Spanning three city blocks and linking two vibrant city attractions, the Grounds Connector is an integral but unfinished component of Eero Saarinen’s vision for the St. Louis Arch. This missing link can be partially blamed for the disconnect between a stressed downtown and a popular monument that draws four million visitors per year.
Following an international outreach, Thomas Balsley Associates was commissioned to complete Saarinen’s 20th century modernist vision with a 21st century landscape and urban design approach. Extensive historical, urban design and site specific research informed a series of conceptual design studies, each revealing dramatic new ways to introduce Arch visitors to downtown St. Louis. All included covering the sunken interstate highway and the “pedestrianization” of the flanking Memorial Boulevard.
The passage and pauses have been carefully conceived as celebrations of the diversity of contemporary urban life and include landscape narratives on the Jefferson Expansion and Lewis and Clark Expedition. Great lawns for celebrations, daily civic gatherings, cafes, interpretive kiosks, interactive fountains, distinctive paving and native plantings have been composed into a distinctive and memorable landscape worthy of its designer and the rich contemporary heritage of the Arch.
Silver Park
An entire 42nd Street block, in Manhattan’s west side, has been developed as a new residential tower complex whose central public park space is common ground to be shared by the neighborhood and new residents. A strong architectural edge at its 42nd Street sidewalk is created by fall portal light pylons and a trellis “room” from which visitors can view the str...
Heritage Field at Macombs Dam Park
The Macombs Dam park ensemble consists of a variety of lush, contemporary green spaces in which the community can relax, socialize, and play. One segment of the landscape is a 13 acre park on the roof of the stadium parking structure, the largest full-service rooftop park every built by the City; another segment is an at-grade park where the now demolished Ya...
Main Street Garden Park
Thomas Balsley Associates was selected from an outreach to international design firms to design the first new park for the Dallas Central Business District in 50 years. A key component in the downtown revitalization strategy, Main Street Garden Park required the razing of two city blocks of buildings and garages making way for its transformation into a vibrant...
Chelsea Waterside Park
In 1986, Thomas Balsley Associates was asked by the Chelsea Waterside Park Association to translate this community’s vision for a waterfront park into a design document that would be used to plan the new Route 9-A and the proposed Hudson River Park. Ten years later, when funding for the Chelsea Waterside Park was identified, Thomas Balsley Associates won an in...