Designs for the Riverfront
As a resident of St. Louis, it goes without saying that if you drive downtown, you will see various angles of the Arch along the way. It stands as a tribute to the Louisiana Purchase among other historical events, and is an easily recognizable icon of Missouri at the very least. As a student tour guide at Washington University, I often point out the nearby Arch, which you can see on campus if you’re lucky (and it’s winter). It was all I knew about St. Louis for a long while – that the city was home to the “Gateway to the West.”
In late January, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum opened a new exhibit on Eero Saarinen, the architect who designed the Arch, and invited the public to join in a free symposium held at Washington University’s Steinberg Auditorium. The Symposium was hosted by Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts and sponsored by ASSA ABLOY. I dropped by for one of the last portions of the day-long discussions, arriving in time to hear Patricia Heyda, a visiting assistant professor of architecture at Washington University, speak about the “Riverfront Charrette.” The “Charrette” took place last November, with students gathering from Midwestern schools to re-design the Riverfront property (theoretically) here in St. Louis.
Heyda highlighted different designs these students produced, with some seeking to divert traffic around the Arch to across the Mississippi in order to create a grand promenade connecting the Riverfront area with the nearby downtown buildings. Some designs were more ambitious, calling for museums and new public buildings in the hope of bringing residents into the city. There was a discussion concerning relations with East St. Louis, and how a new design could connect the two cities while making the Arch area even more of a tourist destination.
The designs were ambitious but also thought-provoking, and as I sat in the auditorium, I couldn’t help but be disappointed with the current state of affairs at the Riverfront. I have visited the Arch only once, traveling to the top for a few brief moments. When visitors ask me what they should do in St. Louis during their stay, I always recommend checking it out, but the thought of climbing into the trams again for an ascent makes my stomach queasy. But although aspects of the Arch seem outdated, it is on the tip of visitors’ tongues, and certainly a popular tourist attraction in warmer weather. With this in mind, and understanding how the revitalization of downtown St. Louis is an ongoing debate, it is easy to comprehend likewise how the Riverfront would be a particularly contentious subject. While I would like to see the property reach new levels of popularity, it seems like the process would involve effort and negotiation that makes it – for the present, at least – only a future goal rather than a currently realizable possibility.
The Eero Saarinen exhibit will continue at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum on Washington University’s campus until April 27th. The exhibition focuses on a vast array of Saarinen’s architectural projects, with the Arch comprising only a small portion of the overall presentation. The exhibit is free and open to the public – and certainly worth checking out.
