What I Did on My Summer Vacation #2: St. Louis
Last week I wrote about one project I visited during my work-vacation in Zurich, so here I'm posting about one building from my family vacation in Missouri. On that trip we also went to see a couple chapels by E. Fay Jones, as well as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and a Frank Lloyd Wright house in suburban St. Louis. But it's the Saint Louis Abbey Church (1962) by HOK's Gyo Obata that stands out from that trip. Located in Creve Coeur, the church is one of a number of buildings on the campus of the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Louis. Even in an aerial view ? and no label on the building ? it's easy to see why the church gets all the attention.
[Aerial view from Google Maps | All other photographs by John Hill]
The circular church is made up of twenty parabolic arches of thin-shell concrete. According to a few sources Obata worked with Weidlinger Associates on the structure, but most talk about how the architect brought in Pier Luigi Nervi as a consultant. Whatever the case, the final product, which ascends in three tiers of arches to a bell tower capped by a cross, is a really strong architect/engineer ? more than most buildings in terms of expression. I'm not sure if Obata or his engineers were influenced by Eero Saarinen's Gateway Arch, which would open three years later, but I'll admit the parabolic form seems to resonate as a very St. Louis geometry.
...
-------------------------------- |
TRATAMIENTO DE AGUAS NEGRAS DOMESTICAS. |
|
Temple of Esna: Started by Egyptians, Finished by Romans
30-04-2024 08:15 - (
architecture )