Kansas State University - Anderson Hall

Project Strategy

Anderson Hall is the Central Administration building for Kansas State University. It is the most recognizable and photographed building on campus. The building was constructed in 3 phases, the north wing was constructed in 1878 and was initially occupied in 1879 and housed classrooms for English, Mathematics, drawing, and practical agriculture. The Central section and tower were built in 1880 and the south wing in 1883. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

KSU wanted to update the finishes; to make them modern but still have a formality which would remain respectful of the building's history and it's significance to the university.


The final selected flooring layout had two primary design concepts. The first concept was to emphasize the new "art gallery" along the west wall of the main corridor. The continuous asymmetrical purple accent stripe, which is biased to the west wall, is intended to draw visitors and staff attention to that gallery wall as well as create an "informal" set-back distance from which to view the artwork. The second concept was improve or aid in wayfinding within the building. The transition patterns which happen within the main corridor at the three stair lobbies and the elevator doors, are meant to visually highlight those points of vertical access.

The Milliken carpet tile was selected for the high quality of the product as well as it's acoustic properties, but also because it had the best "purple" for K-State's primary color.

Image Flooring was excited and honored to be a part of this renovation project since 4 of our office staff who worked on this project are all K-State Alumni. Our general manager, sales manager, sales executive, and project manager, all graduated from KSU

Unique Installation Challenge Strategy

With the building’s age at over 140 year old, naturally you can expect out-of-level sub floor conditions along with out-of-square walls. Trying to install a straight line of accent carpet down an entire corridor that spans 3 different building sections and make it look seamless and visually pleasing was extremely challenging for our installers. It took a lot of time and patience to make sure the accent stripe was perfect. Height variations between the doorways and the corridors were a concern to the client and they did not want bulky transitions. Our installers ramped the corridor area up to the doorways using Tarkett LS-40E Subfloor Levelers and Ardex Feather Finish FX Patching compound. Milliken’s Cushion backing was chosen also as it helps hide imperfections in the flooring. For the sub floor and stairs, the installers had to work around the woodwork which could not be altered since it was a historical part of the building. The original stair carpet had a raw edge on the open side and stopped short of the stair railing. Our installers had a portable binding machine to bind one side of the new broadloom to show a nice, finished edge that can be seen through the railing. They spent a lot of time at the turn of the stairs to make it look just right. The finished carpet in the space looks level and straight and the average guest walking the space would probably never know what it took to make it look so nice.