Design Management for Shelby Farms Park

The Hyde Family Foundation; Memphis, TN
 
Shelby Farms is a 4,500-acre site a few miles outside of Memphis, Tennessee.  The site, a former penal farm, is the county’s largest park, but it lacks the activities and programming of a great park.  Therefore, the Shelby County and a group of private foundations sought to transform the park.  In order to manage the design process, they retained the services of Alex Garvin & Associates to create the vision and program for the new park.  Working with key stakeholders, the firm developed an RFP to solicit the world’s best landscape architects to design the park.  The commission for a master plan was awarded to the New York City-based landscape architecture firm field operations (James Corner). AGA also persuaded the group to create a non-profit management entity, Shelby Farms Park Conservancy, which was eventually designated by the Shelby County Commission to run the park  When complete, the revitalized Shelby Farms Park will be integrated with adjacent neighborhood, connect to the downtown through a broader open space system, and create regional destinations for residents and visitors of the Memphis area.