lllustration by Julia Kuo
This past fall, the Saint Louis Zoo purchased the site of the shuttered Forest Park Hospital, a 13.5-acre plot situated to the south across Interstate 64. How will the zoo use the space? For now, the plan is to plan. David McGuire, vice president of architecture and planning, says the zoo needs to do a bunch of framework, strategic, and master planning, plus raise a heap of cash, before building can begin. Given the importance of this expansion to the zoo’s future, it’s hard to fault officials for taking their time to get it right. To help goose the creative process, we solicited pie-in-the-sky ideas from experts and stakeholders. Have ideas of your own? The zoo hosted a public brainstorm in December, but another is planned for later this spring.
Aquarium: As a serious omission from the city’s landscape, a major aquarium seems to top just about everybody’s wish list—if it’s feasible. “That’s something that we’re going to be investigating,” McGuire says. “I’d say of all the things that we’ve talked about to the public, that’s the one that gets the most interest.”
Pedestrian Bridge: One major challenge will be making a connection across the interstate. “A really unique, eye-catching, and interesting footbridge can be an attraction by itself,” says blogger Alex Ihnen of nextSTL (nextstl.com). Or maybe the Zooline Railroad could cross a bridge.
Forest Park Hotel: With millions of visitors each year, Forest Park might benefit from “a thematic hotel that would be the place for families to come and stay,” Ihnen says.
Dogtown Connection: As it grows beyond Forest Park, the zoo will be making new neighbors. “We’ve talked a lot about how to develop that property so that it stays as some kind of permeable space that the neighborhood can flow through,” says 24th Ward Alderman Scott Ogilvie. A dog park, bike rentals, and an ice-cream shop have all been discussed.
Research and Education Center: The zoo’s current veterinary hospital and research center is full. McGuire says the zoo would like to use the new land to expand lab space, conservation efforts, breeding programs, and educational initiatives.
Something Completely Different: Says John Hoal, chair of the master’s-degree program in urban design at Washington University, who worked on Forest Park’s master plan, “I think the opportunity here is to do something that has not been seen before, in terms of the role of the zoo to educate us on all issues of what is happening in the natural world and the animal world that are meaningful to all of us.”
