Pruitt Igoe Now
Le Cirque
ANNA PIETRZAK
3/16/2012
As an architecture student aware of the detrimental impact that idealist, modernist thinking contributed to the demise of the former Pruitt-Igoe site and its surrounding neighborhoods, I feel that a more realistic and integrated design proposal is appropriate and deserving for the area and its inhabitants. The project should be grounded and sensitive to human qualities rather than distant, analytical concepts. It should inspire, promote progress, but also recount valuable history.
The site is thick with history. Delicately negotiating this history is the most important consideration of any proposal. A first instinct may be to create a physical monument retelling the past; while the other extreme might choose to suppress or erase any indication of it. Neither of these attitudes is appropriate since one exists as a static object for viewing and the other applies almost sacrilegious treatment of deeply sensitive space. Instead, the past should be well integrated within the program of the site; in other words, it should continue to live through the people who use and inhabit the place.
Such a suggestion does not imply repeating or dwelling on the past. Instead, it asks that the important lessons learned and the critical experiences taken from history should be retold and remembered. Therefore, this proposal suggests an artistic program that can abstractly express these stories. The choice of performance, specifically dance, has been selected as the medium for the artists who could most directly engage the site. The human body and the way it harnesses and negotiates its own weight proves to be a powerfully expressive instrument that is both striking and relatable.
For these reasons, a circus park and performance venue has been proposed for the site. Such a program brings positive cultural, economic, and social improvement through every performance.
Le Cirque
ANNA PIETRZAK
3/16/2012
As an architecture student aware of the detrimental impact that idealist, modernist thinking contributed to the demise of the former Pruitt-Igoe site and its surrounding neighborhoods, I feel that a more realistic and integrated design proposal is appropriate and deserving for the area and its inhabitants. The project should be grounded and sensitive to human qualities rather than distant, analytical concepts. It should inspire, promote progress, but also recount valuable history.
The site is thick with history. Delicately negotiating this history is the most important consideration of any proposal. A first instinct may be to create a physical monument retelling the past; while the other extreme might choose to suppress or erase any indication of it. Neither of these attitudes is appropriate since one exists as a static object for viewing and the other applies almost sacrilegious treatment of deeply sensitive space. Instead, the past should be well integrated within the program of the site; in other words, it should continue to live through the people who use and inhabit the place.
Such a suggestion does not imply repeating or dwelling on the past. Instead, it asks that the important lessons learned and the critical experiences taken from history should be retold and remembered. Therefore, this proposal suggests an artistic program that can abstractly express these stories. The choice of performance, specifically dance, has been selected as the medium for the artists who could most directly engage the site. The human body and the way it harnesses and negotiates its own weight proves to be a powerfully expressive instrument that is both striking and relatable.
For these reasons, a circus park and performance venue has been proposed for the site. Such a program brings positive cultural, economic, and social improvement through every performance.