Photography by Alise O’Brien
The oversize red bow that annually festoons the 50-year-old James S. McDonnell Planetarium started as a prank. In 1966, Washington University architecture students got the building’s original plans and measurements, sewed together yards of ribbons, and tied it around the building in the middle of the night. Since then, the Science Center’s hired it done, just one more eye-catching aspect of the iconic building.
Constructed for less than $1 million, the planetarium stands on a dozen pillars. With the exception of the top and bottom portions, the thin concrete shell is no more than 3 ½ inches thick. Architect Gyo Obata, co-founder of HOK, says the hyperbolic paraboloid shape was the result of form following function. A domed auditorium was originally planned for the building’s center, and staircases would lead from there to the roof so aspiring astronomers could quickly go from learning about stars to actually seeing them. The flare shape at the top shields the building from the city’s lights.
A friend of Obata’s, architect and designer Charles Eames, once suggested that the surface of the moon be cast on the outside of the dome, so people could touch it as they traversed the stairs. It never happened. (To see historic images, go to stlmag.com.) But since the building opened on April 16, 1963, more than 18.5 million visitors have come to reflect on the stars.
Saint Louis Science Center
5050 Oakland
Forest Park
314-289-4400
