Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Day 9 | Mud Island Park and Ritchie Smith Associates



As the last day in Memphis came to a close, the professors were feeling generous, and let us sleep in an extra hour (Generosity, or was Mud Park not open until 10am?)

We spent our morning at Mud Island Park, an island located between the Mississippi River, and Wolf River Harbor, conveniently a few blocks from our hotel location. The park has restricted access, and only a few ways to enter.





Along with a large outdoor amphitheater, the main emphasis of the park was a large re-creation of the Mississippi River and it’s surrounding topography and land formations – 30 inches of the rendition create a single mile of the Mississippi.


After a brief lecture on the history and construction of the park, we were let lose to draw a two-page spread, capturing the essence of the park, skyline, design details and flaws.




The second part of our day was spent visiting The Landscape Architecture Firm, Ritchie Smith Associates. We swapped our hiking boots and adventure gear with some clean, spiffy attire. The firm was small, but had enough plans, samples, and books to fill Parks Library.

Ritchie Smith has worked on numerous projects that include places we visited while in Memphis including Greenway Trail, Courtyard Square, Riverfront Landing, and many other designs and installments throughout the city.


It was a valuable experience visiting Ritchie Smith Associates- to imagine a sort of place we may work in someday in our future.



Hannah and Lauren

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