Update: No Gehry in KC

Hi-De-Ho Rene!

About six weeks ago, I posted about the possibility of Frank Gehry designing Kansas City's downtown sports arena. Well, today a commission led by the KC mayor, and stacked with her direct-reports, interviewed the Gehry team and the Kansas City Downtown Arena Design Team, a consortium of KC sports venue architects. By mid-afternoon, after a closed meeting (which was the subject of some controversy), the commission had picked the local guys over Gehry.

It might have been interesting to see what a starchitect might have produced -- perhaps we'll at least get to see what he proposed at some point -- but for now the focus is on the chosen team and its design. It's hard to tell much from what we can see at this point, but it appears a bit space-shippy for my tastes:



OK, so that's the Close Encounters spaceship. But here's the design being shopped -- complete with color-changing lights:



I do like the glass-enclosed concourses that allow great city views. (See more views here.)

Later,
Kari