Phillips 66 – Del Taco: Demolition / Preservation / Adaptation

This post is the product of the What Should Be blog, an effort to proactively imagine a better St. Louis through development proposals and creative re-use. It's part of "what's next"!

Much of the debate about the proposed demolition of the Del Taco building has focused on critical issues of process and sentimentality. Rather than directly address these pressing issues and dialogues here, the following project attempts to expand the conversation about the building and site by exploring what should be.

Here’s the dilemma: preservation of mid-century modern buildings is vital to a city’s narrative. However, while the Saucer may be an architecturally significant landmark, it is also non-urban in what should be a highly urban environment. Its auto-centric orientation doesn’t help with the fragmentation of the Grand Ave. corridor. The neighborhood wants and needs increased density and conventional thinking says this building is in the way. At its most fundamental level, there are three options for the building: demolition, preservation, or adaptation.