Austin Tao & Associates by ATA staff The "Crane Garden" in Suzhou, China once belonged to Austin Tao's grandmother. There are many gardens in the city that are more famous and bigger, but this small scholarly garden is especially noted for its design composition, the attention to detail and a unique sense of place. It was recently restored back to its past glory and beauty by the government and it is considered to be one of the finest gardens in Suzhou. "Even though the Crane Garden is half-way around the world and culturally a-world-apart from St. Louis, designing a garden to delight the senses, to commune with nature and to up-lift the human spirit is universal," said Tao. Early childhood visits to grandma's garden made an impression on Tao. As a Landscape Architect and the President/Founder of Austin Tao & Associates (ATA), he leads a small eight person firm emphasizing a balance in the practice of design excellence, client service and creating sustainable environments. In the past 20 years, ATA has been involved in a wide range of works including some of the most notable projects in the St. Louis region. Current ATA project categories include: universities and educational facilities; parks and recreation; urban streetscapes; lightrail and trail systems; commercial developments; zoos and museums; and residential gardens. St. Louis Gateway Mall The Gateway Mall is a major pedestrian thoroughfare located in the heart of downtown St. Louis. Running along the main east-west axis of the Arch grounds to the Federal Civil Courts Building, the Mall design consists primarily of a central open lawn bordered by wide sidewalks and double rows of street trees including Lindens and Red Maples. A sculpture garden paved with a pink granite surface is located on the north edge of the Mall. The park also features decorative cast iron light fixtures and stylized cast-stone lion benches, created by the noted sculptor Robert Cassilly. "This simple and formal plan was designed to complement the monumental scale of this civic and historical corridor," Tao explained. St. Louis Zoo Bird Garden The Bird Garden of the St. Louis Zoo is located along a hillside next to the "World's Fair Aviary," which was built during the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. The garden is carefully laid out along a winding hillside path with seven free-standing flight cages. The design goal is for visitors to experience each exhibit in its natural setting, to see the birds, and to feel the shared outdoor space. The flight cages house groupings of birds from unique environments representing several different continents. The concept of the planting design was to emulate the plant character inherent to the continent of each exhibit. This was accomplished by the use of zone hardy plants with distinctive flowering, bark, leaf character or texture similar to the indigenous plants of the bird's native environment. St. Louis University Pedestrian Mall The St. Louis University Campus (top and at right) incorporated Public art, outdoor lighting, entrance gateways, and fencing into the comprehensive design. The Gateway Mall (bottom and at right) is a major pedestrian thoroughfare located in the heart of downtown St. Louis. The Mall design consists primarily of a central open lawn bordered by wide sidewalks and double rows of street trees including Lindens and Red Maples. The St. Louis University Pedestrian Mall project is a conversion of three existing city blocks into a pedestrian mall located at the west end of the campus. The project focal point is a central plaza created by the intersection of two streets. A 40-foot-tall Campanile clock tower, surrounded by water jets at its base, is the feature element of the plaza. A small outdoor seating amphitheater, benches, lush floral displays, and flowering trees complete the space. Radiating from the central plaza to the north, south and west, are three linear malls which are designed as spacious tree lined walks connecting to various university buildings and facilities. Smaller plazas occur along these malls and they are defined by benches, flowering shrubs and shade trees. Public art, outdoor lighting, entrance gateways, and fencing are the other design elements that have been carefully integrated into a comprehensive design. St. Louis MetroLink Light Rail System Austin Tao and Associates is the lead Landscape Architect on the St. Louis MetroLink project and has been since its inception more than 10 years ago. The firm has been working on the first two phases of the project which includes a continuous 40-mile alignment that connects various communities of the St. Louis region on both sides of the Mississippi River. ATA has been working collaboratively with a team of artists, architects and engineers from the conceptual and schematic design phase through the preparation of construction documents. One of the most challenging design areas of the project is an existing railroad tunnel under the Washington University Medical Center. The goal of the MetroLink Light Passageway is to expose and make visible the infrastructure of the city as MetroLink travels through it. The passage is designed to express the ever-changing quality of light, shadow and perspective in relationship to the time of day and point of view. The spaces within the passage act as shadow boxes which passengers glimpse in a series as they approach or leave the nearby station. A pair of "planting/light" wells on the south side of the site allows natural light to filter through a high canopy of existing trees. The design introduces the lush green ground plane and understory plantings of hardy, native flowering trees, shrubs and ferns. The parking garage decks are screened with a stainless steel mesh fence that displays and reflects natural light. Theatrical flood lights with color filters are used to wash the back walls, utility piping, and structures along the north side of the tunnel visible through openings in the support wall. Lit fields of 160,000 lbs. of recycled colored glass pebbles veil the side slopes at the west end of the tunnel. This project was a special collaboration with well known artist Anna V. Murch. Missouri History Museum Expansion The Missouri History Museum is located along the northern edge of Forest Park and it was considered the main entrance of the 1904 World's Fair. Today, this area serves as one of the major entrances to the park. The museum expansion project calls for a new building (92,000 sf.) located directly south of the existing museum. The expansion also includes an entirely new site design consisting of a new entrance approach and circular drive, parking, pedestrian circulation, landscape areas and two courtyards. The entire project site is approximately 12 acres. The predominant landscape concept of the project is a formal design creating a grandiose setting for the museum as well as an entrance to the park. The use of native Missouri plant materials is the overall landscape theme throughout the project space.