Our fall semester Master Studio project was an urban village located in downtown East St. Louis. The site location was idea because of its metro link access on the east side of the site. The project I received was a large retail facility and community recreational facility. In order to work with the small site but still fit 75,000 sq. ft. of retail program along with recreational, the rec. center program was lifted above the roof of the Target and allowed for a jogging track and outdoor recreation. The shell of the building is constructed of brick tiles anchored to precast-concrete panels. Extensive green roof and terraces was used in order to scale down the appearance of the Target. Water runoff from the rec. center is stored and gravity fed to Target’s roof terraces. Excess water is drained to terra cotta spouts on the second level cantilevers and poured into the water feature below. The water feature itself is comprised of 1’x1’ terra cotta square pipes at various intervals of height. On the back side, terra cotta sprouts emerge from the building and capture sun light which is then fed through light tubes and dispersed with the interior spaces.
The use of brick and terra cotta goes back to East St. Louis’s heritage. St. Louis is known for its beautiful brick and terra cotta detail. Today the brick harvested from condemned buildings is high sought after for historic restoration work. East St. Louis falls into the picture because it was the home of the factories, kilns, and even craftsman whom produced the exquisite architectural details. The use of brick, terra cotta, and attention paid to their details pays homage to a city that once stood for craftsmanship.
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