Arts & Culture

Structural engineering behind Cat Peña's suspended public art canopy at Marshall & Monroe — four aircraft cables spanning a football field, tensioned to hold hundreds of colored streamers over one of Memphis's busiest intersections. Designed as a one-year temporary installation; four years later, it was still greeting the Edge District every day. [Visit artist Cat Peña's website →]

WHERE THE BLUES LIVE ON

Structural engineering behind the rebuild of blues legend Memphis Slim's Soulsville home into a community recording studio and event stage. A lightweight wood and cold-formed-steel frame supports a deep cantilevered awning roof that doubles as a performance stage, while salvaged studs and foundation brick keep the building's history intact. (Architect: brg3S)

[See the project →]

CONCRETE FINDS ITS RHYTHM

Structural engineering behind the transformation of a mid-century concrete building in downtown Memphis into 4U Recording, headquarters of Made in Memphis Entertainment (MIME) — a Black-owned, full-service entertainment company founded by original Stax Records songwriter David Porter and Tony D. Alexander. Adaptive reuse that turned an aging concrete shell into a state-of-the-art recording hub carrying Memphis's music legacy into its next chapter. (Architect: archimania)

[Check out MIME →]

BUILT FROM WHAT OTHERS THREW AWAY

Structural engineering behind Railgarten, Midtown Memphis's beloved outdoor entertainment complex — built primarily from repurposed shipping containers reengineered into bars, stages, and gathering spaces. Proof that adaptive reuse can be as fun as it is sustainable.

FROM OPERA HOUSE TO OPEN STAGE

Structural engineering behind the transformation of Memphis Opera's original building into a 21st-century home for Tennessee Shakespeare Company — a full structural reimagining that keeps a piece of Memphis performance history alive under a new name. (Architect: archimania)

WHERE THE BLUES LIVE ON 

Reconstruction of blues legend Memphis Slim's Soulsville home into a community recording studio and event stage. Ozer engineered a lightweight wood and cold-formed-steel frame with a deep cantilevered awning roof that doubles as a performance stage — while salvaging original studs and foundation brick to honor the site's history. [See the project -->]

PUBLIC ART THAT CAN TAKE A CLIMB

Ozer reviewed custom welded steel sculptures at Carpenter Art Garden — a Binghampton nonprofit known for turning neighborhood lots into community art spaces — for wind resistance, human loading, and base plate anchorage. Kids climb on public art; Ozer's job was making sure the engineering could take it, so the sculptures could go up safely for the neighborhood to use, not just look at.

FOUR STORIES, ZERO WASTED INCHES

Structural engineering for Visible Music College's Student Studios at 200 Madison Avenue, part of the college's downtown Memphis campus designed by archimania. Fifty micro-living units — each with its own kitchen and bath — rise four stories on a tight urban site, framed primarily in conventional light wood with steel reserved for the shared community spaces. Shallow footings cantilever from a central spine in both directions, threading the foundation around adjacent buildings' footings and underground infrastructure without room to spare.