The vision of Muriel McBrien Kauffman and later fulfilled by her daughter, Julia, the Kauffman Center is home to two world-class performance halls for the resident organizations of the Kansas City Ballet, the Lyric Opera, the Kansas City Symphony, among other innovative programming. The Kauffman Center is touted as one of the finest performing arts venues in the world because of its superior acoustics, complex geometry, and momentous spaces of exquisite design, detailing, and construction. This facility was designed to produce near-perfect acoustics, promising an exceptional experience for performers and audiences alike.
The project included underfloor diffusers beneath auditorium seats which offered distinct energy efficiency advantages, the quietest possible air distribution, and enhanced thermal comfort due to the low risk of draft sensation. Curved underfloor displacement diffusers are situated where the suspension cables meet the floor and are custom-crafted to exact architectural requirements and blend seamlessly with the space. Price Industries designed 100-plus more feet of specialty curved linear floor grilles that wrap the exterior wall, theaters, and staircase. The use of displacement ventilation significantly increased energy savings within the building when compared to other approaches.
Price Industries was the only manufacturer with the capability to provide customized solutions required to meet the demanding performance requirements of the performing arts facility. The local design team, W.L. Cassell, visited both the Price Technical Center in Atlanta and the North Research Center in Canada to view mock-ups of the space and firsthand testing of the displacement ventilation. These visits supported the selection of the Price/Jorban-Riscoe team.