LuniTECTs Tour: Chisca Re-Visit

Last week we met with our LuniTECTs group through the Memphis AIA. We've been a part of this group for over five years and absolutely love it. 

We toured Hotel Chisca in it's beginning construction stages last October. With one half of the building complete and the other half nearing completion it was fun to go back and see the progress. 

Above is a one bedroom apartment on the first floor of the original building. There were windows on two walls. The stairs lead to a loft like bedroom above the kitchen area. 

From the second floor terrace. There was a worker in that top center window and I was trying to capture it, but stupid iPhone camera couldn't handle such an artsy photo. Oh well. 

I didn't take any pictures in the newer side which is already complete and has some tenants. The project looks well done and I'm excited about the restaurants going in the first floor retail spaces. Yay for having another empty building revitalized! 

LuniTECTS Art Show

This past Friday night in conjunction with South Main Trolley Tour our local AIA office hosted a LuniTECTs members art show. We submitted photos taken at our events and they blew up and printed some of their favorites.







I had one that was included in the show. Above, top left hand corner.

It was a fun event and a great excuse to get the members together. After 5 years we've kind of gotten attached to one another. This event also encouraged me to think about taking different pictures at our future events.

LuniTECTS: University of Memphis Health Sciences Building

Last week Bryan, Charlie and I toured the newest building on the University of Memphis South Campus. It will be used by the nursing department as well as the speech and hearing program.



Our first stop was the anechoic room, a totally sound-proof room that will be used for research.



Above is the floor. It was a wire floor suspended over more of the sound-proof panels.



Charlie was probably the first infant in the infant testing room.



One of the labs for nurse training. These mannequins were pretty freaky.



On the third floor there was a roof top terrace looking out onto Park and Audubon Park.



Charlie enjoyed being the center of attention for a few minutes while we were in the library.



A play/research room in the speech and hearing department.

Initially I was not excited about this tour, but it ended up being a pretty interesting experience.

Hotel Chisca Tour

Last week we were able to tour the old Hotel Chisca with our AIA LuniTects group.

Bryan has long been obsessed with this building. A couple of years ago plans were announced to turn it into apartments and they have been doing steady work over the last couple of months. This is a huge building that is on Main St connecting the core downtown to the South Main area. It will be great to have it be functional and busy again.

It was from the Hotel Chisca that Elvis was first broadcast on a local radio show. They didn't point out that area to us, but there is nothing remaining from the studio regardless.



I didn't get a good picture of the building from the street, but above you can see the building from the courtyard area on the 2nd floor. This area used to be a ballroom, but will soon be an open common space for the tenants.









The inside of the original hotel (built around 1910, I think) is not in the best shape, but it was cool to see some features, like wallpaper and flooring.

The modern addition, added in 1960, is already well under way in the construction process. On the second floor the apartments were already framed out and we were able to get  sense of what the layouts would be.  I'm sure the original building apartments will be interesting to see once they are finished. The architect said they were going to try to preserve what was remaining, such as the wallpaper on the columns.

The building should be finished by next summer. I'm hoping that we get to go back and see the finished work!

Memphis Marine Hospital Tour

Bryan and I have been fascinated with this old building next to the Ornamental Metal Museum. We haven't heard anything in the news about it so we always talked about what it could be, or picture ourselves rescuing it. Or just sitting on the front porch.





This massive, old, abandoned building sits high up on the Mississippi River Bluff. Across the street are historic Indian mounds and next door is the Ornamental Metal Museum. It's a little out of the ways from Downtown Memphis and can be difficult to find. Half the time we go to this area (known as the French Fort area) we end up going to Arkansas.



Our architectural group, AIA LuniTects, was invited to tour the space last week. We were super excited to finally get a glimpse of this building.



And it's surrounding structures. The building above was original to the property and was used as a nurses building. We weren't able to go in as it is structurally unsafe.



Through that opening straight ahead you can access the grounds of the Metal Museum and one of the best view of the bluff.



A glimpse inside the nurses building.



Inside the hospital - which was a merchant marine hospital, not the armed forces marine hosptial - it was pretty rough. While the structure is mostly concrete and in good condition, paint is chipping, ceiling tiles crumbling, broken glass every where, and tons of salvaged materials from other places stored inside. Lighting was bad, so forgive the blurry photos.







We met with an owner/developer of the grounds and an architect who has designed future plans for the building and surrounding area. The plan is to turn the old hospital into apartments or condos. They have big plans for the whole area that will be exciting as well. This room, on the second floor, has the best river view. Mom has declared this apartment hers.





This is the same room, just a wider angle.



The back part of the building, which was actually the original part of the hospital, had more hospital-ly rooms.



A massive light.



A place for things sanitary or unsanitary.



At some point the hospital was owned and run by the Army National Guard.



Also on the grounds was a maintenance building pictured below.



The big windows in this building remind me of the apartment we lived in at the Lenox School. I think something similar would be perfect here.

The plans to renovate this area start next year when the city has agreed to make the area more accessible. The greater plans also include renovations of several other abandoned buildings near by, a river front restaurant, and new buildings.

I can't wait to see how this area develops. It is certainly an under utilized area of Memphis that deserves some attention.

Downtown Urban Art Tour with LuniTects

Some photos....








Our guide from the Urban Art Commission






This is one I took with the cell. This is the big silver thing in front of the Cannon. Did you know there are seats in there? And that there are some great acoustics inside?


One aspect of this tour that Bryan and I both enjoyed was seeing a different part of Downtown than the one we normally visit.






We also got to ride the trolley along Riverside.

Autozone Park with LuniTECTs

Last week Mom, Dad, and I toured Autozone Park with AIA LuniTECTs. We toured the FedEx Forum last year and I loved the behind scenes look we got at the building. While maybe not the most architectually interesting building, it's cool to get a different look at a building we see at a different time of year when its vastly different.


Underground they have a practice swing area. Not sure what its officially called, but this is the only minor league team with an underground batting cage.


We also got to go in the dugout. It was pretty cool seeing what the player see, leaning on the rail, and walking out to the field. Yes I touched the field.


Then we went upstairs into the media room. This is the organ they play during the games. Fun fact: the guy who normally plays the organ is a FedEx pilot.

Then we toured a few of the suites.

This is one that was decorated like a Mississippi Delta Juke Joint. On the other wall they had several tables with red and white checked table clothes and miscellaneous delta art. I could totally enjoy a cold one in there.

We didn't make it to a Redbirds game last year, but this tour definitely made me want to go to a few games this spring.