SCO South Entrance and Pavilion

1225 Madison Avenue , Memphis, TN 38104 United States

Building Area (sf): 4,045 sf site area (unconditioned)

Completion: September 2023

The project enriches the campus identity through the renovation of a key entrance with a new material – weathering steel – rigorously deployed, revealing moments of refuge and connectivity.

The project was conceived out of a client’s need, driven by maintenance and non-compliance. Originally, a corner stair splaying in two directions provided access from the corner of the south classroom building to an expansive parking area. Over time, however, concrete began to crack in addition to failing connections from the stair railing to the concrete stair itself. As well, Southern access directly to the primary parking area offered walk surfaces that exceeded minimum slopes further presenting a hazard for pedestrians.

An intervention borne out of identity and hierarchy was conceived to ground and broaden the identity of the campus by providing a south anchor to the classroom building entrance. As a primary entrance used daily for administration, faculty, staff, and many students, the design sought to utilize weathering steel and landscape planters to warm and soften the brutalist concrete palette that dominates throughout this campus. Carefully scaled axial walls dematerialize to a porous screen enclosure while opening to the celebrated landscape. A rigorous rhythm of the picketed shade pavilion provides louvered protection from the southern exposure while negotiating an experience of connection to context and refuge in solace. This low maintenance intervention provides scale, detail, delight and discovery through a simple deployment of weathering steel, concrete, and landscaping. The project establishes a series of spaces for campus patrons to extend their daily options for places to connect with nature and experience the outdoors on a clinical higher education campus.

all photography by archimania