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Introduction

Cheat Sheet

What's the masterplan?

What are these buildings going to look like?

Who's going to run all these things?

How are we going to pay for all this?

What's going to happen to Market Square?

How can the public give input? And who's listening?

Worsham and Watkins: Who are these guys?

Plan Map

  Recreating Downtown

What are these buildings going to look like?

At this writing, no one knows. It's hard to exaggerate the importance of this architecture, which will permanently change Knoxville's skyline. It has the potential of becoming a symbol of the city for generations to come.

Mike Edwards is emphatic that "architecture is Job One. Worsham Watkins' intent is to take architecture a quantum leap above anything we've seen here."

Based on his conversations with Worsham and Watkins, Edwards seems confident about that. The sketchy details, which call for below-ground parking garages, show some encouraging signs that appearance will be important.

Edwards says he doesn't know who the architects will be or how many firms will be involved. Some local architects are concerned that McCarty Holsapple McCarty, hired to help design the convention center, has piggybacked on what's obviously becoming a much, much bigger project. Edwards insists that McCarty's yet-to-be-unveiled drawings are only suggestions, subject to change.

"We're not selecting the architect," Edwards says, referring to PBA. "Just like any other private-sector job, architects need to go to the people who are going to be hiring." If Earl Worsham's history is any guide, it could be a big name indeed. Among the architects he has hired for his international projects is one of the world's foremost, I.M. Pei (who, it may be appropriate to remember, once designed another controversial glass enclosure in another public square, in Paris).

Edwards insists, though, that the office tower or hotel or residential buildings will not be of the glass-box style which, he says, is hard to sell these days. Nor will it be something banal. He makes it sound as if it will be both traditional and daring. "It doesn't have to be something that will appeal to everybody in Knoxville," he says.

It had better appeal to a lot of people, though. The 34-story office tower stands to be the tallest building in East Tennessee (although, considering its lower-elevation siting, it won't necessarily be the highest).

UT architecture professor Mark Schimmenti, who consulted on pieces of the plan, says his main concern is that it's not yet part of a larger coherent plan for the whole of downtown. "Without that management, people don't know how to reinvest in downtown Knoxville."

"The important thing is what it's gonna look like from the sidewalk," says Buzz Goss. "That's where you make a city or break a city."

Edwards seems sincere when he says, "this will be a better project after public reaction. Just like the Union Garage," he adds, referring to the convention center-related garage already under construction between Union and Clinch at Locust. Once controversial, the often-heated public discussions resulted in a plan for a surprisingly versatile and attractive project.

Edwards suggests that public participation over the next weeks and months can improve the Worsham Watkins project and, perhaps, insure its success.