A Public Plaza Near an Ando Gem

A Public Plaza Near an Ando Gem
Freecell’s proposal for a new public space and pavilion will be a playful contrast to Tadao Ando’s neighboring Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.
Image courtesy Freecell Architecture

A Public Plaza Near an Ando Gem
Freecell Architecture will reimagine a disused lot across from the Tadao Ando–designed home of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis.
Image courtesy Freecell Architecture

A Public Plaza Near an Ando Gem
Tadao Ando's Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts (2001) in St. Louis.
Photo © Robert Pettus

Freecell’s proposal for a new public space and pavilion will be a playful contrast to Tadao Ando’s neighboring Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.

Brooklyn-based Freecell Architecture has snagged first place in an invited design-build competition to reimagine a disused lot across from the Tadao Ando–designed home of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis. The Pulitzer Foundation and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, cosponsors of the competition, aim to reinvigorate the downtown Grand Center cultural district with a place for public programming.

The firm’s winning proposal for the site is Lots, a temporary space comprising a raised platform and tentlike, adjustable fabric funnels that extend upward and downward from the structure’s frame. The project’s short and direct name refers to the abundance of activities and large crowds the pavilion will host, Freecell said in a release. The firm will receive $50,000 for construction and an honorarium of $10,000. Lots is slated to open in summer 2014.