Wiseacre Brewery

398 South B.B. King Blvd., Memphis, TN 38126 United States

Building Area (sf): 43,000 sf

Completion: April 2020

Architect of Record:

LRK

Tony Pellicciotti (Principal in Charge), Jason Weeks (Project Manager), Rebecca Courtney (Principal in Charge of Interiors), Frank Ricks, Caleb Sears, Greg Morrison, Blas Betancourt, Stewart Wild, Lauren Ricks, Fabiana Ford

• Owner/Client:
• General Contractor: Montgomery Martin Contractors
• Electrical: Structural Design Group, Inc. (Structural), HNA Engineering, pllc (MEP), ETI Corporation (Civil), LRK (Interior Designer), LRK and Kersey/Wike Associates, Inc. (Landscape Architecture), Rachel Briggs/Youngblood Studio as fabricator (Exterior art and murals), Rachel Briggs (Interior art and murals), Providence Process Solutions (Brewery Consultant), ACI Building Systems (Metal Building Fabricator), lo.specs LLC - Specifications Consultant
• Engineering:
  
• Other:
  
• Photography:
  Chad Mellon (01, 02, 04-10), LRK (03)
  

Using a limited palette of materials and structural modifications within a pre-engineered framework, this new brewery activates a prominent site on the edge of downtown Memphis.

The brewery had outgrown their current space as national demand for their product increased, and after an extensive, multi-year search for a site that met their needs and aspirations, selected a vacant lot on B.B. King Boulevard in downtown Memphis.

The project was designed around the constraints of a typical pre-engineered metal building system that also required vertical space for a line of 40-foot brewing tanks. The 43,000-sf building contains offices, brewing and bottling equipment, and showcases a taproom at the southwest corner. The taproom, lined with a 20-foot glazed corner with views out to the city, spills out onto a covered porch with an amoeba-inspired biergarten creating intimate spaces within the curved walls. The interior is bathed in seafoam green and highlights a custom concrete bar showcasing views to the massive steel brewing tanks through a wall of eight-foot plastic bubbles.

The building is illuminated by a pattern of translucent façade materials with lighted murals by a local artist on the exterior. Using a limited palette of materials and structural modifications within a pre-engineered framework, the building activates a prominent site on the edge of a renewed downtown Memphis.