About the Architecture
Memphis exists because of the bluff.
When the city's founders arrived in 1819, they chose the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff specifically because it was one of the only places along this stretch of the Mississippi where the land rose high enough above the river to be safe from flooding — 40 to 50 feet above the floodplain, with a rare shelf of sandstone below that made it the only viable commercial landing for miles in either direction. When they laid out the city, they extended a grid of streets toward the water and set the bluff aside as a public promenade — Mississippi Row — dedicated to the people of Memphis permanently.
That vision went mostly unrealized for two centuries.
Herzog & de Meuron designed the building to complete what the founders started — extending the city's street grid all the way to the river, opening public access to the bluff, and finally finishing the Bluff Walk that has been imagined but never built.
A Building Grounded in Place
Memphis Art Museum was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning firm Herzog & de Meuron, with Memphis-based architect of record archimania and landscape design by OLIN. Every material decision in the building is rooted in this place. The brick exterior recalls the warm clay tones of the Mississippi riverbanks. The mass timber structure — one of the first of its kind in a major American public building — is made from Southern Yellow Pine sourced from Dothan, Alabama, honoring Memphis' legacy as the Hardwood Capital of the World. The timber beams were prefabricated off-site, assembled on-site, and left fully exposed throughout the lobby and gallery spaces.
The entire street-level perimeter is glass, designed so passersby can see directly into the galleries, lobby, and courtyard.
"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 an historic city. The result will be a museum that's both in Memphis and of Memphis, a landmark that couldn't be anywhere else."
- Jacques Herzog, co-founder of Herzog & de Meuron
A World-Class Team
Herzog & de Meuron was selected through an international design competition in 2019. archimania, led by founder Todd Walker FAIA and partner Barry Alan Yoakum FAIA, brings deep experience designing cultural spaces in the American South. Construction is led by Grinder, Taber & Grinder, a third-generation Memphis firm with more than 55 years of experience building landmark civic projects in the city.
At 123,500 square feet, the building expands gallery space by 50% and adds six times more publicly accessible art-filled spaces than the current museum. All public amenities — galleries, lobby, cafe, store, education studios, and theater — are located on a single street-level floor, creating a fully accessible, intuitive visitor experience. The rooftop adds two acres of public sculpture garden above the bluff, with views of the Mississippi River that have remained essentially unchanged for two centuries.
