The Media Commons is a first-of-its-kind interactive media environment and public plaza in the Grand Center Arts District of St. Louis. Encompassing 13,000 sf between the studios of St. Louis Pubic Television (9 Network) and Radio (KWMU, within UMSL’s Media Center), the space bridges these institutions and fosters creative exchange with a new way to engage the public: a site-specific “broadcast channel” that is an unprecedented synthesis of public media and public space.
The plaza is defined by two white, perforated metal facades. Animated by programmable LED uplighting, these surfaces incorporate large-format projection, LED screen and audioscape. A new window into the TV Studio provides a glimpse behind the scenes, and “virtual windows” create direct interaction via LCD touch screens or through mobile devices utilizing the QR code patterned facade. Visitors to the space not only engage the content within but create and contribute their own.
The broad central gathering space was designed for big events: speeches, concerts, cinema screenings, town halls, and benefits. To either side are the Broadcast Platform, an elevated café terrace or stage, and the Grove, a shady hangout and place to relax or spectate. Here, the landscape exhibits rich seasonal variation, reflecting the ever-changing news and media cycles as well as Missouri’s native prairie landscape. Whether just passing by or attending an event, visitors not only become an integral part of the local public media broadcast they experience the center of St. Louis’s public media, music, art and culture.
Created with Benjamin Gilmartin, Powers Bowersox Associates, DLANDstudio, Electrosonic, and Randy Burkett.