Bartle Hall Convention Center
Encyclopedia
Downtown Kansas City
Downtown Kansas City is the central business district of Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. It is located between the Missouri River in the north, to 31st Street in the south; and from the Kansas–Missouri state line east to Troost Avenue as defined by officials of the...
Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is named for Harold Roe Bartle
Harold Roe Bartle
Harold Roe Bennett Sturdevant Bartle was a businessman, philanthropist, Boy Scout executive, and professional public speaker who served two terms as mayor of Kansas City, Missouri...
, a prominent, two-term mayor of Kansas City in the 1950s and early 1960s. Bartle Hall's four tall art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
inspired pylons
Bartle Hall Pylons
The Bartle Hall Pylons are four, approximately 335-foot, concrete and steel columunar structures that support steel cables that suspend Bartle Hall Convention Center above Truman Road and Interstate highway I-670 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA...
are a striking fixture in the Kansas City skyline
Skyline
A skyline is the overall or partial view of a city's tall buildings and structures consisting of many skyscrapers in front of the sky in the background. It can also be described as the artificial horizon that a city's overall structure creates. Skylines serve as a kind of fingerprint of a city, as...
.
Background
Bartle Hall Convention Center is Kansas City's largest complex of multifaceted structures dedicated to meetings and conventions, sports and entertainment. It offers 388800 square feet (36,120.7 m²) of column-free exhibit space on one floor, 211000 square feet (19,602.5 m²) of tenant finishes, a 200000 square feet (18,580.6 m²) conference center, another 55000 square feet (5,109.7 m²) of additional space on two levels, 45 meeting rooms, a 2,400-seat fine arts theater, and an arena that can seat over 10,700 people, along with a 46450 square feet (4,315.3 m²) ballroom that was scheduled for an April 2007 opening, all connected to major downtown hotels and underground parking by glass-enclosed skywalks and below-ground walkways. A unique Convention Center feature is the expansive Barney Allis Plaza, a public square ideal for outdoor receptions, festivals and concerts.The interior finishes in the public access areas consist of granite flooring and stairs adjacent to Precast Concrete panels at the Main Entry with Carpet Tile in the Ballroom and Pre-functions. The Ballroom and Pre-function areas feature Metal Panels, wood panels, wood veneer and painted gyp wall surfaces as well as Fabric Wall Panels and Sculptured Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum (GFRG) Panels on the interior walls. The Sculptured GFRG Panels create a simulated wave pattern which ties into the water theme of the facility drawing from Kansas City’s origin at the nexus of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. The Grand Ballroom ceilings are finished out in Metal Panel’s bordered at the perimeter walls with Stretched Fabric. The Stretch Fabric ceilings are backlit by a sophisticated LED lighting system that can be programmed to rain the GRGF wall panels in color. The ceiling space also features concentric light fixtures ranging in size for 3’ to 50’ in diameter.
The nonpublic service areas for the project features over 3000 square feet (278.7 m²) of Pantry/Kitchen space with 784 square feet (73 m²) of walk-in cooler and freezer space. Additionally there are 2 separate Beverage/Ice Service Rooms for catering personnel to service Ballroom functions. These service areas are sealed concrete and resinous flooring in the Kitchen areas with FRP and MDF veneer wall panels. The service area is accessed by 2 separate covered loading docks that can be accessed from the highway.
The exterior of the facility is highlighted by a 30‘ high metal panel canopy over pavestone walkway at the main entry. This canopy also extends the full length of the East Elevation and is supported by Steel Columns and Fixed Blade Steel Sunshades. The Southern Elevation of the building again features a high canopy with Fixed Blade Sunshades and opens onto a Decorative Concrete Plaza designed by Jun Kaneko, a renowned Japanese ceramic artist. This Plaza is complemented by Architectural Precast Concrete retaining walls, concrete stairs and walkways along with decorative concrete monument light pole bases. The remainder of the site is Greenscape consisting of Sodded open area with some 50,000 Kewensis, Sedum and Vinca Minor plants along with (34) 4” caliper Japanese Pagota and Honey Locust trees.
Construction
The expansion of Bartle Hall was a significant technical challenge. Construction of the additional convention space was built over a continuously open six-lane freeway, (Interstate 670Interstate 670 (Kansas-Missouri)
Interstate 670 is a 2.81 mile connector highway between I-70 in Kansas City, Kansas and I-70 in Kansas City, Missouri. The highway provides a more direct route through downtown Kansas City than the older mainline I-70, and avoids the sharp turn of the latter at the west end of the Intercity...
), which runs underneath the convention center. Construction required the installation of four, 300 feet (91.4 m) pylons to support the facility’s roof. The result was the creation of the largest, column-free convention environment in the world. The building also was designed and constructed to meet green building standards and achieved a LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
Silver rating, the first City of Kansas City, Missouri project to receive Silver LEED certification.
The general contractor for the project was Walton Construction. The site team included 2 LEED Accredited Professionals documenting and tracking materials, construction methods, recycling and waste management. Architects were HNTB Architects, BNIM
BNIM
BNIM is an architecture and design firm founded in 1970 in Kansas City, Missouri. With offices in Kansas City, Houston, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Los Angeles, California, and San Diego, California, the firm has nearly 100 design professionals and support staff.BNIM has completed many significant...
; engineers were Henderson Engineers; and multimedia, acoustics, and IT were by Shen Milsom & Wilke, Chicago.
The total project cost was US$91.7 million, and it was completed on-schedule in July 1994.