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Nixa-based Insight Design Architects designed the retail, restaurant and entertainment portions of Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid in Memphis, Tenn., including the Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl and Grill.Photo provided by DELORES ALBERS PHOTOGRAPHY
Nixa-based Insight Design Architects designed the retail, restaurant and entertainment portions of Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid in Memphis, Tenn., including the Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl and Grill.

Photo provided by DELORES ALBERS PHOTOGRAPHY

Local architecture firm nabs awards for Bass Pro Pyramid

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Insight Design Architects LLC brought home a pair of awards Feb. 9 for its work on the roughly $227 million Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid in Memphis, Tenn.

Part of the Building Memphis Awards presented by Memphis Business Journal, Nixa-based Insight Design was among the team who won Project of the Year honors and the Best Public-Private Project that cost more than $10 million.

“We were excited to win, but also pretty confident we would because of the size and magnitude of this project,” said Eric Albers, Insight project manager on the iconic Pyramid. “This was very big for that city. It was very political and a catalyst for revitalization to the riverfront area.”

A staple in the Memphis skyline, the 32-story, 535,000-square-foot glass and steel structure once was home to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, but it stopped hosting sporting events more than a decade ago. With a grand opening last May, Bass Pro capped off a decade of negotiations with the city and welcomed its first visitors. The Memphis Business Journal reports the city issued $197 million in bonds for the project and estimates Bass Pro contributed another $30 million.

Handling the lion’s share of the architecture work, Insight Design worked hand in hand with Bass Pro designers to execute the company’s vision for the combined retail, restaurant and bowling space.

“We’ve done a lot with Bass Pro over the years and it’s always something dynamic, but this goes above and beyond,” Albers said. “It’s like a resort environment. You can spend all day in there and never have to leave.”

The store features an interactive national Waterfowling Heritage Center in partnership with Ducks Unlimited; Uncle Buck's Fishbowl and Grill, with a 13-lane bowling alley; Big Cypress Lodge – a 103-room hotel; 600,000 gallons of water features; a cypress swamp with 100-foot trees; and the largest free-standing elevator in America – 25 stories and open with glass on four sides, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Insight Design previously has worked with Bass Pro on 10 stores across the South, stretching from Texas to North Carolina, as well as store and restaurant prototype development.

Other members of the award-winning team were O.T. Marshall Architects PC for Big Cypress Lodge and general contractor W.G. Yates and Sons Construction Co. Project engineers were John A. Martin & Associates Inc., structural; Haltom Engineering LLC, mechanical; R.B. Lewis Ltd., electrical, and EK Automation, building control system.

The Memphis Business Journal reports the store welcomed 2 million visitors last year and Bass Pro estimated the property will see 3 million a year going forward.

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