STEAM Furniture Brings Barstow’s IDEA Space’s Vision to Reality

October 19, 2022

IDEA Space is Kansas City’s center for innovation, design, entrepreneurship and arts.

“When I think about the path we walked through with Freedom to build this space, what really set them apart, was their innovative mind set. Whenever I came to anyone on the team with a crazy idea, no one looked at us crazy they said ‘OK! That sounds fun and we can make that happen’”, vice president of innovation Kellye Crockett said.

This space is designed to serve thousands of students from diverse neighborhoods and varying socioeconomic backgrounds through year-round, hands-on educational experiences. The 32,000 square foot center will be used for science, technology, engineering, arts and math, housing a technology lab, engineering lab, as well as a skilled trades, woodworking and arts lab.

“I love what this building mean so much. I love how I see children and educators using the spaces. I would say getting to see the way people choose to use a space [is my favorite]. A building is just walls until you start to put all the pieces of where the magic of the learning will happen. You find the seats and surfaces and you pick the colors and you begin to see how the children and the teachers will actually have the learning experiences,” Crockett said.

Freedom Interiors helped design and furnish the entire first phase of the project, and provided a 3D rendering of the space. This gave them the ability to see their space and its furniture before ever placing an order, and long before installation was complete.

“I think without Freedom, it just wouldn’t be IDEA Space. They were an integral part in making this vision come into being. I just will never be able to repay all the blood, sweat and tears.  They are just a critical, by my side, partner for everything IDEA Space and Barstow did to bring this vision to reality for the whole Kansas City community,” Crockett said.