Wichita Rising
Surrounded by cattle-flecked plains smack in the middle of America, Wichita generally has a reputation as a sleepy, middle-of-nowhere kind of place—even though it’s Kansas’s biggest city (population 382,000).
Its main industry is aircraft manufacturing—Boeing, Learjet, and Cessna all have operations here—while Koch Industries, known for funding right-wing causes, also calls it home. That means there’s money—but money tied to conservative priorities. With the exception of the Finn Lofts, and a Moshe Safdie–designed science museum, “there’s nothing even remotely progressive” about the city’s design scene, says architect Doug Stockman.
The Fisch Haus collective, home to resident artists Patrick Duegaw and Elizabeth Stevenson.
The photography-focused Gallery at Dock 410
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MoMA Rising Currents Exhibition
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Elizabeth, Next time Doug Stockton from El Dorado Architects flies in from Kansas City for one of his quick meetings on a project see if you can get him to stick around a little longer so he can actually have a chance to tour Wichita and serve him some of that humble pie. I know he likes to compare his works to that of Moshe Safdie, but let's be honest he is simply taking the same thing he has done in Kansas City a dozen times and plopping it down in Wichita with no regard to understanding his context.
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