Downtown Memphis Commission
The park is re-imagined in this first-place-winning design called ‘Handy Park: A Civic Space Revival’ from a group of designers from Kimley-Horn and brg3s.
Four teams won the Downtown Memphis Commission’s (DMC) contest to re-imagine Handy Park.
DMC opened the challenge in March, to help transform the underutilized Beale Street park into ”a first-class concert venue, public space, and Downtown amenity for our entire community.” The challenge was opened to get design ideas but the DMC is not obligated to build any of the designs from the contest.
Downtown Memphis Commission
The first-place design came from a group of designers from Kimley-Horn and brg3s. That group will take home $5,000.
Their design, called Handy Park: A Civic Space Revival opens the park up to Beale Street for higher pedestrian traffic, keeps the stage, gets rid of the stadium seating, and opens up that space around it for “performances of any size.” The design has new lights, art, and keeps the existing structures as a market of shops, restaurants, and rooftop bars.
”While this entire grand redesign cannot be completed for the $250,000 outlined in the Handy Park Design Challenge, a highly impactful portion of these design recommendations could be implemented through an initial phase of construction,” reads the designers notes. “Handy Park will be well on its way to becoming the celebrated ‘Home of the Blues.’”
Downtown Memphis Commission
A design from Allen & Hoshall called, “Handy Park: The Pivot Point” came in second place. “The Big Lawn” and “Covered in Blues,” designs from deisgnshop and UrbanARCH & Associates respectively, tied for third place.
Eight designs were submitted for the challenge. They were reviewed by the DMC and Beale Street management. The review team also showed the designs in a public meeting last week.
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“We were really encouraged by what we saw at the public meeting,” said DMC president Jennifer Oswalt. “The public input was valuable, and the designer-teams seemed to truly understand our desire to elevate the space and create a more welcoming environment.”
The DMC hopes to complete the Handy Park project by March 2019.
“I’m excited about seeing how several of these designs could work together,” said Jon Shivers, director of Beale Street. “Beale is the most iconic street in the world, it is only fitting that we rethink and reimagine what the park can be.”
To see all the designs, visit the challenge home page.
Downtown Memphis Commission
