Kirkwood Circle

Kansas City, MO

Mason Contractor: JE Dunn Construction Company
Architect: Nagle Hartray Danker Kagan McKay

Project Description

Kirkwood Circle is a 13-story luxury condominium with 64 residence units and a 154 car-parking garage. The building also contains a swimming pool, individual residence terraces a full time concierge, fitness room, party room, conferencing facilities and a number of other amenities. Concrete foundation walls make up the garage and a concrete frame and shear walls make up the remaining structure. The skin on Kirkwood Circle is made up of brick, cast stone windowsills and cast stone wall panels.

The building itself is the focal point of a luxury community located near the popular Kansas City, Country Club Plaza. A group of town homes, a smaller 5-story condominium and various site and streetscape improvements made up the first phase of the Kirkwood community. The Circle was one of the first buildings constructed and forged the way on many aesthetic decisions that effected the remaining community. The floor plan included circular bump outs in each residence along with balconies that give the building its recognizable shape. In all 430,925 modular brick and 3,535 cast stone pieces make up Kirkwood Circle's impressive exterior.

Due to the nature of the buildings and the fact that some of the units would sell for over two million dollars a piece, it was imperative that as many details as possible be worked out prior to proceeding on the actual building. To accomplish this, a full size mockup with representation of a beam side, an operating window and complete brick and cast stone was constructed. This mockup allowed for much of the scheduling and coordination of details to be worked out prior to starting on the real thing. The ultimate result was an exterior wall cavity that included metal studs, sheathing, 2 1/2" thick board insulation with 3/8" drainage material bonded to the insulation and modular brick. The flashing system is found at grade, above and below openings and at relief angles. The flashing consists of Perm-A-Barrier flashing a stainless steel drip edge and cotton sash weeps.

The buildings brick veneer began in April of 2004 and was completed nine months later. The final cost for the masonry scope of work was just over 2.31 million dollars and included not only the brick veneer and cast stone, but also miscellaneous interior block.

With several construction sites and various contractors all working at one time, the Kirkwood Construction site made for tight spacing and sometime touchy nerves during construction. The need for constant communication and coordination was imperative. Kirkwood Circle is one of the premier places to live in the Kansas City area due in no small part to the beautiful façade created with the use of masonry.