st.louis « World Landscape Architecture – landscape architecture webzine

Old Post Office Plaza: St. Louis, Missouri

Baird Sampson Neuert Architects design for Old Post Office Plaza in St. Louis Missouri serves as an urban catalyst for revitalization while forming an iconic event space for downtown St. Louis. Inspired by a large public sculpture, “the Torso of Icaro” by noted sculptor Igor Mitoraj and donated for installation in the project, the design creates a three dimensional armature of spaces and program that spiral upward and around the work to explore the deeper structure of ideas that the myth of Daedelus and Ikarus evokes. Not only was Daedalus the key protagonist of one of the great narratives of flight and fall, he was associated with early manifestations of public space and public art in ancient Greece, as an archetypal architect and sculptor.

Architectonic and landscape elements are used strategically to re-contextualize urban edges and dramatically transform the micro geography of the flat site created by urban clearing. At its centre, a new civic square serves as a venue for events and “cours d’honneur” to the historic Post Office. The raised “theatre plateau on the west side creates an urban edge and vista northward to the handsome Italianate entry pavilion to the historic American Theatre, with the Screen/Cloud wall masks the side wall never intended to be viewed.

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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

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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

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