Shelby Farms Park Conservancy has issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for teams to transform 4,500 acres at the center of the Memphis region into "America's great 21st century park."

The process will result in the selection of three finalists for the master planning project by Nov. 12 and selection of the winner of the "Shelby Farms Park Innovative Design Competition" by April 9.

The winner of the competition will develop a master plan estimated to cost $450,000. Deadline for responses to the RFQ is October 10.

Alex Garvin, prominent urban planner, educator and author, is helping with the selection of the master planner, and said that the Conservancy is seeking responses from "firms, large and small; local, national and international; prominent and unknown."

The three finalists for the master plan will participate in the "Shelby Farms Park Innovative Design Competition." The competition will be different from standard design competitions because it will be an "open process to produce a design that is exceptional, attractive to the public, and the design teams will be working directly with the Conservancy and key stakeholders through the process to develop their plans and designs," said Garvin.

The finalists - each of whom will receive a $25,000 honorarium and travel expenses - will have until Feb. 25 to develop designs for the park.

Criteria for selecting the finalists are quality of work, including creation of extraordinary environments in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, sensitivity to sense of place, connection beyond the immediate site, financial and environmental sustainability; innovative and outstanding experience in designing parks and public spaces such as sense of arrival, circulation, biodiversity, and adaptability for the future; leadership; people skills, communications and public engagement.

Questions about the RFQ can be emailed to [email protected].

Related Link: Shelby Farms Park Master Plan RFQ

For more information contact:

Laura Adams
Shelby County Park Conservancy
6489 Mullins Station Rd.
Memphis
TN 38134
United States

Phone: 901-767-PARK
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.shelbyfarmspark.org