Gleaming glass walls modernize art association’s new facility

Mark Arts

Public Spaces
Wichita, KS

The 40,000-square-foot educational arts center – Mark Arts was a gift to the citizens of Wichita made possible through multimillion-dollar donations from high-profile donors – most notably the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation. Mark Arts is short for the Mary R. Koch Arts Center.

Mark Arts is a vibrant regional arts hub that provides opportunities to appreciate and create art. The prairie-style building, though modern in design, evokes a mid-century aesthetic through cascading walls of glass. If one stands at the center of the building, it’s possible to have a clear diagonal line of sight to the outdoors bringing landscaping into the building through the glass.

The new $19 million building includes:

Nine art studios, most featuring windows that face directly north.
A culinary arts studio, with an industrial-grade kitchen equipped to host cooking classes.
A digital arts studio that includes computers for graphic design, photography and web design classes.
An education commons, featuring study areas and tables for students across disciplines to gather.
A 5,000-square-foot gallery for national exhibitions (the Gladys & Karl T. Wiedemann Gallery), as well as a youth gallery to showcase young artists’ work.
Event space that can be rented out. It features a “great hall” that hosts up to 350 people (and up to 600 when combined with other event space in the building).
A glass wall peering into Mark Arts’ vault, the institution’s first foray into open storage.
outdoor sculpture garden and ample green space for art fairs and special events.

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