Archinect - News

A Look Back at Some Articles Celebrating American Architecture and Architects

2019-07-04T14:01:00-04:00

Who and what comes to mind when thinking of American architecture? In practice, academia, and culture, America's influence on the built environment has undergone moments of triumph as well as moments of reflection. In celebration of the nation's independence from British monarchy in 1776, Archinect rounds up a selection of news coverage discussing American architects, architecture, and discourse.

Notable American Architects

St. Louis' Gateway Arch reopens with a new name and a new museum that reexamines the history of U.S. western expansion

2018-07-03T17:30:00-04:00

The name change, however, also reflects two facts that have long bedeviled the arch and its role within the National Park Service. Saarinen’s soaring arc of steel is an icon of the automobile age, an attraction that has always been more about playing to the passing audience of the interstates than any particular relevance to the idea of national expansion. It also honors historical events that are now understood as deeply problematic within the larger trajectory of American history.

It's a big day for the city of St. Louis, which is celebrating the grand reopening of the Gateway Arch. The monumental renovation project includes a new name — the Gateway Arch National Park, a new museum, and a major redesign of the park's urban landscape. The exhibitions inside the museum reexamine moments in the city's history, the consequences of the U.S.'s westward expansion, and the design and construction of the Arch.

You can see the new museum come to life in EarthCam's construction time-lapse video below.

Where should Confederate monuments go when, and if, they are taken down?

2017-08-17T16:40:00-04:00

“You can argue that any sculpture is art in some way, but it’s a loose argument,” Schoonmaker said Tuesday. “I don’t know that these statues are worthy of preservation as art objects so much as historical objects – made to preserve a lost cause, a lost war. They weren’t made with great artistic intent, but with political intent. And intent matters in this case.”

With the tragic events occurring in Charlottesville, much ink has been spilled over the topic of Confederate memorials: Should we keep them? Should we take them down? Is keeping them up a celebration of slavery and is taking them down erasing an important part of our past that we must face?

With so much attention given to the particular statue of Robert E. Lee that caused the alt-right to riot in Virginia, it might be a surprise that a number of confederate monuments have been taken down in recent years with much less bloodshed. In May, another statue of the Confederate general was hoisted away in New Orleans amongst a cheering crowd of onlookers and a number of cities across the country have had plans in the works to take down monuments commemorating leaders of the Confederacy. With the events that occurred over the weekend, many of these cities are looking to expedite the process—the Mayor of Baltimore even had all Confederate statues dismantled overnight.

This begs the question ...

New Orleans deliberates how to dismantle statues of U.S. Confederate figures

2015-08-18T09:36:00-04:00

The question of the monuments’ removal comes after several US states...have withdrawn the Confederate flag, acknowledging it as a symbol of racial hate...The [statues] are on public land 'which means that African American tax money is being used to maintain them', [says Carol Bebelle, co-chair of the Mayor’s committee for racial reconciliation]. 'What does it mean to be a city that pays tribute to part of its history that was about oppressing the major portion of its population?'

Archinect - News

A Look Back at Some Articles Celebrating American Architecture and Architects

St. Louis' Gateway Arch reopens with a new name and a new museum that reexamines the history of U.S. western expansion​

Where should Confederate monuments go when, and if, they are taken down?

New Orleans deliberates how to dismantle statues of U.S. Confederate figures

St. Louis' Gateway Arch reopens with a new name and a new museum that reexamines the history of U.S. western expansion