Kansas City, MO, USA
BNIM Architects have completed the renovation of the Kirk Family YMCA retaining much of the original character of the 1926 façade and lobby while bringing new energy to the building’s spaces and the surrounding district.
The adaptive reuse of Kansas City’s downtown historic Lyric Theatre into the new Kirk Family YMCA establishes a renewed YMCA presence in the urban core and creates a welcoming and inclusive community resource to meet the needs of downtown residents, non-profit groups, and school programs.
The Kirk Family YMCA has recently been awarded a 2022 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The Kirk Family YMCA welcomes visitors with a range of dynamic spaces and programs including a gym for adult and youth sports programming; functional training areas; group fitness studios; indoor track; basketball court; a four-lane practice lap pool and family aquatics pool; kids’ zone; administrative spaces; and an outdoor futsal field.
The facility also supports the YMCA as a positive community presence, providing community meeting rooms; a demonstration kitchen for healthy cooking classes; space for language classes, training, and outreach; commercial tenant spaces to encourage street-level activation, as well as envisioned medical clinic space to support future health screening, wellness resources, and physical rehabilitation.
Project: Kirk Family YMCA
Architects: BNIM Architects
Design Team: Mark Neibling, Josh Harrold, Ryan McCabe, and Carly Pumphrey
Original Architects: W. W. Taylor and Author B. Heaton (1926)
Client: Greater Kansas City YMCA
Contractor: J. E. Dunn Construction
Photographers: Michael Robinson
