Frontline Townhomes

455 S Front Street, Memphis, TN 38103 United States

Building Area (sf): 75,740 sf

Completion: March 20202

Architect of Record:

archimania

archimania

• Owner/Client:
• General Contractor: Woodard Properties
• Electrical: Ellendale Electric - Electrical Consultants
  CSA Structures - Engineering Consultants
• Engineering:
  
• Other:
  
• Photography:
  firm
  

Located in a 1.25 acre urban industrial site, a dilapidated warehouse and storage building were removed to support multi-family housing fostering connectivity and community.

The architect and owner/developer took a 1.25-acre industrial site between a vibrant arts district and the Mississippi River bluff and designed an urban community unique to the downtown area that creates new connections within the historic district. The 30 single-family zero-lot-line townhomes promote a more sustainable, community focused development. Because the project completely fills an urban block, the site and orientation is critical and therefore the building footprint hugs the site’s perimeter with an amount of relief analogous to the surrounding context.

A traditional front-porch narrative was introduced fostering connectivity and community within a typology that often supports isolation and indoor living. A 27’ tall courtyard with textural landscaping and various levels of undulating walls are at its heart. The program addresses urban renewal, density, and inner-city housing by drawing on the relationships between the buildings, site, and neighborhood. The resulting program balances privacy and connectivity through an undulation of forms and landscape.

The economical site layout is organized into three distinct rows, each with unique relationships to exterior space and the city. The buildings are expressed as a series of stacked volumes clad in zinc grey box-rib metal at levels 1 and 2, and topped by bright yellow volumes of fiber cement board and batten. The 3rd level disengages from the rigor of the contextual urban street front and imbues the streetscape with an informal, dynamic character. The rhythmically undulating façade, everchanging with light and shadow, remains the primary spatial and visual driver, with materials that are inherently sustainable.