Digital Landscaping

Deadline for registration is January 26, 2010.

FRAMING A MODERN MASTERPIECE | The City + The Arch + The River | 2015 is an International Design Competition that honors the spirit of exploration that inspired Thomas Jefferson and Eero Saarinen. Sponsored by a partnership of the National Park Service, the City of St. Louis and other riverfront interests, the Competition presents a lifetime opportunity for architects, landscape architects and designers—and for National Park supporters the world over. The challenge is to take one of our country’s first urban park sites, weave it into the city fabric, explore the role of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial as an active part of the downtown and a contributor to economic growth, celebrate the riverfront and mitigate the divisive “moat” of transportation around the site. This challenge is daunting and complex—
but the opportunity is one that could result in a legacy project for this generation of citizens and leaders.

In September 1947 a national design competition was announced to imagine the possibilities for a national memorial in St. Louis, Missouri to honor Thomas Jefferson and the era of American Westward Expansion. Of all the entries, the Jury chose the most audacious; an enormous, iconic arch made of stainless steel, a modern, abstract colossus leaping suddenly from the west bank of the Mississippi River. This inspiring design by architect Eero Saarinen – his first major solo effort – immediately defined the city and the artist. The memorial plan included an integrated design of site (with Landscape Architect Dan Kiley), public facilities and a below-grade visitor center, plus a “sky ride” to take visitors to an observation deck at the top. When completed, the 630-foot stainless steel masterpiece became an international destination and the definitive icon of the City of St. Louis. Time has been kind to the Arch, which still astonishes with its boldness and beauty.

The grounds immediately surrounding it, designed by the late Dan Kiley, are also widely regarded as a masterpiece. However, the site has become a kind of island – severed and isolated from the rest of the city and from the Mississippi River and points east. At the time of the first competition, various methods of transportation which surround the site were not only prized but also accentuated. A new Interstate Highway System, burgeoning railroads and bustling barge traffic on the river, all signaled prosperity and dynamism for the area and for the nation. Today, those transportation corridors sever the memorial site from the river and the city, making the Arch grounds an “island,” isolating the Memorial from the activity and diversity of the evolving downtown and compromising public access and use of the historic area and separating the waterfront from the city.

This Competition is about connections and weaving an urban park into the city fabric of St. Louis. An integral part of the design challenge is achieving a balance between new ideas and design and the retention of the character-defining features of the Saarinen-Kiley vision for the site, which is a National Historic Landmark.

The winning design will be announced in October 2010, with the resulting work completed by October 28, 2015 – the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Arch.

More info:
http://www.cityarchrivercompetition.org