Memphis, Tennessee, USA
“We’ve aimed to design a welcoming civic landmark that upon approach explains itself visually and from the inside reminds the visitor where he or she is in relation to a legendary river and a historic city,” states Jacques Herzog, co-founder of Herzog & de Meuron.
“The result will be a museum that’s both in Memphis and of Memphis, a landmark that couldn’t be anywhere else.”
Herzog & de Meuron together with the local practice Memphis-based archimania have envisioned the new $105 million, the 112,000-square-foot museum as a building that possesses five distinct facades including its roof, which will feature landscaping and an accessible deck where visitors can take in sweeping river and city views.
Located atop a promontory overlooking the Mississippi River in one of the oldest sections of Bluff City, the new riverfront museum will rise near historic Beale Street on Cotton Row.
According to the architects, the new museum building is envisioned as a glass pavilion with textured, earthen cladding and wood elements.
Situated on a bluff directly above a historic cobblestone river landing, the museum’s base will be “forged” out of the ridge and support the upper part of the low-slung building while providing tucked-away space for parking and other uses.
As a volume, it extends the city’s original street grid to the river by way of a set of steps leading down to a viewing platform, where the building mass frames vistas of the Mississippi River and wetlands beyond.
The museum’s galleries will all be located on a single level to provide a more seamless viewing experience for museum-goers showcasing the Museum’s permanent collections including the famed Samuel H. Kress Collection of Renaissance and Baroque paintings.
Focus galleries are organized in a continuous, looping fashion around a wood-clad central courtyard that will serve as an “outdoor room” for a variety of planned programming and individual visitor experiences.
In addition to courtyard access, the galleries will be linked to the main entrance lobby in several spots while the education and family-dedicated spaces are also adjacent to the main level’s exhibition areas. ‘
At street level, there are plans for a cafe, museum store, and large gallery for temporary exhibits.
Above the main entrance is a 175-seat theater and an adjacent terrace that opens out to Front Street at roof level.
A west-facing wall of glass provides an overlook of the museum’s diagonal sweep that can be obscured with exterior shading and interior drapery to provide an opaque backdrop for interior performances or it can transform into a dramatic screen facing out into the courtyard.
At the right time of day, a visitor will be able to gaze out the window and catch the setting sun casting a golden light on the courtyard below.”
Currently, the Brooks Museum is located at the historic 342-acre Overton Park is within a U.S. National Landmark-designated Beaux-Arts structure designed by James Gamble Rogers that has been thrice expanded in 1955, 1973, and 1989. The historic Rogers’ 105-year-old Overton Park home will be repurposed.
The new museum will also anchor a larger riverfront redevelopment scheme underway in the city.
When completed, the relocated Brooks Museum will anchor a cultural corridor that’s in the works along a six-mile-long swath of the Memphis riverfront.
The city’s park-studded, recreational trail-laced riverfront reactivation plan was developed by Studio Gang and SCAPE for the Mayor’s Riverfront Task Force and the Memphis River Parks Partnership.
The new museum is scheduled to open in 2026.
Project: Memphis Brooks Art Museum
Architects: Herzog & de Meuron
Architects of Record: archimania
Client: Memphis Brooks Art Museum
