The very model of a modern major park
Famed American photographer Ansel Adams once said "A good photograph is knowing where to stand." Any paparazzo worth his or her wide angle lens would tell you the same. Perspective can make or break a photo. Let's be real with each other-if it's a poignant picture you're looking to grab, you can't just sit around wait for Kodak moments.
There are currently three very large and very heavy architectural models in route to Memphis as I type this. And depending on where you stand and how firmly your shoes are tied, these designs could really knock your socks off.
The models are the result of your input mated with the talent of the most brilliant minds in landscape architecture, plus foam core and Plexiglas. They each contain tons of tiny scale recommendations of what the future of Shelby Farms Park might look like. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell us what excites you about each plan. You can tell us what turns you off, too. The final Master Plan for the park can contain any elements of all three plans, or none at all. At the end of this process, one of the three competing teams-field operations, Hargeaves Associates or Tom Leader Studio-will be hired to come up with a master plan for the park. And a master plan will help us anticipate and control changes in a way that respects the environment and makes the most of our natural resources.
Park people, mark your iCaledars for March 6 at 10am. That's when we go live here on the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy site with photos of the models, artwork of the plans, a video and an online questionnaire giving you the opportunity to tell us what's on your mind. I hope you'll drop in and check out the online exhibition (I tossed around the idea of calling it an e-exhibition, but that's just silly). I hope you won't get too lazy on me, substituting seeing the real deal for checking out the web version. Do both. I think you'll need to share breathing space with the models to really get the full effect of the whosits and whatsits on these babies. I hope at least one model includes a tiny plastic Jen with a little laptop sitting in the park.
Come on out to our three exhibition sites* and tell us where you stand.
Here's where to catch the exhibition:
March 6-31
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
3030 Poplar Avenue
Monday-Thursday: 9am-9pm
Friday-Saturday: 9am-6pm
Sunday: 1pm-5pm
Shelby Farms Park
500 North Pine Lake Drive
Monday-Friday: 8am-5pm
Cossitt Library
33 North Front Street
Monday-Friday: 10am-5pm
*A caveat: There is only one set of 3-D models. These are big honkin' beasts, you guys, and we can only move them once. They'll be at the Central Library March 6-15 and at Shelby Farms Park March 17-31. All three exhibitions will contain a video, renderings and presentation boards and the opportunity to provide feedback.
