Pruitt Igoe was a public housing project built on 1955 in Saint Louis in Missouri. It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect who actually designed the twin towers. The project was a “response” to slums where low income people were experiencing hygiene problems and additionally to the possibility that these slums could negatively impact the area around them. So the stacking of people were planned to be done in 33 high rise buildings.
It took less than 20 years for the demolition to start which means that the decay of them where already started..
Few years after construction, neglect, crime and vandalism started to rose at the project. Elevators or any other architectural element that might seem helpful after a while turned into dangerous zones. It is already known what Jacobs was describing at her book concerning the indoor “public” spaces like corridors or dark areas like stairs can become possible spots for mugging. It is also interesting to mention that the city was planning to position black and white people in different blocks!!
So it is true that this project represent the failure of a specific approach to housing problems as it became a victim of its own architectural discipline.
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