On its 100th anniversary of hosting the 1904 World's Fair, a revitalized Forest Park should be ready to meet the recreational and cultural needs of the new millennium -- thanks to a $200 million master plan designed by Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture John Hoal.
Head of the School of Architecture's Master of Architecture and Urban Design program, Hoal led a 20-person team in developing a master plan for improvements to the park's natural systems, cultural institutions and other facilities. In his role as director of urban design for the St. Louis Development Corporation, Hoal guided the project team of naturalists, water conservationists, landscape architects, ecologists, civil engineers, soil and water specialists, architects, park managers and recreational planners who analyzed and designed Forest Park's renovations. He now is assisting with fund-raising and overseeing implementation of the plan, which was the result of an intensive two-year, community-based design process.
The 200-page master plan document spells out goals for the park and addresses major issues such as flooding and erosion, conflicting uses (including the golf course running through the Grand Basin), accessibility and confusing internal roadways, inadequate parking, crumbling infrastructure, unhealthy waterways, institutional expansion and cooperation, and long-term funding.
"It has been an amazing and rewarding experience to work on a project like this and take it from the point of conception -- where people couldn't believe there ever would be agreement on the park's future -- to having the whole community behind this plan," Hoal said. "It's really an example of what the design process can do. If you create the appropriate shared vision, people will respond."
Since the document's completion in December 1995, the master plan has received several awards, including a 1996 Honor Award from the St. Louis chapter of the American Institute of Architects, an honorable mention in the 1996 Missouri American Planning Association Awards, an Award of Excellence from the St. Louis chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and an honorable mention in the National League of Cities James Howland Awards for Urban Enrichment.
The improvements to Forest Park not only will increase its stature regionally but will offer enhanced recreational and educational opportunities to one of its closest neighbors, Washington University, Hoal said.
Highlights of the plan include a jogging path adjacent to the current bike path, an art walk with outdoor statues, restoration of the water system allowing for boating and fishing, areas designed to attract wildlife and showcase a variety of ecosystems, historical sites referencing the World's Fair and restoration of the Grand Basin and Post-Dispatch Lake.
No long-term goals ever had been set for Forest Park, despite previous attempts.
"It was the first time in the history of the park that the board passed such a resolution. It was a huge step," Hoal said.
"Apart from securing its future as the region's major public gathering space for families and the community at large, the plan supports and increases the park's educational role, encompassing ecology, wildlife and zoo animals, history, art, science and performing arts," he said.
"We want to break down the walls of the institutions in the park, so that when people see an 18th-century painting in the art museum, they can walk out and view a comparable landscape, or when people learn about the environment and ecology at the science center, they can observe a living ecosystem in the park," Hoal continued. "The future role of the park for the entire region is new, exciting and endless."
--Ann Nicholson
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