Studio Gang and SCAPE have shared new photos following the completion of work on their $61 million Tom Lee Park redevelopment project in Memphis, Tennessee.
The 31-acre riverfront space puts Memphis squarely in league with a host of contemporary restorative urban green space projects slated for other major American cities, including San Francisco's new Presidio Tunnel Tops and the partially completed Freshkills Park in Staten Island.
Its ecological restoration work and accessibility to the residents of one of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods make it an instant industry standard-bearer. The project creates a connection between downtown and the Mississippi River, also providing new ADA-approved access at three different points for the first time.
Studio head Jeanne Gang says: “Insights and input from the Memphis community were essential to this project from the very beginning, to make sure the park’s programming reflects how Memphians from across the city want to enjoy their riverfront. With their help, we’ve created a destination that is down-to-earth but also beautiful and ecologically healthy, where we hope everyone feels welcome to relax, exercise, play, and come together along the Mississippi.”
“Tom Lee Park’s design was inspired by the dynamic flow patterns of the Mississippi and the desire to revive the river corridor. We have rehabilitated the soils to nurture native plantings and planted over 1,000 trees where there were less than 50, providing essential shade, more biodiversity, and habitat for pollinators and birds,” SCAPE’s founder Kate Orff added.
The design includes several architectural interventions made from mass timber. Its centerpiece, the 16,000-square-foot Sunset Canopy, serves as a year-round space for community activities. Public art installations from Theaster Gates and Memphis native James Little surround and inhabit the Canopy, which was recently dedicated to honor the memory of Tyre Nichols. A 20,000-square-foot river-themed playground space by Monstrum completes the activities offerings further on.
Studio Gang Principal of Urbanism, Gia Biagi, says the park’s programming “reflects the ideas and vision voiced by the community itself.” The plan calls for a division of space into four zones: Civic Gateway, Active Core, Community Batture, and Habitat Terraces. The open green spaces connect through a plan whose form is supposedly inspired by the “dynamism” of the river.
The Tom Lee Park project was initiated in 2017 and included contributions from their brainchild Youth Design Leadership program, which was launched in 2018 to provide opportunities for local high schoolers to contribute substantively to the built environment of their home city.
Studio Gang is also working to complete the master plan for a new Enterprise Research Campus (ERC) at Harvard University.
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