The Vision
The Riverfront Development Corporation, in conjunction with the Memphis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Memphis) and the UrbanArt Commission, hosted a first-ever international design competition for a major public/private capital project in Memphis’ history. RDC was seeking design visions for this project—at the foot of Historic Beale Street—in a comprehensive reshaping of the city’s Mississippi riverfront. The first stage of the competition was open to all architects, landscape architects, planners, urban designers, and public artists. A panel of world renowned architects, urban planners and landscape architects was assembled in Memphis to jury the competition. Five finalists from stage one were awarded cash prizes to develop their ideas during an invited second stage. The jury panel selected one design team from the five finalists to develop its proposal for implementation.
Designs for Beale Street Landing were submitted by 170 designers, architects, artists, and other professionals representing 20 countries worldwide and 28 states nationwide. A public exhibition of the submittals was covered regionally and nationally by the design trade publications and local media. The design competition itself received a great deal of national and international publicity, including features in Architecture Record and mentions in the New York Times. In addition, we were featured in an exhibit in New York City on design competitions from around the world. Memphis and its riverfront was the focus of much attention as a result of this effort.
As the first major piece of the riverfront master plan to be implemented, this project will inevitably become the city’s icon, form the backdrop for the world’s largest barbeque festival in Tom Lee Park, be the departure and arrival point for thousands of river travelers, and provide a destination point for individuals and groups to celebrate the spot where the world’s most powerful river engages the Mid-South’s urban home of the blues.
And the Winner Is…
River Outlook, submitted by Javier Rivarola, Gustavo Trosman, & Ricardo Norton of RTN Architects from Buenos Aires, Argentina in the Shaping the New American Riverfront, international design competition. Construction began in Summer 2005 with the widening of the mouth of the Wolf River Harbor.
This grand civic ending will serve as a passenger and pedestrian center for small excursion boats and docking place for larger vessels. Civic endings are common nationwide where city streets end at waterways, but this project represents the first such place in Memphis.
River Outlook will help Memphis overcome this long neglected oversight in civic beauty by executing this design where Beale Street meets Tom Lee Park and the Cobblestone Landing. The arrangement consists of a series of landscaped overlooks formed on the ramped slope of the river’s edge creating spaces for casual and formal use. These isles or outlooks, connected by pedestrian bridges from one to the other, are designed to be in the water at high levels and are buttressed to withstand the forces of the river. An upper plaza containing small commercial space and a lower floating dock completes the composition. This design best synthesizes the cobblestones and Tom Lee Park, and invites the city to the river.