In the last two years, St. Petersburg has seen its cityscape transformed by numerous new landmarks. Now, three firms are seeking the opportunity to rethink an old one: the St. Pete Pier, the 1973 upside-down pyramid that replaced the 1926 Mediterranean Revival-style Million Dollar Pier (itself a replacement for the 1889 original).
The international competition to redesign the Pier began in June, when firms began registering for the chance to create a new $50 million icon for St. Petersburg, one that will be seen as a destination for both city residents and visitors. Over the summer, the field was narrowed to nine, and from those candidates a five-person jury picked three. While public input will be invited, the jury will make the final recommendation, to be submitted for approval to St. Petersburg City Council in February of 2012.
The most outspoken member of the jury so far is also the most prominent: Stanley Saitowitz, principal of San Francisco-based Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects Inc., who's best-known hereabouts for his design of the Tampa Museum of Art. Early on, he dismissed such local favorites as Alfred Alfonso Architects of Chihuly Collection fame ("I'm Chihulied out") and the firm that designed the new Dali Museum, HOK ("boring"); he even rejected the much-esteemed Daniel Libeskind, who's now working on the World Trade Center master plan.
Saitowitz is clear about what he is looking for: "I want a firm that is going to do something I can't even imagine," Saitowitz told CL. "I want to be surprised with imagination."
And he doesn't see that as an unreachable goal for the designers.
"They have an upside-down pyramid to top," Saitowitz said. "The bar isn't set too high."
The jury also includes local architect James Moore, community planning & urban design principal for HDR, a full-service architecture, engineering, planning and consulting company; Susan Fainstein, who teaches urban planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and worked on the rebuilding of Ground Zero; St. Petersburg City Council member Leslie Curran; and Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch.
CL submitted questionnaires to each firm to get a sense of the direction they're heading with their proposals. Read Bjarke Ingels' responses here; the others' answers will be posted as they're received.
Meanwhile, here's a guide to the three design firms hoping to be chosen for the project.
BJARKE INGELS GROUP (BIG)
Copenhagen/New York City
Design aesthetic: "We create architecture by mixing conventional ingredients such as living, leisure, recreation, working, infrastructure, and shopping to realize imaginative and responsible solutions. Our philosophy seeks to find the added value that can be brought to each project site."
Known for: The concept of Hedonistic Sustainability. "Essentially it is to approach the question of sustainability not as a moral dilemma but as a design challenge," Ingels said. "What if sustainability actually becomes a way of increasing life quality?"
Star-chitect: The telegenic Ingels is a star on TED and one of Fast Company magazine's 100 Most Creative People of 2010, but he plays down his status as BIG thinker. Instead, he boasts the credentials of his colleagues, like Thomas Christoffersen, who has worked on such projects as the presidential library in Kazakhstan, and master planner Daniel Kidd, whose resume includes Audi Urban Future and the Loop City master plan.
Famous design: A Copenhagen waste-to-energy powerplant, now under construction, that will also serve as a public ski slope.
Team effort: BIG would act as lead designer; architect of record would be St. Petersburg's Clemmons Architecture, known for its work on a number of local spaces, including the Morean Arts Center, Z Grille and The Independent in Tampa.
The element of surprise: BIG designs can be startling. Tilting Building, a commissioned project in China, is aptly named: it looks like a cereal box tilted into pouring position. And when we asked Ingels in the questionnaire to describe his design "recipe," he referenced Kung Fu Panda and ramen noodles.
Prognosis: We could end up with a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly waterfront that dazzles with innovation and imagination. Or we could wind up with this century's version of the upside-down pyramid.
MICHAEL MALTZAN ARCHITECTURE
Los Angeles
Design aesthetic: "Michael Maltzan's work builds upon his background in the arts and focuses on creating new dynamic architectural experiences for visitors. The firm's experience with a wide range of project types, sizes, and budgets, from MoMA to Skid Row, reflects the diversity of our cities."
Known for: MoMA QNS (the Museum of Modern Art's temporary Queens exhibition space); Inner-City Arts and New Carver Apartments (projects built in low-income communities in LA); San Francisco State University Mashouf Performing Arts Center. The engineering team leader on Maltzan's Pier proposal is Craig Schwitter, who worked on the master plan for NYC's wildly successful High Line project with his company, Buro Happold Consulting Engineers.
Elastic man: In an article on the home Maltzan designed for former Hollywood uber-agent Michael Ovitz, W Magazine called the architect the "go-to guy for art collectors in need of major square footage." In the same article, Maltzan described architecture as "elastic art."
Prognosis: Maltzan is good at making a beautiful vision work for any budget, as evidenced by his creating the snazziest affordable housing yet. He also seems keen on making a design that will work with the fiber of the community and revamp the future look of St. Petersburg. He seems to place an emphasis on adapting to urban ecology, especially when water's involved, and his initial sketches — the most specific of any of the proposals at this stage — show a landscape of loops, with paths that lead down to the water and rise above it. "I like Maltzan, he is filled with ideas," Fainstein said. "No one else had ideas."
Possible drawback: If the city wanted to contract with Maltzan immediately after the selection process, they would have to contract through another firm because Maltzan isn't certified in Florida yet. Allowing Maltzan additional time to receive certification could elongate the final project.
WEST 8 URBAN DESIGN WITH ALLIED WORKS ARCHITECTURE
NYC (West 8)/Portland, OR (Allied)
Design aesthetic: West 8 is known for exquisitely executed landscaping that sets a mood and works hand-in-hand with modern design. Allied Works is all about "envisioning new experiences through the creation of and interaction with space, sound, activity and sensation."
Known for: West 8: Governor's Island Park and Public Space in New York; Miami Beach Soundscape, the striking park that complements Frank Gehry's New World Symphony building; Toronto's Central Waterfront. Allied is known for its acclaimed re-design of Two Columbus Circle for the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.
Lead players: Adriaan Geuze (design director, lead designer) and Jamie Maslyn Larson (principal-in-charge) at West 8; Brad Cloepfil (lead architect), Allied.
Teamwork: West 8's extended team claims ties to several buildings in Tampa Bay. Structural engineering firm Walter P Moore worked on the Dali, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Curtis Hixon downtown waterfront park. George F. Young is a civil engineering firm that worked on the channel dredging in St. Petersburg and Albert Whitted Airport. Faithful + Gould will provide cost estimating services; they worked with West 8 on the Governor's Island project and are overseeing project management for the September 11 memorial and museum at the World Trade Center site.
Prognosis: If the chain of command is clear, collaboration could lead to innovation. West 8 is familiar with the area and seems to have a grasp not just of a design aesthetic but of the history of St. Petersburg (their proposal even includes an 1879 nautical chart of Tampa Bay). Their initial sketches incorporate historic Mirror Lake into the plan, in an effort to tie together downtown and the Pier. "They had taken some time to look and see the present situation," said Councilwoman Curran. "How downtown has no cohesive identity and culture. They recognized that, and I thought it was really good."
The tally: Both West 8 and Maltzan made it to the final three via unanimous vote of the jury; BIG won four out of five jurors' approval.
DOUBTS AND DEADLINES
Jonny Reno, aka Jon La Budde, is the owner of Jonny Reno’s Waterfront Grille & Watering Hole, which opened on the ground floor of the Pier two months ago. Sitting at the freshly decorated restaurant on a sunny afternoon, he looked out the window at the view.
“People think the Pier is crumbling into the water,” La Budde said. “It’s not.”
La Budde says part of the reason he opened his business here was to bring people back. He took a big risk moving into the complex on the cusp of its destruction. The city, which is essentially his landlord, has offered no guarantees to any of the current tenants. He worries that a new Pier “could have the Outbacks of the world trying to get in there instead of local business.”
La Budde isn’t alone in his uncertainty. The Pier is at 100 percent occupancy, with over 400 employees. Some tenants have been there over two decades.
Still, where aesthetics are concerned, La Budde says he won’t be terribly upset to see the current Pier go.
“St. Louis has the arch, Seattle has the needle, and we have an upside-down pyramid.” La Budde said. “I’d like to see something architectural that goes back to a style that is us, like the Vinoy or the Don CeSar.”
Meanwhile, activist Tom Lambdon has been working to give the public more of a voice in the Pier’s future. Last November, he started voteonthepier.com, a certified political committee formed to campaign for a public referendum.
“We aren’t taking a position either way on what happens to the Pier,” Lambdon said. “Our organization is based solely on one mission, and that’s to afford 160,000 registered voters a chance to make a decision.”
Per the city charter, he needs 15,648 signatures to petition the referendum. So far, he and his committee are more than halfway there. If and when voteonthepier.com gets the signatures, the petitions have to be verified by the city clerk. After that the city has 30 days to adopt the referendum — or hold a special election within 60 days. Such an election could end up costing the city upwards of $300,000, according to Lambdon.
“The city is gambling $300,000 that we won’t get signatures.”
The City Council will vote whether to approve the three firms’ going forward with their proposals on September 8. If approved, each will get $50,000 toward developing its concept by November 29.
Lambdon hopes to have assembled his signatures before November 29.
“I don’t care if I have to go out with sneakers on and a flashlight, I’ll get these signatures,” Lambdon said. “When the wrecking ball is moving down the bridge, we have to beat that with our petition, but our plan is have it in by the middle of November.”
The projects will be on display for the public from December 5-30. The designers will present at City Council December 15-16. The jury will make their final recommendations on January 12 and the city council will decide the top team on February 2, 2012.
This article appears in Sep 1-7, 2011.