Spring 2022

Homes by Architects Tour

April 23  |  1–4 p.m.

B

rookside. The Plaza. Prairie Village. Lenexa. Explore the Kansas City metro like never before during KC Design Week’s Homes by Architects Tour. See four homes built or renovated by AIA Kansas City architects and learn about their unique details from the people who designed them.

The Litehouse | Designed by Kimball hales, AIA

Dubbed the “Litehouse,” this home was built on a tight budget ($165/sf). It is intended to showcase minimalistic and efficient home features—lite. The home uses materials with personal family significance, including an exterior wood finish to honor the wife’s Swedish heritage and hardwood from Guatemala to highlight the husband’s time spent living in the country. The home also features custom casework, a roof with a dissimilar pitch to take advantage of the optimal angle for solar panels (future installation) and a front yard that also serves as a butterfly garden.

Woods Residence | Designed by Wendlandt & Stallbaumer Architects

Situated on a wooded corner lot, this reverse story-and-a-half home of contemporary design by Wendlandt & Stallbaumer Architects presents privately to the streetscape—with exception of the foyer. Once through the foyer and further into the home, the public spaces feature an open plan of vast window walls with 11-foot ceilings, allowing the interior to capture expansive views of the adjacent rear yards, which are both large and wooded. A bedroom and the primary bedroom with rear portico take advantage of these yard views as well. Notable windows of art glass adorn the front elevation while allowing privacy at the interior from the street.

The lower level, accessed via an open stair within the foyer, provides additional family and entertaining space, as well as two more bedroom suites that daylight to the rear yard. The stair is a stunning design of metal and wood, also acting as a light well to illuminate the lower-level recreation room. The interior color palette of black, brown, tan and white is both contemporary and warm. The exterior of the home is set off in blacks and darker brown tones, with stone accents at all four elevations. The entire home, including the vast window walls, is capped by a low 5/12 pitch roof design that breaks to a 2/12 pitch at the eaves—with those eaves extending out nominally four feet beyond the exterior walls.

Schmitz Residence | Designed by Dake Wells Architecture

Lisa Schmitz, Lisa Schmitz Interior Design principal, and her husband Chuck, a developer and contractor, were finally able to create the home they envisioned 11 years after purchasing it. Help was enlisted from Dan Maginn, FAIA, of Dake Wells Architecture to plan the exterior and conceptualize the kitchen expansion.

Extensive work was done inside and out, and the 22-month project included a complete renovation of the back corner of the house, allowing for a kitchen island and a large eat-in banquette area with a custom-designed, reclaimed walnut table. Full-height, gray-stained ash wood cabinets contain a bar cabinet and lots of storage. The corner window opens up to the patio with a garden view. A large backyard holds a party patio, where Lisa and Chuck often host backyard concerts with their vintage Airstream trailer as a backdrop.

The exterior of their modern Brookside home holds true to its original structure and to the neighborhood style, with the modern windows and dark wood paneling of the addition chosen to complement the Brookside look.

The Journey to Now: Kansas City Museum’s New Golden Age

April 21, 5:30-8 p.m.

What does it take to transform a 112-year-old home into a 21st century museum of Kansas City history and cultural heritage? Come experience the newly restored, renovated and reopened Corinthian Hall. Discover how architects and designers brought back a gem from Kansas City’s past and how they plan to renovate the rest of the property. Light appetizers and beverages will be available with your general admission ticket. VIP ticket holders will have a private experience creating two craft cocktails with Nicolas Mermet from Westport Cafe. For more information and tickets, go to kcdesignweek.org.

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *