I'm the architect of the "triumphal arch" scheme. Thanks for the discussion of it; I can't say I disagree with the criticisms. At this point it is merely an idea, developed at a crude schematic level and pasted over a found photograph of the existing building. (As you can see, I didn't even take time to edit out the existing building entry, which someone in an earlier post suggested might be for an ATM vestibule.)
I've posted below a modest update that incorporates a structural truss to support the architrave. It is still well short of a proper scheme and leaves the criticisms unanswered. I agree it would be awful if the arch ended up looking like a hollowed out relic of a dead industry. I was aware of this possibility when I created it, but I figured it would be better to get a rough version of the idea out there. Once you begin considering the various activities it could support, it becomes possible to flesh it out in the imagination as an architecturally richer building that exists for its own reasons.
I think that programming the structure with activities that get people to move up through it, not simply through/beneath it, would help make the currently blank walls less blank. Food vendors, performers, a tourist information booth, and other types of street/park life could animate the ground plane. A screen could be lowered from the top of the proscenium opening to show movies on summer evenings. A demountable stage could accommodate musical performances, stage plays, political events, and graduations. And when the Twins or Vikings win their next championship, it could host the rally. (As a once long-suffering Red Sox/Patriots fan, I know anything is possible.) At the very least, the structure could house public restrooms, although that might add insult to an already injured newspaper.
That said, I don't know if a park on this site will work. One can "plant" activities in a park as a strategy for animating it, but as a primary strategy it doesn't get you very far. A park succeeds first and foremost when it has incidental users--people who crisscross it in the normal course of the day. But how many people will have reason to incidentally crisscross this space? This part of the city is underpopulated, and the area east of the park is a no man's land. I'm not sure that several thousand new residents on one edge of it will make for a significant enough critical mass--precisely because they're on one edge.
However, if the park is going to happen, I think the triumphal arch scheme needs to be seriously considered. I'll continue to develop it as I have time, and I welcome more thoughts on it. Thanks again to all.
![Image](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3Wpd2JeYCiw/Uo-frF2ZQQI/AAAAAAAAAY8/yBB6wAaJEfE/s1600/Star-Trib+triumphal+arch+w+side+window+glass+deeper+truss.JPG)