Hasta La Ideas

While much of the most recent national talk about St. Louis has been about revitalization, there’s a history in that city, and many like it, about architectural and urban planning projects run afoul. Such is the subject of what looks to be a fascinating documentary, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History. The film, directed by Chad Freidrichs, tells the story of America’s urban renewal projects in the 1950s and 60s, St. Louis’ famous Pruitt-Igoe framing the discussion. Built in the mid-50s and designed by Minoru Yamasaki (who also designed the World Trade Center towers), the housing project was seen as the savior of the inner city working class. Yet some decade and a half after it was built, living conditions at deteriorated and the city had it demolished. On a base level, the project was labeled as a failure of colossal proportions. The film, however, looks to want to dig into the stories of how it came to be, what went both right and wrong, and in general “set the historical record straight.” Here’s some thoughts Archinect has on the film and Pruitt-Igoe itself and here’s the trailer:

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