IMPOSSIBLE STL Studio
2020-10-18 • Sam Fox School
Board featuring a macro and micro design proposal developed by Dongzhe Tao and Haihan Qu for the studio. The proposal was named a Runner-Up for the 2020 APA Missouri Awards’ Outstanding Student Project award.
IMPOSSIBLE STL was an interdisciplinary, systems-based urban design studio that reimagined St. Louis as a laboratory for creative thinking around sustainable innovation in the food system. The studio was led by associate professor Linda C. Samuels and lecturer L. Irene Compadre in fall 2019.
Working at the macro scale of the mega-region, students mapped resource interconnectivity that would make the Midwest a compelling home for relocating the Impossible Foods Headquarters, production, and distribution facility. Working at the micro scale of the franchise restaurant, students developed proposals to further catalyze these fast food prototypes into beneficial, local neighborhood amenities.
A paired macro and micro design proposal developed by Dongzhe Tao and Haihan Qu for the studio was named a Runner-Up for the 2020 APA Missouri Awards’ Outstanding Student Project award.
Addressing mutual benefits for the region, the city, and the company, this video makes the case that if Impossible Foods wants to meet its mission of saving the earth, the first step should be to relocate to the midwest, to St. Louis in particular. Using research and design solutions from the fall 2019 Master of Urban Design studio, we present ten reasons why St. Louis is the ideal location and how design can support the goals of this ambitious company.