Will World-Class Architecture Bring Civic Pride Back to Memphis? 

Spurred by Herzog & de Meuron’s new art museum and a rethought waterfront park by Studio Gang, city leaders turn to design to make a downtown for “everyone.” 

 Tom Lee Park in downtown Memphis is being redesigned by the architect Jeanne Gang with Kate Orff of SCAPE to transform community life along the Mississippi. It will have new walkways and plantings and will emphasize the heroism of the park’s namesake Tom Lee, who rescued drowning passengers from a capsized steamboat in 1925 and is memorialized in a statue. 

Credit…Whitten Sabbatini for The New York Times