Categories
Events

Pevely Dairy Design Charrette, November 19

We are pleased to join the Landmarks Association of St. Louis and nextSTL in sponsoring a design charrette for the Pevely Dairy plant at Grand and Chouteau. The charrette takes place next Saturday, November 19, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Details appear on the flier here.

3 replies on “Pevely Dairy Design Charrette, November 19”

Super! Glad to see it. The opportunities for great design are just waiting. It is a project that could transform the city, at least Grand Ave. The correct density of office workers/ apartment dwellers could support transit the length of Grand ( and into the city) The impact of the project is potentially broad. It raises the question of how to make a new  design so future Grand Ave apartment dwellers can do without a car? There is Grand Center Arts District, the South Grand Shopping District, immediate access to Metrolink, Clayton, Downtown and many other venues by train.
What other transit improvements and what other shops along Grand should be encouraged to compliment a true city density with naturally restrained car usage? (Using city design to do so).
Truly, it is a project that can transform the city. It would be nice if there were a forum/forums discussing the project the week up to the Charrette to evolve thinking about the project for the (hopefully) benefit of the entrants.

As a caveat to my enthusiasm for a Charrette involving the Pevely Building I want to make a few more comments. First, I am not clear what the design program for the Charrette includes, The Landmarks website didn’t appear to have details. I feel strongly that the land surrounding the Doisy Building across from the Pevely Building should be included, at least as a design option. The Doisy Building is a terrible example of urban planning and only will be redeemed and enhanced with attractive buildings surrounding it that support the greater community.
Beyond the inclusion of the vacant land surrounding the Doisy Building, I will also point to the late planner Edmund Bacon in his book Design of Cities where he discusses at length the “Relation of Simultaneous Movement Systems to City Design”.
That is the major programmatic importance of this site, there is none other that is as important. The Doisy Center counteracts that, but it can still be remedied. In any case it should be the stated as a major goal of this design charrette, otherwise it may end being still another, while attractive design solution, meaningless in the larger scheme of things (again as with the Doisy Building).
If Landmarks attempts anything less, it is not merely a missed opportunity, but once again a failure of institutional leadership that seems to be on full display day after day.
It is hard to believe anyone can miss the overriding need to begin take new actions and try to leave the oil based culture behind. Yet, as the recent building of the Doisy Building indicates, the ability of leaders falls well short of what St. Louis City and the region really need into today’s world.

Comments are closed.