Washington University Medical Center (WUMC) continues its commitment to improving the gateways into Forest Park Southeast. Brooks Goedeker, community development manager for WUMC, has been working with Confluence Design to introduce new planters to the neighborhood. Confluence Design is a custom design & fabrication studio, which utilizes emerging digital design & traditional fabrication technologies. The planters will be 40 inches tall, made of permanent concrete, fabricated on site and affixed to the ground.
The design, materials used, and locations have all been approved by the Forest Park Southeast public infrastructure committee. The mold for the planters is currently in production and the planters should be installed by May 2011. In addition, WUMC will provide the plants and continued maintenance of the planters. They will be located along Chouteau Avenue at the intersections of Taylor, Newstead, Tower Grove, and Boyle.
Aaron Senne, co-owner of Confluence Design, stated “The idea behind the concrete planters was to create an identity to each intersection along Chouteau. We wanted to create a modern, elegant, and pleasing planter so we decided to cast concrete planters taking the form from a terracotta pot, but blowing it up to street scale. The material will weather nicely and it ties into the brick and hardscape materials that make up the neighborhood.”
In addition, Goedeker has been working with the Forest Park South Business Association to examine installing duplicate planters along Vandeventer Avenue.
Planter design
Planter design
Example of a mold use for a bench created by Confluence Design
