University of Kansas students and a local design firm created two free, self-guided architectural tours of Lawrence, delving into the city’s history and the imprint that students have left on its visual landscape.
Visitors and residents alike can now take the tours digitally or by picking up print brochures at the Watkins Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St., or eXplore Lawrence’s offices in the Carnegie Building, 200 W. Ninth St.
One tour is focused on the foundations of Lawrence architecture, and the other on KU student design builds.
Miguel A. Castro, now heading into his fourth year of the five-year Master of Architecture program at KU, took point on researching the featured buildings, taking photos, designing the tour brochures and getting them printed and distributed.
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Originally from Medellín, the capital of the Antioquia department of Colombia, he was surprised by the volume of architectural variance packed into a relatively small town.
Castro said they don’t cover Lawrence when they study architectural history in school, so he came to appreciate neighborhoods like west Lawrence through the project.
Castro especially likes the story behind Liberty Hall.
“Even the name has significance because it hosted the first abolitionist newsprint here in Lawrence,” he said.
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It then burned down in Quantrill’s Raid. By the 1970s and 1980s, Castro said, it was a disco club.
“Then it evolved to what we know today and it’s such a Lawrence staple,” he said.
Tyler Lindquist, the vice president and office administrator of architecture group Multistudio, was involved in World Cup planning committees and Design Alliance of Lawrence where the idea for the brochures began to circulate: Why not show visitors Lawrence’s character through the shape of its buildings?
Multistudio intern Sarah Montes was intrigued by the prospect and once she and Lindquist got the green flag, they applied for and landed a Douglas County Community Foundation grant for the project. They wanted to bring on a team of KU students, like Castro, and pay them a stipend while also covering printing costs.
Montes, originally from Olathe, was in her fifth year of the Master of Architecture program when the project started. Now, she’s a full-time associate designer with Multistudio.
“There’s a lot of different types of architecture in Lawrence. Of course, you can kind of see different architectural eras, from the brutalist to modern,” she said. “… But there’s just these little bits and pieces of history spread throughout Lawrence.”
She’s drawn to public infrastructure: libraries, city halls and other communal spaces. Before coming to Lawrence, she had long admired the work of Gould Evans, who designed the Lawrence Public Library.
At the time, she didn’t know Gould Evans had rebranded to Multistudio.
“Imagine my surprise when I find out later the place I worked at designed the Lawrence Public Library,” she said.
Now, the library is on one of the tours.
Lindquist looks forward to folks realizing that Lawrence neighborhoods are dotted with student work, especially visitors who “likely would not recognize that those were built by KU students.”
Studio 804 is a nonprofit program that offers fifth-year architecture students at KU the opportunity to build a house. The students start from scratch, creating construction documents in the fall semester. In the spring, they build the house. All Studio 804 projects aim for LEED Platinum certification, which is the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest sustainability rating.
“It requires a lot of long hours and dedication, but they pull through,” Montes said. “Usually in May is when they display it for the community to see, and then it’s sold off so that they have the money to do the next year’s project.”
1144 E. 12th St. is the most recent Studio 804 creation. The roof extends over the porch because students wanted it to be at least partially shaded all year. That’s tricky to do without screening it in, Montes said. The windows also have small dots or frits, which help keep things cool.
One of the architectural tours features 1144 E. 12th St. and other student Designbuild structures built between 1999 and 2026.
The project started as a World Cup ambition and launched into the world with just one week to spare, but it aims to have lasting value to those who continue to visit Lawrence and live here.
“Projects like this help people experience Lawrence one story at a time,” said Kimberlee Anspach, executive director of eXplore Lawrence. “Our architecture tells the story of who we are, and these tours invite visitors and residents alike to slow down, explore, and connect with the people, buildings, and history that have shaped our community.”
Steve Nowak, the executive director of the Watkins Museum, aided students as they researched the buildings and eXplore Lawrence provided templates for the brochures, while creating a landing page.
“So often we look at historic buildings as historic sites — places important because of what happened there — these tours encourage people to explore the structures themselves and gain new insights that expand understanding of our history and help us more fully appreciate what remains from the past,” Nowak said.
Other students who worked on the tours include Dario Arizpe Gomez, Ella D. Dreiling, Maelee Folks, Helena Galeano, Princess-Makini Kheop, Adrian Mruckovski, Nick Moran, Cristhian Reyes Molina and Luke Scalise.
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Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at [email protected].
Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.
Nathan Kramer (he/him), a multimedia student journalist for The Lawrence Times since August 2024, is a recent graduate of Free State High School. He also served as a news photo editor for Free State’s student publication, where he worked as a videographer, photographer and motion designer. See more of his work for the Times here.
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