nextSTL | What Should Be

What Should Be

Will the St. Louis Community Buy Conceptual Architecture?

Published on Tuesday, 19 February 2013 10:03

Written by SPACE

{note: All images are copyrighted by SPACE Architecture and Design.}

Background to provide context for the question raised above, and to describe the images shown here:

A few months ago, we were approached by a client who had seen and experienced some of our work, and liked the thoughts behind our designs. We were asked to put together a design team, and in the matter of only a few weeks, designed and priced the largest project that has come through our office. Our design solution, only partially presented here, aimed to create a work of Modern Architecture that would immediately become recognizable to the region. The bold colors, simple forms, and articulated circulation path would play off the sloping, highly visible site, serving to create a landmark in a suburban location usually devoid of originality or meaning.

What Should Be: Pruitt-Igoe as a Walkable, Mixed-Use Neighborhood

Published on Wednesday, 02 January 2013 10:55

Written by Samuel Lima

Pruitt-Igoe can be a catalyst for redeveloping the near north side of St. Louis in a sensitive manner. Inspired by the beautiful brick neighborhoods that survive in various parts of the city, the design provides a home for people of various incomes, ages, and family sizes.

This project originated from a desire to explore affordable mixed-income development, mixed-use urban inﬁll, and the relationship between regional vernacular and classical architecture. Purpose-built affordable housing is a sensitive issue, with a history of many unsuccessful developments. This project, therefore, does not attempt to propose overarching solutions to the issues surrounding the housing of the poor, but instead suggests locally speciﬁc strategies for development. A design which sensitively gleans lessons from a place will usually be superior to one that imposes its will on its site. With that in mind, the design of this project grows out of an extensive study of the patterns engrained in some of the most diverse and enduring neighborhoods in St. Louis. The project attempts to demonstrate the merits of developing the former Pruitt-Igoe site as a walkable, connected, mixed-use, and mixed-income neighborhood center, composed of traditional St. Louis urban patterns and building types.

What Should Be: River Aquarium and BRT Station at Forest Park Hospital Site

Published on Monday, 10 September 2012 22:31

Written by John Wimmer

{As seen from just above the BRT stop, the remnant arched entry stair from the hospital is retained to create a two-level main entry to the Aquarium [click to enlarge.}

With the procurement of the acreage south of the St. Louis Zoo across I-64 where the Forest Park Hospital currently sits, the zoo now has an excellent opportunity to expand its bounds beyond the longtime limits of its present footprint in Forest Park. The opportunity to create a south campus with a new featured attraction and much additional parking to relieve congestion is certainly good news for the city of St. Louis and its metropolitan surrounds. Located at the northeast corner of the Clayton-Tamm neighborhood in Dog Town, the potential to make a strong connection to the popular bar and restaurant area at the intersection of Clayton and Tamm Avenues, and make great improvements to the busy intersection of Hampton and Oakland Avenues has piqued the interest of citizens.

{Seen in an aerial view from the northeast, the entirety of the proposed redevelopment area is assigned a reuse or surrounding fabric is repaired.}

What Should Be: Time to Light Up the Park Pacific Garage and Tucker Boulevard

Published on Thursday, 12 July 2012 07:07

Written by Alex Ihnen

Built in 1928, the Park Pacific is a beautiful building. The proposed parking structure and residential addition was at one time beautiful as well. Of course something is nearly always lost from rendering to final project. In this case, the cancelled residential component left just another bland garage. And that's basically as promised, minus some signage and screens. With the news that KMOX, Y98 and KEZK are moving to the Park Pacific, it's time to light up the garage and Tucker.

Unfortunately, Studio B will occupy the southwest corner of the building, a couple floors above ground level - no peering into the studio while walking by. That doesn't mean that the move can't enliven the realigned and revitalizing Tucker Boulevard corridor. An LED scrolling marquee should wrap the southeast corner of the parking garage. This would highlight CBS stations, offering headlines, concert dates, weather and more. It would also visibly enliven the streetscape.

{the completed Park Pacific garage and retail space facing Tucker and Pine}

What Should Be: Public Visioning of the St. Louis Zoo's Forest Park Hospital Site #2

Published on Friday, 29 June 2012 17:04

Written by Alex Ihnen

The following image is the second in a series of a community visioning effort by What Should Be and nextSTL. Click the image below to view in more detail (vision by Bryan Zundel):

Some added context: St. Louis Zoo to Buy 13.5 Acre Forest Park Hospital Site

{click image to enlarge}