The South Main Design Challenge is an initiative by the Downtown Memphis Commission to generate creative ideas and conceptual plans for seven vacant or underutilized spaces and buildings in the South Main neighborhood.  For more information about the challenge, visit the website here.

Our team, 8-trax studios worked on a proposal for the South Main Buffalo Mural lot.

About us

8 TRAX STUDIOS
Ben Avant: SMA Chump; South Main Business Owner; Lighting guy; Father of One
Cat Normoyle: Educator with MCA; designer; urban enthusiast; dog walker
Matt Seltzer: Architect with archimania; doesn’t eat condiments; has a penchant for the coffee

About our proposal

The South Main Buffalo Mural and the hidden open space behind it create a unique place in a unique neighborhood. It holds a remarkable moment; an experience, for locals and visitors alike, in its current configuration as a derelict lot, a canvas for public art, and a gigantic city-sized planter for a spontaneous garden.

The South Main Design Challenge asks for concepts and visions that transform vacant lots into community assets that live out their potential by strengthening the South Main neighborhood. The Buffalo Mural Lot is one of the few Challenge sites that, arguably, is a community asset in its present state. The danger in “developing” the Buffalo Mural Lot is paradoxical: by bringing a new vision to the site, you can kill the magic of the place that’s already there.

Rather than erasing the innate qualities of the Buffalo Mural Lot, we choose to harness and focus them in order to better share the magic with the neighborhood. Our short term concept and long term vision for the Buffalo Mural Lot use the same tactics to accomplish the same vision: a pocket park that is cultivated by vegetation and the visual and performing arts. We believe a park in this location makes sense from an urban and economic development standpoint: a park ties back to the the larger network of open, green spaces throughout downtown and South Main, and is a perfect complement to the open lawn at nearby Founders Park. A park can be developed more rapidly and inexpensively than a building, and will generate urban equity that can increase the value of adjacent sites slated for development.

Keep the Facades
They tie the site and its history back to the street and the train tracks, and create the surprise of a hidden garden.

Keep the secret, keep the garden
The wild, woolly spontaneous garden tells us Nature reclaimed this spot before the rest of us did. Although we think the addition of seasonal color and specimen trees can help shape the park, we believe the planting forms need to remain informal, organic and natural.

Bring the Sidewalk Inside (to the Outside)
Make a seamless, accessible connection from the sidewalk and street into the park. The shift from sidewalk to park can be signaled by a material (from concrete to deck).

Activate the site 24/7
The park has a presence now during the day. Enhance that experience by adding an observation deck. Make the park more urban by activating it at night.

Keep the art, and bring more, and don’t apply it – integrate it
The newer elements of art and design can intertwine with the landscape and building fragments. Sustainable funding Use the space as a evening music venue, proceeds go back into the park.

The work will be on display on the ground floor commercial storefront at 431 S. Main Street during the South Main Trolley Tour on Friday, April 26 2013. The exhibition will run from 6pm-9pm.