Having grown up in St. Louis and now living in Minneapolis I rarely get the opportunity to spend much time in my old stomping grounds. When I do here are four places I always like to visit for both their architectural intrigue as well as the memories they hold.
St. Louis Planetarium
Architect: Gyo Obata of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
Completed: 1963
Obata studied under Eero Saarinen at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. Oh and the bow is temporarily on the building for the holiday season.
The Gateway Arch
Architect: Eero Saarinen
Completed: 1968
Many people don’t know about this architectural gem . . . It’s kind of hidden. The exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future will be opening at the Walker and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in September of 2008.
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
Architect: Tadao Ando
Completed: 2001
Commissions for the building include Ellsworth Kelly’s wall sculpture Blue Black, and Richard Serra’s torqued spiral sculpture Joe.
Climatron
Architect: Murphy and Mackey, Architects
Completed: 1960
A Geodesic dome structure which incorporates the principles of R. Buckminster Fuller, the inventor of the geodesic system. The Climatron is located on the grounds of the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Get Walker Reader in your inbox. Sign up to receive first word about our original videos, commissioned essays, curatorial perspectives, and artist interviews.