Sacred Places
Day Plaza at The Hospitality Hub
Somewhere to linger without being moved along.
WHERE
Memphis, TN
SETTING
Neighborhood
PARTNER INSTITUTION
The Hospitality Hub of Memphis
Visit
Where it is
590 Washington Avenue, Memphis, TN 38105
What happens here
People experiencing homelessness come to linger comfortably without worry of being shooed away. A promenade links the plaza to food trucks offering free meals to clients, and on-site wash and water refill stations meet practical needs. The amphitheater, prolific seating, hammocks, and play features give people more than one way to use the space.
HOW IT CAME TO BE
The first space of its kind.
Drag to see the transformation.
01
The Need
The Hospitality Hub works to help people exit homelessness, its staff drawing on decades of combined experience to identify the challenges their clients face. Street and shelter life offers nowhere simply to rest, and nowhere a person can stay without being moved along.
02
The Vision
The Hub and Nature Sacred collaborated on three Sacred Places at the Hub's new building, so that space for peace, contemplation, and healing was incorporated into every facet of the campus design from the outset. Day Plaza is the public one, and the first space of its kind: a welcoming nature space where those experiencing homelessness can linger comfortably.
03
The Transformation
Gentle mounds vary the ground elevations, which makes the plaza visually appealing and comfortably enclosed at once. A small pathway winds through trees to the bench. The promenade links out to the food trucks, and wash and water refill stations were built in as part of the design rather than added to it.
WHO TENDS IT
Kelcey Johnson
Firesoul, Day Plaza at The Hospitality Hub
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