New York architect Mariano Sagasta has won the University’s 2004 Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition.
The biennial competition, which is open to young architects from around the world, carries a $30,000 first-place award to support study and research abroad — the largest such award in the United States. Sagasta, who earned a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Buenos Aires in 1999, was chosen from a field of 130 architects representing nine countries.
This year’s competition focused on the area surrounding the intersection of Brentwood Boulevard and Interstate 64 (Highway 40), particularly the sites occupied by the southern and eastern parking lots of Saint Louis Galleria.
Architects were charged with developing conceptual plans that could accommodate 1,400 cars while adding 50,000 square meters of retail space, including one 4,000-square-meter anchor store, restaurants totaling 2,000 square meters and a 50-room hotel.
The program also called for 10,000 square meters of landscaping that would include areas for basketball, roller-skating, jogging and other activities.
“By making St. Louis a focus of attention for emerging talents from around the world, we hope to spark a new and creative conversation about our region and to generally broaden the sense of what is possible here,” architecture Dean Cynthia Weese said.
Jury chair Adrian Luchini, the Raymond E. Maritz Professor of Architecture, added, “The current conditions of mid-size American cities show symptoms of development that are not always positive. The object of the Steedman competition was to propose alternative projects to those typically demanded by developers and delivered by large, ‘expert’ architectural offices.”
Sagasta’s winning design focused on the generation of public spaces “as the foundational act of architecture.” Brentwood Boulevard would be fronted with parks and landscaping — which would also serve to insulate the new development from street noise — while a new pedestrian corridor would contain an outdoor theater to house activities and sports. Parking facilities would be moved underground.
In addition to Luchini, jurors were Steve Cassell, principal of the New York firm Architecture Research Office; Douglas Garofalo, principal of Garofalo Architects in Chicago; Hakon Vignaes, the Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture and a principal of Jarmund-Vigsnaes Architects in Oslo, Norway; and Bill Wischmeyer, adjunct associate professor of architecture.
The jury awarded one second-place prize to Daniel Festag of Chicago, who earned a degree in architecture from the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany, in 2000. Festag will serve as an alternate in the event that Sagasta is unable to fulfill the obligations of the fellowship. Honorable mentions were awarded to 2002 alumnus Sasa Oroz, as well as Jane Kim of New York; Erkin Ozay of Cambridge, Mass.; and Jared Winchester of Albuquerque, N.M.
Granted since 1925, the Steedman fellowship is supported by an endowment given to the School of Architecture in honor of James Harrison Steedman, who earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Washington University in 1889 and was killed in active duty during World War I. The memorial was established by Steedman’s widow, Alexander Weddel, and Steedman’s brother, George.
For more information about the Steedman fellowship, go online to www.arch.wustl.edu/news_sc.lasso.
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