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UMKC Selects Architects To Begin Designing Downtown Arts Campus

courtesy of Helix Architecture + Design, Inc./HGA

The University of Missouri-Kansas City has chosen a team of architects to design the first phase of its proposed downtown arts campus.

The winning team is the duo of Kansas City’s Helix Architecture and Design and the Minneapolis-based HGA.

The selection comes after a competition last week where five teams participated in a three-day design session and presented their concepts to the public on Sunday. More than 200 people attended.

“This reflects positively on the enthusiasm the city shares for arts and for this project,” UMKC Chancellor Leo E. Morton said in a statement.

In announcing its selection, UMKC officials said Helix had a “solid reputation” and had been an advocate for UMKC, the Crossroads Arts District and the arts in Kansas City.

Minneapolis-based HGA, they said, had a “strong portfolio” of designing performing arts spaces specifically for higher education.

The University hopes to have a finished concept design by early next year and complete its fundraising for the proposed campus by the end of 2016.

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