Riverboat Terminal
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The Stage Gauge is designed as a landmark to terminate Beale Street that tracks the elevation of the river from month to month, day to day. The pontoon type marine facility makes use of the gangway structure to trace the movement of the river’s elevation. Collectively, the image of the gangway structures could be seen as a “flotilla of sails”. When the river stage is low, the sails appear to be in motion. When the river is high, the sails are static or calm. The gangway ramp lengths are designed to operate as accessible routes between river elevations from 230′ to 185′. This would allow the facility to be open over 95% of the time throughout the year.At the termination of the Beale Street axis is the civic plaza that doubles as the bus and taxi loading area. A glass canopy shelters tourists as they move past the shoreside facility to their respective covered gangway.The shoreside docking facility is arranged so that the marine facility is not obscured looking either from Beale Street or the plaza.
Above the shoreside facility is the elevated portion of Tom Lee Park, a paved public space that is connected to the park with a landscaped slope. When the docking facility is not use the canopied area becomes a covered public embankment and promenade along the water’s edge. Where local residents and visitors can sit or walk while they contemplate the Mississippi River through the web of the New Memphis Riverfront |
© Standing Architecture