Ahead of the curve
Engineering students design ways to improve Gateway Arch grounds
Lori Schueler
Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: News
"What my group came up with was creating a water feature that you could play in," Delaney said. "(We wanted to) emulate the Mississippi River and have it flow from the court house to the grounds under the Arch."
Fries said the students worked with planners and architects, people they will one day work with in the field. Leach said the architects had some "crazy" ideas.
"It was pretty challenging because the architects are pretty out there," Leach said.
Leach said one architect's proposal he didn't agree with was to remove the levee on the East St. Louis side of the river and let it flood every year to return to its natural state.
"It's kind of unrealistic," Leach said.
Leach said his group came up with the idea to turn a section of I-70 into a tunnel, which would help pedestrians walk over it "faster and easier."
Fries said the students gained valuable experience by working with the architects and planners, and it gave them practice in seeing things from the architects' point of view. He said being able to understand their perspective is important when collaborating on a project.
Fries said he was pleased with his students' performance.
"I was pretty proud of all my students and their traffic engineering knowledge," Fries said.
The students' projects will be on display at Landmarks Association of St. Louis from Dec. 3 to Jan. 22, 2009.
Leach said he is confident some of his ideas will be used in the final Arch grounds development.
"It's kind of hard to say if they will take complete ideas," Leach said. "I can see them taking bits and pieces from everyone's presentations and collaborating them."
Powers said he was satisfied with how the convention came together.
"It was an opportunity for students to work with other disciplines," Powers said. "I think it worked very well."
Fries said the students worked with planners and architects, people they will one day work with in the field. Leach said the architects had some "crazy" ideas.
"It was pretty challenging because the architects are pretty out there," Leach said.
Leach said one architect's proposal he didn't agree with was to remove the levee on the East St. Louis side of the river and let it flood every year to return to its natural state.
"It's kind of unrealistic," Leach said.
Leach said his group came up with the idea to turn a section of I-70 into a tunnel, which would help pedestrians walk over it "faster and easier."
Fries said the students gained valuable experience by working with the architects and planners, and it gave them practice in seeing things from the architects' point of view. He said being able to understand their perspective is important when collaborating on a project.
Fries said he was pleased with his students' performance.
"I was pretty proud of all my students and their traffic engineering knowledge," Fries said.
The students' projects will be on display at Landmarks Association of St. Louis from Dec. 3 to Jan. 22, 2009.
Leach said he is confident some of his ideas will be used in the final Arch grounds development.
"It's kind of hard to say if they will take complete ideas," Leach said. "I can see them taking bits and pieces from everyone's presentations and collaborating them."
Powers said he was satisfied with how the convention came together.
"It was an opportunity for students to work with other disciplines," Powers said. "I think it worked very well."
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