Jump to content

The Great American Pyramid


idlewild

The Great American Pyramid  

46 members have voted

  1. 1. If you could choose the option, what would you turn the Pyramid into?

    • Bass Pro Shop
      4
    • Aquarium
      15
    • Village Roadshow sound stage
      3
    • Theme Park
      3
    • Mall
      2
    • Cultural Center
      8
    • Hotel/Themed Restaurants/Shopping
      7
    • Rent it out to a mega Church
      1
    • Other, please explain
      3


Recommended Posts


  • Replies 35
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I agree i think most of the building should be use as a museum. (Example Chicago's huge museum which for some reason cant think of the name) But I think it also needs to have a large imax and we need to use the observation deck as an upscale resturant and viewing area. I also think it could handle some sort of art museum. I don't wont to see my cities landmark being turned into a over-sized fishing store, when there is the possiblity of turning it into a world-class attraction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First off, what memphis needs to do is bring back the wonders series. From what I understand, it was one of the best run cultural events in the country. It had a perminent home in the pyramid and therefore an area should be sectioned off for holding these exhibits in the future. I do disagree with the wonders organization presenting the history of the motorcycle as one of their events. It did not fit in with the likes of Catherine the Great, the Etruscans, or the Ramesses the Great, among others. I think that exhibit was doomed from the beginning.

Even though I didn't and still don't agree with Bass Pro Shop as the main option for the pyramid, it could be constructed and run in an effecient way that is good for the city. The city lies in the middle of the Mississippi fly way. This the area that most of the ducks fly through when they fly south from canada. People come from all over the country to hunt in arkansas, especially stuttgart. There is a reason Ducks Unlimited is headquartered here. The Bass Pro Shop could be designed in way that is educational for the public and profitable through sales of merchandise, etc. I am kind of visioning something similar to what ducks unlimited did with their Outdoors festival, which I think would have been more of a success if the city did not distance itself from the event. We don't need to deny that we are an outdoor city; I think that should be one of the selling points of the city. How many cities in the country does a river separate a big city and nothing but the outdoors. I guess I am visioning Ducks Unlimited and Bass Pro Shop teaming up together to teach about land conservation while selling good outdoor products at the same time.

Due to the size of the pyramid, it is hard to imagine what kind of museum could go in to it. They could pontentially make it a mini smithsonian. Taking a little bit of everything within the smithsonian museums and putting it in the pyramid to give basically a cliff notes version of everything that has happened over the history of the earth. Nothing too in depth, but good enough to give you an idea of where we have come from, kind of a natural history, ancient history, renaisance period, modern history all thrown in to one. Maybe even put a small aquirium in there too. It would keep people in memphis for a couple of days and even then they probably wouldn't see all the exhibits.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that something that is public, that is cultural, that is educational, and that helps raise the intellect of the Memphis community is probably most appropriate for the Pyramid. God knows Memphis needs to improve its education and intellectual capital as well as attract creative, intelligent people to move to the city to increase its culture.

I think an Aquarium/Herpetarium would do that. I think a musuem would also so this might also be a good fit. But giving it to retail and a Bass Pro Shop (excuse me for saying) is so Redneck for a skyline icon like the Pyramid. It shows short sightedness on Memphis' part and its inability to think longer term.

A museum is an interesting thought but you have to wonder how you could fill it with exhibits. So let's give a vision for that in our discussion. Is it possible for Memphis to consolidate some of the best of our many smaller museums around the city? It sounds interesting to me but I doubt museums like the Univ Of Mem would give up their Egyptian collection, Dixon would give up its art, or Peabody Place give up its Jade. Still, does it seem unreasonable to have our local museums send rotating exhibits to the Pyramid where they are given credit and in a sense free advertising to get people to explore the rest of their collection? The Chicago museum is called the Field Museum. DC has its Smithsonian. Memphis has nothing on this level. Not even close. In fact, of all the cities Memphis competes with (Nashville, Charlotte, St. Louis, etc) how does Memphis compare? I tend to think it compares poorly. The Pink Palace does not cut it. Yet if we build a museum, hire a good curator, have rotating contributions from our smaller local museums, I think it would be a wonderful attraction and good central place to advertise Memphis. A strong partnership with our top colleges and universties would also be beneficial to both museum and educational institutions. A museum should partner with CBU, Rhodes, and especially the UofM and maybe even Ole Miss and Arkansas. You could have sections for art, music, history, etc both from Memphis and from outside Memphis (think global). Think exhibits from Ancient Egypt, Jade from China, Cotton history from our past, Civil War history, Music memorabilia, etc. as well as rotating exhibits from other traveling museums (things that might have been considered Wonders exhibits). New York has the Met (Metropolitan Museum). We need a Memphis Met (Officially, The Metropolitan Museum of Memphis).

Also I still like the idea of an aquarium. AquariMemphis was being designed by a group with experience doing aquariums around the world. The architecture was by local company Archimania. It was a world class plan. Think Boston, Osaka, Vancouver, Monterrey, Atlanta. It is a shamed Memphis took a world class vision and thought small and went for "Redneck" by wanting a Bass Pro Retail shop. I don't care if they put a couple fish tanks in there so people can test out their fishing lures on bass and trout. That is not an my idea of an aquarium. An aquarium should take people to a place few hardly get to see. Chattanooga is centered on fresh water. Memphis would be saltwater. It would have exhibits from the oceans around the world. Places most Memphis citizens never see. Instead, Memphis wants Bass Pro. That philosophy tends to show Memphis lacks vision. As long as Memphis does not aspire to be truly great it will always be the backwater town it always says it does not want to be. It chooses to settle for mediocrity. It actively courts it while turning away those in teh Memphis community who seek to take Memphis another step to another level. Reference this link: http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories.../31/story1.html And this earlier topic on the Pyramid: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...=34896&st=0

Is this too harsh? It'll be interesting to hear the thoughts and arguments. Afterall this is a discussion board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Chicago museum is called the Field Museum. DC has its Smithsonian. Memphis has nothing on this level. Not even close. In fact, of all the cities Memphis competes with (Nashville, Charlotte, St. Louis, etc) how does Memphis compare? I tend to think it compares poorly. The Pink Palace does not cut it.

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories.../31/story1.html And this earlier topic on the Pyramid: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...=34896&st=0

Is this too harsh? It'll be interesting to hear the thoughts and arguments. Afterall this is a discussion board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No Memphis does not have anything that compares with the Field Museum, the Smithsonian, or the Metropolitan. Those are truly world class museums in cities where the uber rich have been able to give their collections. Memphis is half the size of St. Louis and has not had its wealth, so you are very correct that the St. Louis Museum of Art is superior to Brooks. There is no comparison. The museum in St. Louis is a hold over from St. Louis's World's Fair. The collection is very nice and extremely well presented. It is better than many museums that are twice its size.

I would question you on Nashville and Charlotte. The Brooks Museum of Art is more than twice the the size of the Mint Museum in Charlotte and the quality of art is far better with the exception of some of the pieces that the Mint has for regional art. the only thing that the Mint has that is missing from the Brooks is that there is a small museum annex to the Mint downtown. Brooks is also superior to Cheekwood in terms of its art collection. Any of the three cities would love to have a museum of the quality of the Dixon. The Dixon has an excellent collection. There are some things that I don't like about it. The primary problem that I have with it is that I do not believe that the Stout Collection of Meissen Porcelain fits in at all with the rest of the museum. I know that it was donated and it is an excellent collection. I feel that it should be on permanent loan from the Dixon to the Brooks and the Brooks should loan back to the Dixon the paintings that Hugo Dixon gave to the Brooks. The Brooks would gain a collection that matches with its attempt to be a comprehensive museum and the Dixon could add to its mission as an Impressionist Museum. That does not even bring up the Memphis also has the Ornamental Ironwork Museum that is unique. Memphis does well, in fact it has better museums than its comparable cities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.