Pruitt Igoe Now
Archeology of Pruitt-Igoe
LIVA DUDAREVA
3/16/2012
I have been familiar with myth of Pruitt - Igoe since art history classes at high school. Since then I have been fascinated about fragility of our environments and impact planning decisions can have on such a large scale. Only through the brief of competition I learned that site has never been developed since. It’s like it had a bad accident and lost its memory. However, it is not completely true if we look at striving forest there today. Nature as an organism has ability to store, retain and after all recall information and experiences. Former Pruitt-Igoe site thus offers opportunities to investigate urban ecological memory on grand scale. This also becomes a drive of competition proposal `ARCHEOLOGY OF PRUITT-IGOE`.
Pruitt-Igoe in future will become a dig of ecological curiosities. Main actors will be local community and international research community. Main elements will be prefabricated modules of timber and steel raised paths, which could be assembled by anyone willing to colonize site. Every new structure and use of site would eventually offer new opportunities for emergent ecosystems: so timber path would be colonized by mosses and lichens, steel bridges and transparent towers would invite climbers. Towers would represent engagement of city representatives and re-creation of significant city landmark.
History of building city of St. Louis reveals repeating pattern of urge to erase unsuccessful developments, neighborhoods, places. Pruitt – Igoe is a monument to memory of place, city, people and its ecologies. This is opportunity to build upon it in a way where mistake would mean growth and development.
Archeology of Pruitt-Igoe
LIVA DUDAREVA
3/16/2012
I have been familiar with myth of Pruitt - Igoe since art history classes at high school. Since then I have been fascinated about fragility of our environments and impact planning decisions can have on such a large scale. Only through the brief of competition I learned that site has never been developed since. It’s like it had a bad accident and lost its memory. However, it is not completely true if we look at striving forest there today. Nature as an organism has ability to store, retain and after all recall information and experiences. Former Pruitt-Igoe site thus offers opportunities to investigate urban ecological memory on grand scale. This also becomes a drive of competition proposal `ARCHEOLOGY OF PRUITT-IGOE`.
Pruitt-Igoe in future will become a dig of ecological curiosities. Main actors will be local community and international research community. Main elements will be prefabricated modules of timber and steel raised paths, which could be assembled by anyone willing to colonize site. Every new structure and use of site would eventually offer new opportunities for emergent ecosystems: so timber path would be colonized by mosses and lichens, steel bridges and transparent towers would invite climbers. Towers would represent engagement of city representatives and re-creation of significant city landmark.
History of building city of St. Louis reveals repeating pattern of urge to erase unsuccessful developments, neighborhoods, places. Pruitt – Igoe is a monument to memory of place, city, people and its ecologies. This is opportunity to build upon it in a way where mistake would mean growth and development.