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The Pruitt-Igoe Myth Summary

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In Katherine G. Bristol 's “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth”, Bristol attempts to debunk the myth that has been associated with the failure and demolition of a housing project from 1954 to 1976 in St. Louis called Pruitt-Igoe. After carefully presenting and supporting her reasons for why she believes the failure of this project was due to its design rather than structural aspect, I have come to understand and overall agree with Katherine Bristol 's claim that design of Pruitt-Igoe was the primary reason for the demolition and overall removal of the housing project. Bristol manages to successfully support her statement by offering political, social, economic, and design issues that played a crucial role in the downwards spiral of Pruitt-Igoe. Being part of a postwar re-development plan, the design for this housing project encountered social and economic issues right from the start. As Bristol mentions, initial plans for Pruitt-Igoe consisted of a high-rise, mid-rise, and walk-up structure, but due to its budget constraints, its design was constantly undergoing changes which eventually led to its identical eleven-story final proposal. Besides its structural design, this …show more content…

All of these conditions pointed to an overall, larger and broader design problem with Pruitt-Igoe. Throughout her article, Bristol provides information on certain elements or features of Pruitt-Igoe that, although once praised by many writers and architects, later were acclaimed to be part of the problem for this project. Bristol specifically mentions writer James Bailey, who claims that exposed steam pipes that often burned tenants, unsafe windows that cause the several deaths, unused laundry rooms, and unsafe, unused, and often robbed storage rooms, all are crucial elements that eventually chased tenants out of Pruitt-Igoe. Another two failed design elements that are mentioned on several occasions, are the skip-stop elevators & galleries that became frequent additional locations of crime and

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