Full Review: Weiss-Manfredi Arch Grounds Competition Design

This is the fifth of five full reviews of the Framing a Modern Masterpiece: City + Arch + River design competition submissions. Each review focuses specifically at treatment of Kiener Plaza, the Old Courthouse, I-70/Memorial Drive, the Museum of Westward Expansion, the Old Cathedral, the Arch grounds north and south ends, the riverfront, cross-river connections and the east side as well as overall feasibility and overall excitement. Each of the five final design full narratives can be viewed on nextSTL here. Join the discussion in the nextSTL Forum.
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Weiss-Manfredi

Kiener Plaza
The plan for the plaza is a public green, a grass oval on the Gateway Mall axis with just a few rows of seating built into a small rise at the western end. They propose extending City Garden through the 1/2 block wide setting to the west. A new visitor's center and cafe are ordered up as well.

The symmetry addresses the Old Courthouse well, but also highlights the Gateway One building's intrusion into an otherwise unobstructed view westward. The one thing Weiss-Manfredi does here that is very welcome, is prescribe programming for the space. It's an excellent reminder that whatever is built will succeed or fail largely on programming. Weiss-Manfredi designed the Olympic Sculpture Park on a challenging urban site in Seattle and has pushed that space to succeed with both design and arts programming.