What Should Be: One Kiener Plaza
Date Posted: February 2, 2021
Posted In: Ideas,
From NextSTL: Bound by Chesnut to the North, Market to the South, Broadway to the East, and 7th to the West, Kiener Plaza is conveniently located in the center of our Central Business District. Recently undergoing a transformative redevelopment, this city park has become one of Downtown’s numerous epicenters and a hub for pedestrian activity.
Unfortunately, this well-landscaped park is flanked by imposing structures and broad streets, giving the plaza no sense of fluidity with the rest of the neighborhood. Regarded as some of the ugliest structures in the region, the Kiener Plaza garages lurk over the lively park providing little in terms of street-level activation while adding no density to our skyline.
Since I began my fascination with St. Louis and its fabulous built environment, these monstrous garages have imposed a question that has been at the forefront of my thought: what can be done to improve these structures? With a newly picked up design software and a burning concept in my head, I got to work.
Vertical Village
Rising 30-floors at the height of 330 feet, One Kiener Plaza would define the eastern stretch of the Gateway Mall. Formed by seven stacked boxes, central gaps acts as dividers between the high-rise’s two main uses: office and residential. To the east, the shorter 23-story residential section would be made up of 120 apartments ranging from 500 to 1,500 square feet, 20 of which would be designated low income. Additionally, 20 luxury condos ranging from 1,800 to 2,200 square feet would fill the upper floors providing a mix of housing types within the building’s confines. With access to several amenities such as a rooftop pool deck and a gym, this wing of One Kiener Plaza would take city living to another level.