There’s more that might said about the design of the new Country Market supermarket at 2nd and Carpenter – isn’t there always? Steve Patterson, a St. Louis architect and author of the blog, UrbanDesignSTL, criticized it for its failure to provide safe pathways across its park lot to the front door for people approaching the store via sidewalks.
I criticized the project too, when it was first announced (see “A double shot of urban-type feel,” May 10, 2012) but for a broader failure to relate to the street. The building, which was set back from the street, should have been set on the lot line rather than set back from the street, but not merely to enhance pedestrian access from the street by putting the front door where the people are. As I noted in a recent column, buildings standing on the lot line help define the street space itself in a way that’s crucial to the experience of cities.
This article appears in May 23-29, 2013.
