cast into tube shapes and then applied to 
these members, but they add significantly to the 
USE OF STEEL 
diameter of the cable or rod. Instead of cables, slightly 
 
larger hot-rolled steel tension rods (visible in the 
“The two massive steel constructions that house the 
foreground) are providing fire safety at the Kauffman 
theatres (Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall) 
Center for the Performing Arts, under construction in 
hold the upper end of a series of parallel cable trusses. 
Kansas City, Mo., without the need to apply additional 
The low end of the cables is anchored externally in the 
protective material. Both of these methods make the 
second floor slab after crossing pipe columns that 
member look less like steel, which often is contrary to 
define the line of the glazed walls and act as cable 
the design vision. If the cables were replaced by 
stays. In addition, they form the primary roof and 
hot-rolled steel tension rods and the diameter of the 
perimeter frame structure. 
members was increased slightly, they would have 
Lightweight steel purlins, spanning between adjacent 
sufficient inherent fire resistance to achieve the 
roof cable trusses, which support the skylight glass 
code-required fire resistance” 
units are secured with Novum's Edge Clamp Glass 
“In addition, due to the large diameter of the circular 
System. A secondary cable system of vertical and 
hollow sections (about 16 in.), justifying a fire 
inclined cables supports the glass wall units. These 
protection solution using concrete filling to the 
walls are further secured with Novum’s Corner 
regulatory authorities can be a challenge because fire 
Clamped Glass System” 
test data generally incorporates significantly smaller 
Interior metalwork in key areas, such as staircase 
section” 
Stainless steel and substructure wraps entire facade 
“To allow for the V-columns to be exposed, a 
and roof. 
secondary thermal-mechanical analysis was 
50 ton truss at top, which acquired the third largest 
conducted to demonstrate that filling 
crane, 600 ton crane 
the large diameter hollow sections with concrete 
 
would provide an inherent two-hour fire resistance” 
 
 KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS​ 6 

Steel framed- parking structure 

Steel framed open parking garage at levels 3-7. 
Area - 157,000 sq. ft per level 
Columns and primary beams protected using 
aesthetically pleasing thin- film intumescent paint, 
whereas secondary beams could be left unprotected 
 
USE OF GLASS 
 
“The south wall is 50 feet tall by 350 feet long by 4 feet 
wide and will anchor the structural cables from the 
performing arts center's grand lobby, a central 
glass-enclosed lobby that connects the two 
performance spaces and leads sloping green space 
above the garage” 
“Anchor wall that supports the unique atrium glass 
structure has also been completed with the large   
embed plates installed that will eventually secure the  Brandmeyer Great Hall 
structural cables from the building”   
  STRUCTURAL DETAILS 
“A sweeping curtain wall along the southwest facade 
allows abundant natural light to enter a large atrium 
space, the brandmeyer great hall” 

Plan 
   
Southwest facade  Consists of 3 steel-framed structures- two internal 
  structures- concert hall and theater - are enveloped 
“The atrium contains 4,488 m² of insulating, laminated  by a third, shell like structure 
glass that is comprised of 1,147 irregularly shaped   
segments, each weighing between 272 to 363 kg. The  TOP - “Box truss that defines extreme south end of 
primary rectangular glass panels on the roof are 53  steel structure was assembled on ground in six 
mm thick. The wall panels are 45 mm thick.”  elements were lifted into place with single crane” 
Glazed lobby encourages social gathering in the spaces  MIDDLE - “ South side defined by box truss that 
located between the two auditoriums while offering  extends entire length of structure” 
sweeping views of the city. multiple balconies  BOTTOM - “Massive free standing lattice shell forming 
overlooking the atrium connect to the various  north wall composed of 27 vertically curved 
mezzanine levels within the theaters  North/South trusses rising 139 ft above ground. 
Straight members extending to left top of curved truss 
attached to horizontal box truss along south side of 
structure” 
 KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS​ 7 

 
 
When completed, the structure weighed in at 3,989 
tons of steel with 938 tons, or 24% of the total 
structure, being rolled steel 
Rolling was equally split in the hard direction and in 
the easy direction. The top and bottom chords of the 
north wall vertical trusses are typically W14*99s and 
W14*211s rolled the easy way 
 
The structural steel frames for the concert hall and   
theater were designed to be completely independent 
of the surrounding steel and concrete structure. A 
minimum acoustic joint of 2 in. at ground level, 
increasing to more than 6 in. at the top of the 
structure where the wind loads are more significant, 
was required between the inner buildings and the shell 
to control both airborne and structure-borne noise 
from entering the occupied space 
 
PICTURES OF STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS
KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS​ 8 

 
 KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS​ 9 

PICTURES DURING CONSTRUCTION  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

   
❏ www.azahner.com 
❏ www.kauffmancenter.org 
❏ http://tjpa.org 
❏ www.architectmagazine.com 
❏ Static1.squarespace.com 
❏ www.archlighting.com 
❏ www.bdcnetwork.com 
❏ www.designboom.com 
❏ www.archdaily.com 
❏ www.dezeen.com 
❏ www.enr.com 
❏ www.dlubal.com 
 
❏ Arcspace.com 
Detail of center roof during construction 
❏ novumstructures.com 

 
Installation of ZEPPS panels of South roof