Arts & Culture
Ozer Engineering supports public art, streetscape, and mobility projects with structural review for outdoor installations, custom steelwork, wind resistance, anchorage, and long-term public safety.
Current Notable Project
The I.T. Montgomery House: A Legacy Built in Brick and Vision
Built in 1910, this house was home to Isaiah T. Montgomery, a man born into slavery who rose to found Mound Bayou in 1887 — one of the first self-governed Black towns in America.
After the Civil War, Montgomery worked to realize the vision of his father, Ben Montgomery - Black landownership and self-governance. Working with his cousin Benjamin T. Green, Montgomery recruited settlers and built a thriving community with its own schools, banks, and businesses, earning Mound Bayou the nickname "the Jewel of the Delta."
As the town's patriarch and first mayor, Montgomery partnered with figures like Booker T. Washington to draw outside investment, while his home reflected his stature as one of the largest residences in the community. Now a National Historic Landmark, this restoration project is a lasting symbol of Black self-determination in the Mississippi Delta.
THERE'S MORE TO BE PROUD OF
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 →]
Memphis Slim Collaboratory
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 →]
Mime Music Studio
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)
Railgarten
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.
TN Shakespeare Theater
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)
The Rosa Deal School of Arts
HISTORIC FACE, MODERN CORE
Structural engineering behind the ground-up construction of Christian Brothers University's Rosa Deal School of Arts, an $11M, ~2016 facility that replaced the original 1939 Kenrick Hall. The design preserves a brick-and-mortar facade facing East Parkway to match the neighboring historic administration building, while opening into a fully modern academic and performance building behind it — housing classrooms, studios, and rehearsal and performance spaces for CBU's art, music, and theatre programs. (Architect: ANF Architects)
Carpenter Art Garden 26: Steel Men
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.
VMC Studios
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.