Sources: Vladimir Krstic, 816-421-5232, vkrstic@k-state.edu;
Tim de Noble, 785-532-5950, tdenoble@k-state.edu;
and John Gaunt, 785-864-3114, jgaunt@ku.edu
News tip: Lawrence and Manhattan, Kan.; and Kansas City, Mo.
News release prepared by: Emily Vietti, 785-532-1090, evietti@k-state.edu
Thursday, July 26, 2012
College of Architecture, Planning and Design professor is new director of Kansas City design center
MANHATTAN -- Vladimir Krstic, professor of architecture at Kansas State University, is the new director of the Kansas City Design Center.
Located in the heart of downtown Kansas City, Mo., the Kansas City Design Center, or KCDC, is a nationally recognized partnership of civic leaders, professional designers, and the architecture and planning programs at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University.
"I am extremely excited that Vladimir Krstic has accepted the directorship of the Kansas City Design Center," said Tim de Noble, dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design at Kansas State University. "His leadership in the teaching, research and outreach activities of the Kansas City Design Center, as well as his liaison with the design programs at Kansas State University and the University of Kansas, provide a valuable asset and conduit for Kansas City as it plans its continuing and future urban vitality."
Krstic has taught at the Kansas City Design Center since 2009 and was named interim director a year and a half ago. He has been teaching in the College of Architecture, Planning and Design since 1988.
John Gaunt, dean of the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Kansas said, "Krstic is a deeply committed and experienced educator dedicated to exploring urban potentials in Kansas City and to furthering the education of students from the University of Kansas and Kansas State University through this 'urban laboratory' of the Kansas City Design Center."
The Kansas City Design Center supports educational initiatives that help build public awareness of the factors that influence the character of the public realm. The center also works to strengthen the educational experience of future design practitioners by engaging university faculty and students with the issues facing Kansas City's built environment. The educational programs are built around a resident urban design studio, through which faculty and students form partnerships with local client groups to develop design concepts and implementation proposals addressing major architectural, urban design and urban planning issues throughout metropolitan Kansas City.
"I am very enthusiastic about becoming the director of the Kansas City Design Center," Krstic said. "It will allow me to continue to build the program in a more focused and deliberate way. KCDC is an important outreach and service-learning component of both the Kansas State University and KU professional curricula, which gives students a unique, immersive urban design study experience.
"I believe that the KCDC program has already become a well-respected academic institution in the city and the region for its capacity to engage on critical urban design issues and produce constructive contributions to the ongoing professional and civic dialogue on the improvement of the urban environment. I intend to work, in collaboration with the faculty and administrators of both universities, to elevate its academic stature on the national level and develop KCDC into a unique hub for urban design studies," he said.
