architecture - Sam Fox School - Washington University in St. Louis

Dean’s Letter
Architecture,
Washington University
in St. Louis
55
ARCH 500/600 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN V-VI
Eric R. Hoffman, Visiting Assistant Professor
CLIENTCITYPATHPLACE
(Comprehensive Studio)
clientcity
As students, your studies and relative experience rarely afford
the opportunity to interact with a Client. An ambiguous term
with unlimited definition: proprietors, individuals, committees,
developers, agencies, boards, delegations may all serve as clients;
none more intriguing or potentially complex than a government
or municipal entity. Bound by political motivation, economic
constraints and constituent influence, there are many voices
that represent a complex Client. Rarely do we – as professionals
– connect with a single individual. It is commonplace to balance
many needs of many constituents – the collective; often with
opposing or contradictory views. This challenge holds many
opportunities. A collective vision is key to political success,
and a strategy for every mark within an (sub)urban fabric is
paramount. The City of Maplewood will serve as host for this
comprehensive studio.
Saint Louis City and County are comprised of 101 communities
within the relative dense area of 570 square miles (the city, 92
county municipalities and 9 unincorporated census-designated
places). Historically and speculatively, Saint Louis’ thwarted
growth after the Civil War is largely due to the siloed resources
of its many cities and townships paralleling the redistributed
wealth of our early nation. One of the 101 communities -- a
first tier (sub)urban area -- is the City of Maplewood, Missouri:
once a fertile farmland with an instrumental blacksmith shop
along the path that connected big bend of the Meramac River to
Laclede’s Landing along the Mississippi River; once a prosperous
neighborhood stop along the Manchester trolley line; once a
struggling blue-collar community lost among rival neighbors; once
one of many active main streets along route 66. Ruthlessly divided
by City limits, the division separated backyards, neighbors and
even the middle of the great Maplewood Theater, ultimately
leading to its demise. Heidegger would struggle to define the ’place’
of Maplewood, but also acknowledge that it is ripe with potential.
Once tagged ‘It’s on the way’, Maplewood struggles to redefine its
corridor(s) from path to place. Consideration of Path-Place as a
known and viable urban typology as an applicable solution will
be investigated; moreover, pocketed town centers may assist and
reinforce the viability of Path-Place.