High-end installations help make a masterpiece of Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

When you’re working on the most acoustically advanced performing arts center in the Midwest, details matter. And not just in the symphony hall.

Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts fulfills the vision of philanthropist Muriel McBrien Kauffman to create a state-of-the-art home for her city’s vibrant arts institutions, the Kansas City Ballet, Kansas City Symphony and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Local contractor JE Dunn was selected for the job — and the magnitude of the project wasn’t lost on anyone involved.

“This was the largest performance center JE Dunn has ever worked on, and a once in a lifetime job for me, I’m sure,” said project manager, Matt Jansen. “It is a world-class facility.

And for that world-class facility, JE Dunn needed world-class partners and suppliers. Enter American Direct, which Dunn hired to supply a variety of high-end installations for the public-facing and back-of-the-house restroom facilities. The job included nearly 1,500 individual toilet accessories, 55 stainless steel partitions in 21 different back of the house restrooms, 151 solid surface partitions for 18 different front of the house restrooms, and 249 metal lockers.

Completed in 2011, the Kauffman Center quickly became a beloved fixture on the downtown skyline, and a treasured jewel among performers and arts patrons alike.

“The center is a pretty fantastic looking building,” said American Direct Project Manager John Kennedy. “American Direct was so proud to have landed this project.”