The real challenge of the site is that it is enormous and completely empty and surrounding it is a dying neighbourhood littered with abandoned lots. Furthermore, the site was previously home to a massive social housing project which had many complex political, social and economic issues to name a few.
(left) Old social housing buildings being torn down. (right) Pruit Igoe site as it sits today.
My idea so far is simple. Artists are the juggernauts of change - they move into derelict inner city neighbourhoods taking advantage of cheap rent and proximity to downtown districts. Over time, the artists find creative ways to bring interest into the area - and other artists follow. Eventually, the area becomes hip and popular with cafes, boutiques and shops opening up. Artists then pack up and leave because it becomes an expensive neighbourhood and continue with their gentrifying ways elsewhere. It's really quite a fantastic thing for a city to have this happen, so it is my hope that this will be the case with St. Louis.
However I cant just expect artists to suddenly appear. My plan is to conceptualize the development of a new college devoted to arts, design, fashion, film, architecture, and all mediums in between. For now we shall call this the Pruitt-Igoe College of Art and Design (PICAD). The development of this institution over time will bring artists from all across the area into the site and its surroundings, essentially kick starting the gentrification process I previously described.
The Design Process
The development of the enormous site will be phased - beginning with the first college buildings, residences, and eventually seeing the college's expansion, the creation of public spaces, and finally mixed used private and public developments. For this project I will be creating a master plan that envisions the area in the distant future of what I imagine it to look like when complete.
The site is broken up into small lots similar to those throughout the area. Buildings will be predominantly low rise town-houses on the quiet streets (Dutch style woonerfs - which I'll explain in detail in a later post), and mid rise mixed use buildings on the more busy streets. The mixed use buildings will see retail on the ground floor, and above that will be either office, subsidized housing, market rate housing, or a mix. The PICAD buildings will follow a similar programming strategy: Classrooms, studios, offices and such on the lower floors, with student housing on the upper floors. There will also be buildings that are entirely student residences, and those that are entirely for classes.
I realised that designing the entire site in detail is a ridiculous amount of work, so I need to downsize. What I'm thinking is designing the southernmost part of the site which has the most interesting features. To the west end is a major public square with a preforming arts theatre at its end. Perpendicular to the square is a linear park that has the PICAD buildings along its edges. The central north-south corridor that cuts through the middle of the site is a market street. I call it that because it will be pedestrian only on certain days when street vendors can bring out their displays to the sidewalk. It will be similar to Kensington Market's pedestrian sundays here in Toronto.
Since this project is in the very early stages, I'll just plop a few work in progress images here. Much more to come later!
However I cant just expect artists to suddenly appear. My plan is to conceptualize the development of a new college devoted to arts, design, fashion, film, architecture, and all mediums in between. For now we shall call this the Pruitt-Igoe College of Art and Design (PICAD). The development of this institution over time will bring artists from all across the area into the site and its surroundings, essentially kick starting the gentrification process I previously described.
The Design Process
The development of the enormous site will be phased - beginning with the first college buildings, residences, and eventually seeing the college's expansion, the creation of public spaces, and finally mixed used private and public developments. For this project I will be creating a master plan that envisions the area in the distant future of what I imagine it to look like when complete.
Site Plan showing the introduction of a street grid, public spaces and buildings
The site is broken up into small lots similar to those throughout the area. Buildings will be predominantly low rise town-houses on the quiet streets (Dutch style woonerfs - which I'll explain in detail in a later post), and mid rise mixed use buildings on the more busy streets. The mixed use buildings will see retail on the ground floor, and above that will be either office, subsidized housing, market rate housing, or a mix. The PICAD buildings will follow a similar programming strategy: Classrooms, studios, offices and such on the lower floors, with student housing on the upper floors. There will also be buildings that are entirely student residences, and those that are entirely for classes.
I realised that designing the entire site in detail is a ridiculous amount of work, so I need to downsize. What I'm thinking is designing the southernmost part of the site which has the most interesting features. To the west end is a major public square with a preforming arts theatre at its end. Perpendicular to the square is a linear park that has the PICAD buildings along its edges. The central north-south corridor that cuts through the middle of the site is a market street. I call it that because it will be pedestrian only on certain days when street vendors can bring out their displays to the sidewalk. It will be similar to Kensington Market's pedestrian sundays here in Toronto.
Since this project is in the very early stages, I'll just plop a few work in progress images here. Much more to come later!
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