The Gateway Arch- a new paradigm

The St Louis Gateway Arch- a new paradigm


Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan. Eero Saarinen


When the Gateway Arch was first finished, I was 7 years old and I can remember the St Louis Riverfront as a fun and fascinating place. Everyone was excited of course about the enormous stainless steel monument that now defined our skyline, but I also remember the fun things that were down by the river as well. First and foremost was the Admiral, the touring riverboat that now sits forever docked as the President Casino. I remember museums, restaurants, the ill-fated Santa Maria and the river itself.

By the time I became a parent myself, the riverfront was one of the last places that I would consider taking my kids. Sure the Arch is still there, but a lot of people take it for granted. And the riverfront itself has fallen on hard times.

The Admiral made its last cruise, the Santa Maria sunk, the McDonald's riverboat restaurant went out of business, the USS Inaugural was a casualty of the flood of 1993, and nothing came in to replace any of them. The riverfront has become as forgotten as it was back in 1936, when all of the planning to create the Arch in the first place began. For the last 20 years we've been talking about what to do about it.

Back in the 90's there was talk about an aquarium at the riverfront, but nothing ever came of it. In 2005 came a proposal to build floating islands, a swimming pool and an ice skating rink, but it was found to be unfeasible. And now in 2010 come the new design contest from the National Park Service that could possibly do the Arch grounds and the city around them justice.

While other cities like Chicago, Boston and Memphis have made great use of their waterfront property, St Louis still seems at a loss as to what to do with its prime real estate. Part of the problem has to do, I think, with the fractured nature of the St Louis community (city/county, Missouri/Illinois, St Charles/everybody else). But part of it, I think has to do with the paradigm, or way of seeing, the arch itself.

Just what does the Arch symbolize to you? A cool national monument? A celebration of manifest destiny and the 19th century? A hamburger chain? An architectural masterpiece? The arch may symbolize something entirely different to an American Indian, a tourist, or an architect trying to design an attraction to complement it.

The most common association with an arch in history is as a gateway or passageway. Arches have been used extensively in doors, monuments, bridges and passageways, all that lead from one destination to another.

St Louis became known as the Gateway to the West because of its location, but I submit that using that name in the 21st century is outdated and obsolete. The west has long ago been settled and we are all one global village now thanks to the Internet and new technologies. If anything, the tables have turned and those from the west and east of us are looking at us as a new frontier for buying their products.

Rather than being the Gateway to the West, I prefer to look at the Arch as simply the Gateway. A gateway from the past to the future. A gateway from what was to what could be. A place to appreciate and learn from history and reflect on what we want for our futures.

I think that St Louis could use a new paradigm for itself going into this century. According to an online poll, nine of the top ten local business stories for the region for the last decade involved plants closing or local companies being bought out. (Thank goodness for Express Scripts)

Somehow St Louis could use a boost of imagination to create the next generation of businesses that will define its uniqueness in 50 years. I think that this Arch project and the national attention that it could receive is a unique opportunity to change the way America thinks of us, probably the best opportunity in most of our lifetimes

I have my own proposal for the Arch grounds. No, I'm not an architect but I love to think about things that could be. You can see my idea at http://fountasia.blogspot.com/ . Let the ideas flow like a fountain. The Arch and the city it defines deserve the best that we can come up with.