Is it time for St. Louis to get some more "Arches"?
The famous Gateway Arch generates millions in tourist revenue each year for St. Louis as people come from all over the world to see the world's tallest arch. It's a great example of how public art can add beauty and money to a city.
St. Louis architect Michael Jantzen thinks it's time for the city to build more public art, and he has a few ideas.
"The whole purpose of the Arch was to generate tourism, which it did very successfully here, to say the least," Jantzen tells Daily RFT. "A lot of architecture and art projects that are being built and have been built, their prime function is to get people to come to the city and look at them -- not unlike the Arch."
But Jantzen, who hails from Carlyle, Illinois, and studied architecture at Wash. U., hopes to add function to the aesthetics, and his projects include everything from a glass bridge that absorbs sunlight to light it at night to a staircase structure that fights obesity.
Here are a few examples of his work. Which ones do you think would be a good fit in St. Louis?
Space-Time Transformation Footbridge
Made of glass and steel, this bridge is designed to interact with pedestrians and sensing their movements and changing shape as they walk through it.
The glass in the structure is coated with a photovoltaic film that converts sunlight into electricity, which is then used to power the shape-changing movements, as well as light the bridge at night.
Click on the next page to see more a wind turbine you can walk on and a cubed staircase that creates electricity with your feet...
