Gateway Arch « World Landscape Architecture – landscape architecture webzine

St.Louis Gateway Arch upgrade to cost $578 million

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates(MVVA) recently presented the update plans for the Gateway Arch upgrade and a new estimate of $578.5 million was announced almost double the 2009 estimate (Parks Estimate before the Design Competition). The design has been updated since MVVA won the competition in September and has added key features such as the aerial gondola and a ‘lid’ on the I-70 interstate road.

MVVA wins Gateway Arch Competition

MVVA TEAM Site Plan

The multi-disciplinary team lead by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates have been selected over the other 4 teams to proceed to the planning stage of the competition. The jury chose the MVVA Team over four others competing to enliven the area around the Gateway Arch and connect it to downtown St. Louis, the Mississippi River and the Illinois bank. Based in New York, MVVA’s portfolio includes the redesign of Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House, the design of Brooklyn Bridge Park and many other prominent projects.

The MVVA Team’s design concept narrative describes their vision for the redesigned park as a “centerpiece of civic culture, an engine of regional economic growth, a showcase for sustainable ecological restoration and a celebration of the national significance of this historic place.”

MVVA TEAM – Historic Landscape Pond

The sponsoring group, the MVVA Team and others will host intensive reviews and workshops this fall to analyze the design concept and conduct a more detailed design exploration. At a minimum, the study will focus on the review of the technical advisory group, the impact on related downtown park properties and the Illinois side of the river, traffic and transportation and federal compliance issues.

For the next stage the MVVA tean will work over a 90-day period, in partnership with the sponsors, the City of St. Louis, the National Park Service and others to further define program requirements; begin developing a design that takes into account the feasibility and practicality of proposed solutions; create a construction budget and fundraising plan; and define the delivery expectations from now until 2015. The sponsors also will study issues relating to cost and construction, traffic, financial resources and federal compliance.

The project will be constructed by Oct. 28, 2015, the 50^th anniversary of the completion of the Arch.

For those of you in St.Louis the leaders of the MVVA team will be introduced, along with details on the next stages of the process, at 10:00 a.m., Friday, Sept. 24, 2010, at the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis.

SOURCE: The City+The Arch+The River 2015 International Design Competition

For Full MVVA team list

Continue reading MVVA wins Gateway Arch Competition

Finalists reveal designs for Gateway Arch Competition

The finalists recently submitted designs for the St.Louis Gateway Arch Competition (The City+The Arch+The River 2015 Competition) . The video below gives a brief summary of the finalists submissions (SOURCE: Stltoday.com). We will update with a more in depth look at the designs soon. The winner will be announced after public comment on September 24.

Finalist teams include
Behnisch Team
MVVA TEAM
PWP Landscape Architecture,
Foster + Partners, Civitas
SOM, Hargreaves, BIG
Weiss/Manfredi Team

(SOURCE: Stltoday.com)

St.Louis Gateway Arch Competition teams meet with local advisory team

Recently the five finalists for the St.Louis CityRiverArch 2015 design competition met with the 24 members of the local advisory team to ask questions and seek clarification. The advisory team includes officials from the city street department, the Missouri and Illinois transportation agencies, the Coast Guard, the Metro East Park and Recreation District and the St. Louis Archdiocese, owners of the Old Cathedral on the Arch grounds. The advisory team will also work with National Park Service and the winning team in implementing the design.

Finalists include

• Behnisch Team led by Behnisch Architekten – Stuttgart, Germany, Los Angeles

• MVVA Team led by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates – New York City

• PWP Landscape Architecture, Foster + Partners, Civitas – Berkeley, Calif.

• SOM, Hargreaves, BIG – Chicago

• Weiss/Manfredi, Architecture/Site Design/Urbanism – New York

SOURCE: Stltoday.com

Cream rises to the top for The City + The Arch + The River International Competition

The international design competition for the reinvigoration of the area surrounding the world renowned landmark the Gateway Arch has move on to the third and final design phase with Five Teams selected. When you look at the first list of nine teams announced back in February 2010 for the second stage it was the Who’s who of design but now that list is down to five teams; its the cream of the crop and the winner of the next stage will be a hard decision for all those involved and I guess we all have to wait until late September to find out the winner.

PRESS RELEASE

The leaders of the design teams entering the third and final stage of the competition are:

· Behnisch Team led by Behnisch Architekten – Stuttgart, Germany, Los Angeles
· MVVA Team led by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates – New York City
· PWP Landscape Architecture, Foster + Partners, Civitas – Berkeley, Calif.
· SOM, Hargreaves, BIG – Chicago
· Weiss/Manfredi, Architecture/Site Design/Urbanism – New York

“The goal of the first two steps of the process was to identify design teams with the talent, capacity and commitment to create thoughtful design solutions addressing the complex issues of the site and its relationship to the city, the river and the Illinois side. With this selection, that goal has been accomplished,” said Competition Manager Donald J. Stastny, of StastnyBrun Architects. “The selected teams represent local, national and international perspective, and we look forward to working with them over the next few months as their visions evolve and they create their designs.”

“Having this level of architectural, engineering and landscape design power focused on such a visible urban park is exciting,” said Tom Bradley, superintendent of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. “We are committed to incorporating our parks into the life of their surrounding communities. I look forward to seeing the designs in August.”

The five teams will begin now and work through the spring and summer on design concepts, which will be put on public exhibition on Aug. 17, 2010. Details will be provided closer to that date.

The eight member jury – which counts a Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic, a professor in the humanities, a former deputy director of the National Park Service, a real estate economist, a museum curator, renowned architects and renowned landscape architects among its members – presented its decision to competition managers after meeting with the nine teams that competed in Stage II of the competition.

The final jury pick will be announced Sept. 24, 2010. The project will be constructed by Oct. 28, 2015, the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Arch.

The public is invited to meet the design teams on April 28 at the Roberts Orpheum Theater downtown. Joe Buck will moderate a discussion about how their past work will influence their efforts to win this competition.

The “Meet the Design Teams” event will begin at 7 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Preregistration is helpful and available through the competition Web site,www.cityarchrivercompetition.org.

St. Louis native Joe Buck is the top play-by-play man for Major League Baseball and the National Football League on FOX Sports.

“I am looking forward to moderating a forum that promises to be informational, educational and exciting for the future of our community,” Buck said.

Buck will be joined in hosting “Meet the Design Teams” by Stastny, the competition manager.

The Roberts Orpheum Theater is located at 416 North 9th Street in downtown St. Louis. Public parking is available across the street.

Also while in St. Louis, the teams will explore the competition area, be briefed on project issues and the values of the national park, and get to know the region and its people.

To help the teams understand, from a personal standpoint, what the Arch stands for and the values it represents to our region and our nation’s history, members of the public are invited to share their thoughts, stories, photos and video. Competition organizers will post selections to the Web site and include them in a presentation to the competitors. This will help the teams in their effort to meet the design goals. Submissions can be posted to the Community Connections page of the Web site or to the City Arch River facebook and Twitter accounts.

Continuing education credits, HSW, will be awarded by the American Institute of Architects St. Louis for the April 28 event.