Dustin J. Bopp, AIA
AIA St. Louis President 2013

Bopp Architecture is proud to announce that principal, Dustin J. Bopp, AIA, was recently installed to serve as The American Institute of Architects St. Louis board president for 2013. Bopp has served in the positions of director, secretary, and president-elect in his six year tenure on the AIA St. Louis board of directors.

The president not only leads the chapter’s board of director’s, but represents it on a regional and national level within the AIA. He also meets with local, state, and federal legislators as an advocate for the architectural profession.

“It is truly an honor and a privilege to be elected by my peers to serve our profession in this role,” Bopp said. “It is an exciting time as we adapt to a changing marketplace, new delivery methods, and exponential leaps in technology and communication.”

Bopp feels it is important to continue and enhance the chapter’s high level of service to members while also working to educate the community on the importance of good design in the built environment. He also  believes it is essential to strengthen the good relationships the chapter already maintains among allied design and construction organizations, political leaders, and the various regional schools of architecture.

President Bopp’s term expires at the end of 2013. He will continue to serve on the board as past-president for 2014.

Dustin Bopp Full Bio

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They had a really good idea about their space needs and with the confirmation of their contractor felt they were ready to build. “Oh, wait a minute. We’ll need some stamped drawings.” Not having hired an architect before they called AIA St. Louis who really know all the local firms and can make recommendations about which firms to contact for specific types of work. We were one of a several but after a few initial phone interviews the client asked only us to come talk to them more about their project.

I have great relationships with lots of contractors — large and small — but when I pointed out a number of potentially deal-killing issues our client replied with: “But our contractor said we could…” I had to point out that the contractor was not a licensed architect charged with protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Oh, good point! We were able to walk them through zoning, building code issues, accessibility issues, an extra layer of state regulations for this particular business, operational issues, and some really honest preliminary pricing.

Architects can perform many levels of service — starting with feasibility studies. We aren’t just a regulatory evil or “the ones who draw the pretty pictures.” We help you think through your project from a multitude of angles (angles, get it?).

At a particularly stressful point when it seemed the project might not go forward the client said, “Oh, my God. I wish I would have hired you months ago. I may have just wasted over $10,000.” Luckily, it all worked out, but since they were under contract before being sure, they could have easily been stuck with a building that was useless to them.

This has been a big learning experience for them and I am happy our experience was able to shepherd them through. I am proud to say they said they would call us first next time before even considering another property purchase.

Now, as other cities are recognizing the folly of bisecting vital urban areas with interstate highways it brings our own decades-old mistake into focus. From the article Losing Lost Highways: Architects are assuming a variety of roles in plans to remove obsolete infrastructure:

Even gateway cities sometimes suffer from fractured urban planning, leaving us to wonder if they’re really gateways. St. Louis’s all-volunteer citizen’s brigade City to River seems to: Its members advocate replacing a 1.3-mile section of I-70 known as Memorial Drive with an urban boulevard, says Dustin Bopp, AIA, of Bopp Architecture in St. Louis and secretary of AIA St. Louis.

Memorial Highway’s below- and above-grade segments separate downtown from the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Gateway Arch, completed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates (KRJDA) in 1965, four years after the untimely death of its designer, Eero Saarinen, FAIA. Advocates for removal say that rerouting I-70 over a new Mississippi River bridge now under construction north of downtown will significantly reduce traffic within two years of the reconstruction of the Gateway Arch grounds. The design, by Michael Van Valkenburgh, FASLA, calls for a deck over little more than a block of the depressed highway. City to River says that if its alternative boulevard proposal were adopted, about a half million square feet of real estate would be recovered from the Memorial Highway right-of-way.

“The opportunity has arisen to make something extraordinary. There are those that contend it will destroy the traffic flow,” Bopp says. “I just can’t imagine it would be that much of an inconvenience to travel on a boulevard for five minutes.”

Discussions about these issues have become quite pointed lately because of The City+The Arch+The River 2015 Competition currently in the schematic design, compliance and permitting stages. However, long before the competition was ever announced many of us saw a need to knit the three back together in a way that enhances the experience for not only millions of tourists, but Metropolitan St. Louisans, as well as downtown workers and the growing residential population. You see, it’s a fairly passive and inhospitable place — due mostly to the concrete canyon that is I-70 separating the Arch and river from downtown. But, even once you risk getting run down to get there it’s pretty much a one trick pony (admittedly the Arch is one good trick).

With the completely unneeded new Mississippi Bridge River Bridge (whatever the hell they are calling it these days) under construction making the stretch of I-70 between the Arch and downtown completely superfluous (kind of like a third nipple) and the momentum of a international competition to redesign the Arch grounds it seems a no-brainer to do what San Francisco and Portland did years ago — tear down the stupid highway that separates urban life from the waterfront. With this cataclysmic perfect storm it’s the smartest thing to do. So smart that we’re not doing it. I totally agree with my good friends at City to River who propose to fill in the trench, create a spectacular boulevard along Memorial Drive, reestablishing not only downtown’s connection to the Arch grounds but also other orphaned areas like Laclede’s Landing — not to mention opening up acres of developable (and highly valuable) land with extraordinary views of the Arch (think Michigan Ave. across from Millennium Park).

With a few exceptions I like the MVVA plan and am keeping a close eye on it as it evolves, but their plan to put a lid over just a few blocks of the highway in front of the Arch is short-sighted.  Now, MVVA can’t be blamed.  It’s just not in their scope.  I know what it’s like to be hamstrung by antiquated modes of thinking and insurmountable bureaucracy. What a lost opportunity for our city to heal a 50 year-old gash in it’s urban fabric.  And, for what? To save a few minutes car travel time?  For instance, those traveling from, say, South St. Louis to the airport, could choose to stay on the interstate and take a short detour into Illinois and back or (God forbid) cut across a beautiful tree-lined urban boulevard in front of a spectacular 630 ft. national monument for four or five minutes (much like I-55 feeds into Michigan Ave.).

I suppose the best of both worlds would be to bury the highway altogether — ala Boston’s Big Dig — but unfortunately, the very reason the highway switches from below-grade at the Arch to elevated at Laclede’s Landing is Metrolink’s use of a historic railroad tunnel from the Eads Bridge to downtown.  It’s been said that the clever re-use of that historic infrastructure was what made our entire light rail system possible and moving it would be impossible.

My understanding is that the real decision whether to remove the highway or not lies with MODOT, an agency not likely to be swayed by concerns of urban planning, nor likely to give up the dollars associated with interstate highway funding. Perhaps a public outcry like that for the Del Taco building would do the trick.

Reclaiming our city’s connection to the river (and it’s very reason for being) is a once in a generation opportunity. Let’s seize it!

Here’s some interesting ideas from Webecoist:

What would you do?

Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site. Photo by Dustin Bopp

According to http://www.marktwainlake.com

 This museum, incorporated into Misssouri’s historical site system in 1960 was designed by the firm of Swanson, Terney, and Brey, and constructed in 1959 at a cost of $250,000. It was the result of nearly forty years of effort and cooperation among many people and organizations. Its purpose was to commemorate the location of Mark Twain’s birth and to provide a protective shelter for the two-room cabin in which he was born.

Architecturally, the museum exterior is composed of Missouri limestone, aluminum and glass. The roof sheltering the birth cabin is a self-supporting, hyperbolic paraboloid made a three-inch reinforced concrete. The 12,000 square feet interior is divided into a museum, office, research library, three fireproof storage areas, and restrooms.

Early post card from CardCow.com.

In the photo above you can get a sense of the hyperbolic paraboloid roof.  Take a look at the following video to see how to make an origami version.

Mark Twain said:

Recently someone in Missouri has sent me a picture of the house I was born in. Heretofore I have always stated it was a palace, but I shall be more guarded now.

Mr. Twain was admittedly known for his exaggerations but now his humble birth home itself does reside in a palace of sorts.