City of Wilmington

Live Oak Bank Pavilion
Riverfront Park

The Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park, previously a lumber yard mill, cargo weigh station, and brownfield is now a new 6.6-acre waterfront park in Wilmington, NC. The project became an achievement for public spaces because of a democratic referendum in 2012 to develop a public park instead of a privately owned baseball stadium. This site went from an abandoned brownfield into a new community-supported public park.

The project was done in close collaboration with NYC-based Hargreaves-Jones landscape architects. The prime firm invited us to design these pavilions to provide the required services and to frame and delineate this new landscape.

AWARDS

AIA, Wilmington Design Award, Honor Award, 2023

Architecture Master Prize, 2022

The design includes a 7,200-person outdoor stage and music venue with a 4,000 sq ft stage and back-of-house support buildings. The two main structures: the large steel, concrete, and state-of-the-art wood stage, designed under high standards requested by the concert organizers, Live Nation; and a series of buildings holding all the supporting activities such as maintenance, back-stage activities, and public restrooms.

The regenerative and resilient design strategies made this new Public Park in Wilmington the recipient of the 2020 Waterfront Alliance coveted WEDG Certification for the project’s riverfront intervention. The park site connects to downtown via Wilmington’s iconic Riverwalk, while new boardwalk connections extend over a dynamic living shoreline.