After the 2017 renovation of Kiener Plaza turned the sterile, institutional park into a lively, colorful playscape, any structure built on the quadrangle’s 1.9-acre footprint would have to match its new vibe. A ho-hum public services building designed not to be noticed would actually stand out alongside the park’s winding contours, verdant accents, and natural stone pavers. The new Kiener Plaza needed something different.
A visitor center for the plaza was one of the final additions of the CityArchRiver project, a $380 million undertaking by Great Rivers Greenway and the Gateway Arch Park Foundation to renovate the Gateway Arch grounds and better connect downtown to the Mississippi Riverfront. It was up to Amy Gilbertson, a principal at local architecture firm Trivers, to design the building and determine exactly what “different” meant.
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“We had to come up with something that would fit within the design that had already been set in place,” Gilbertson says. “It had to be something complementary that would not disrupt the good things that were already happening there.”
The resulting Kiener Plaza Visitor Services Center, which has earned Gilbertson and Trivers a 2022 American Institute of Architects Design Award, captures the energy of the park with its neon green façade and vertical fins while demonstrating that contemporary civic infrastructure can be both functional and beautiful.
Situated on Kiener Plaza’s northern boundary, along Chestnut, the 600-square-foot visitor center allows the park to fulfill a few needs. It includes storage space for landscaping equipment, along with chairs and tables. There is a post for on-site security, as well as an informational kiosk and retail.
“That’s why we pulled the building apart and created a breezeway,” Gilbertson says. “We wanted to make sure we were allowing movement around the building and through the building while also providing cover for that one-on-one point of interaction with someone who might be inside.”
The idea to encourage movement was baked into nearly every inch of the visitor center. Even the green fins attached to the south side of the building coax passersby to soak up views from various vantage points. Because the fins are oriented at different angles, the façade produces an ombré effect that changes as you walk east to west. Meanwhile, the north, west, and east walls were intentionally left clean; the plan is to commission local artists to give them some flair. The idea came to Gilbertson after a visit to the Wynwood Walls public art installation in Miami, but she wouldn’t have suggested it if she didn’t think it wasn’t also a great fit for St. Louis.
“We want to make sure that we are implementing the things that are best for the space and the people that use that space,” says Ryan McClure, executive director of Gateway Arch Park Foundation. “Kiener Plaza is the living room of downtown St. Louis, and that’s why it was part of the CityArchRiver project. When you’re going to add an element like this, you want to do it right.”
From the Trivers offices across the street, Gilbertson and her colleagues watched as construction continued, culminating in the center’s opening last year. Gilbertson has enjoyed seeing guests use the building as a backdrop for events—and photos, too. That’s proof for Gilbertson that the design was indeed done right.
“A lot of credit goes to our clients,” she says. “They understood that it shouldn’t have been just a block building. It was an opportunity to do something more. By thinking about it in a creative way, I think it has a much greater impact.”
