urbanSTL

Is that signage really necessary?? Possibly the money spent on this apartment complex looking entry way could have been put to better use??

I like it.

Posted by The Muny on social media this morning:

44295936_10156180099714355_2049577222787825664_o by
Alex Price, on Flickr

I am torn. They cut down their trees and apparently got rid of their helicopter fans. But they have another crane. This one goes up to 11! Hmm. Well . . . glad to see them prospering, in any case. But the trees were really cool.

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Oct 20, 2018

I am torn. They cut down their trees and apparently got rid of their helicopter fans. But they have another crane. This one goes up to 11! Hmm. Well . . . glad to see them prospering, in any case. But the trees were really cool.

While I'm usually all for historic preservation, the old stage was a hinderance. Plus it wasn't all that attractive or iconic either. As for the trees, they're buying new ones. The 300 yr old oak was on its last decade anyway.
And what makes you say they've gotten rid of their fans? You can see the top of one of the blades on the right and I'm guessing the one on the left is either off screen or has been temporarily moved during construction.

aprice wrote: While I'm usually all for historic preservation, the old stage was a hinderance. Plus it wasn't all that attractive or iconic either. As for the trees, they're buying new ones. The 300 yr old oak was on its last decade anyway.
And what makes you say they've gotten rid of their fans? You can see the top of one of the blades on the right and I'm guessing the one on the left is either off screen or has been temporarily moved during construction.

Oh, I'm all for the update. I have a friend that plays there. I'm just a sap for trees. It's a known issue. Glad to hear they're planting new ones, even if it won't be until the lives of my grand-nephews and nieces that they look quite the same. Wasn't aware the larger one was in ill health, but when three hundred years of age I reach, look as good I will not. Glad to hear the fans are staying. Even if that's just a silly nostalgic thing. Just didn't see them, so I assumed they were gone. Mistake on my part.

^Great video; thanks for the link. Clearly the folks at the Muny understand how important the trees are to their audience, and it sounds like they're going all-out to make things right.

One Hundred's elevator shaft is starting to appear of the Central Field's trees.

^^Not sure why they've stuck with asphalt in front of of the museum instead of stone. Here and in front of the new wing it just looks like it'd look better with a stone street instead of the asphalt.

^ probably ease of maintenance, unfortunately.

^Did Serra specify the paver? Wasn't the thing originally in an asphalt street? I'm inclined to agree that some kind of paving stone would be nicer there, but . . . not my call. Ah well. Still, nice to see the thing in place.

framer wrote: ↑

Dec 19, 2018

Fine Arts Drive is open again, complete with a new Richard Serra sculpture:

https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/ ... c18ac.html

I drove over it last night while going between meetings. I was expecting... more. Looks like something complete non-artist me could come up with. Though I suppose that applies to a lot of Serra's work.

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Dec 19, 2018

^Did Serra specify the paver? Wasn't the thing originally in an asphalt street? I'm inclined to agree that some kind of paving stone would be nicer there, but . . . not my call. Ah well. Still, nice to see the thing in place.

Yep, this is To Encircle Base Plate Hexagram, Right Angles Inverted in its original installation in the Bronx:



So the idea of it is that you don't even notice it at first, but it becomes more noticeable either as you come upon it (either driving or walking) or as you elevate yourself above the street level. It's minimalism taken perhaps to its purest form. Originally it was also supposed to contrast with it's surroundings - a fresh geometric steel art feature embedded in a broken street on a beaten-down, high-crime block in the Bronx. It would be quite noticeable from when viewed from the surrounding buildings but would be easily missed if you were just driving down the block.

That's certainly not where it is now, but they may (and this is pure speculation) have been trying to stay closer to Serra's original instructions by embedding it in asphalt - especially seeing as there was a concrete driving surface there before. I could see that being justifiable, but given it's already been taken far out of its original context personally I think embedding it in a concrete or stone driving surface would have been fine. Or they could just have been doing this on the cheap, in which case some criticism would be justified.

-RBB

^Cool. Thanks for the background RBB. Some great context there. I had no idea. It definitely makes the asphalt make more sense. Also, it's hard to imagine the museum installing it without consulting Serra.

Impossible to create the atmosphere/experience of the Bronx on Art Hill - but it certainly helps understand the choice of materials.

Since it's made of fairly durable materials and the traffic isn't that absurdly punishing one assumes it will be there a bit longer than the paving, so . . .

You know what would be neat? Maybe stone or textured concrete paving for the bulk of the drive, but truly nasty, abused, distressed asphalt in the middle of and immediately surrounding the piece. Clearly you're never going to see it from above in the way it was intended, but primarily from the drive and you miss it perspective or while walking across. So some neat context and some explanation could be cool. Of course, one assumes Serra had and will continue to have a considerable say in how it's installed.

The museum's website has surprisingly little to say about the piece.

"An important work by American sculptor Richard Serra is being installed in the road between the Main Building steps and the Apotheosis of St. Louis statue. Serra meant for this work to be embedded in asphalt so that it can be driven and walked over, rather than simply observed.

The sculpture—To Encircle Base Plate Hexagram, Right Angles Inverted—consists of large circular forms embedded eight inches in the ground, visible from above though barely apparent at street level. The sculpture is simple in form though complex in conception. As the title suggests, the two steel flanges come together to encircle, contain, and define space..."

A bit more history here:

https://www.slam.org/press/whats-happening-out-there/

This seems fitting for the above posts:

^Oh, man, that's going straight to the top of my queue. Can't believe I hadn't heard of it before.

Forest Park still has to be one of the best urban parks in the country and missed my weekend runs around the park when living in St. Louis

On my wish list of what I think it would make it even better

- Expand the zoo into the current large surface parking lot and move parking into structured parking on the other side of Hwy 40.  Old FP hospital site for Theme hotel (water park feature), Zoo admin and structured parking.  Believe that is plan in general but would love to see it as next big push
- Extend Loop trolley further into park, stop at zoo and maybe a long term plan to get across the highway and make a turn to east in order to hit Highlands, Community College and Science Center.  

Not pat of Forest Park but always wondered if it would be possible to open up some of the creek that is now under culvert between Highway and Manchester Ave.