Before & After> Michael Van Valkenburgh Overhauling St. Louis Arch Grounds
The Eero Saarinen-designed Gateway Arch in St. Louis is preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its opening, taking place in 2015, and the original Dan Kiley landscape around the monumental catenary arch is getting an overhaul by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA). The full story about the newly updated plans for the ambitious project appeared in the Midwest edition of AN News. MVVA shared these views of the current landscape and what’s proposed, showing just how dramatic the transformation will be. Take a look.
Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch in St. Louis Broke Ground 50 Years Ago Today
St. Louis’ Gateway Arch under construction. (Courtesy Missouri State Archives)
Fifty years ago, the St. Louis waterfront was one gigantic parking lot after 40 blocks of the city’s gritty industrial quarter were cleared in the late 1930s to create a site for a new Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. It took another two decades to get anything built, but on February 12, 1963, the missing slice of St. Louis began to change as ground was broken for Eero Saarinen’s famous Gateway Arch that still defines St. Louis in one dramatic gesture.
A+D Showcases the Secret Life of Saarinen in New Exhibition
Saarinen’s TWA Terminal (Ezra Stoller)
LA’s A+D Architecture and Design Museum is presenting Eero Saarinen: A Reputation For Innovation, which opens tomorrow night. The show will highlight one of the world’s most heralded mid-century architects, who designed, among other things, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the TWA Terminal at JFK in New York, Dulles Airport in Washington D.C., and the Entenza House in Los Angeles. Saarinen was also a renowned product designer, and, unbeknownst to most, an employee for the OSS (the precursor to the CIA), where he learned many of his design techniques. The show will explore this under-documented phase of his career and bring to light a designer whose influence still resonates today. For instance, did you know that Cesar Pelli, Kevin Roche, and Robert Venturi were among the many who worked for Saarinen? Get tickets to the opening here.
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