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With its arena in ruins, Kansas City faces an immediate financial loss if it cannot rebook scheduled events into other facilities. The earliest projected date that the coliseum can reopen is November. City officials are worried, however, that even after the coliseum is thoroughly checked out and rebuilt, Kansas City residents will be afraid to use it.
The latest in a succession of spectacular failures (including, besides Hartford, the collapse in 1978 of the snow-laden auditorium roof at the C.W. Post Center in Brookville, N.Y.), the Kemper disaster sent worried architects scurrying back to study their latest designs. There is widespread fear that the reputation of the profession is eroding—and with some reason, according to former AIA President Elmer Botsai. His successful San Francisco firm specializes in correcting other architects' errors. Although workmanship and materials are often faulty, he says, "fundamental design failure" is almost always involved. Echoed one worried AIA conventioneer in Kansas City: "It's like the DC-10. There is public misgiving."