Pier 865

Cradle of country music park, Knoxville, TN
Architectural Concrete Pier + Lightweight Aluminum Canopy Structure

Design and Computation: MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY
Commissioned by: City of Knoxville

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(No use or reproduction allowed without written authorization)

Rising from the edge of a cantilevered plinth, Pier 865 unfurls like a ribbon of light between Knoxville’s downtown theater district and the historic lanes of Old Town. It is not simply a canopy, nor solely a pier—it is both: a lifted promenade and a sculptural grove, a place where movement meets pause, and the park becomes a stage.

Conceived by MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY, the work is composed of twisting aluminum stripes that seem to grow from the ground, bending and spiraling upward into a vaulted crown. Their geometry recalls the trunks and branches of an ancient forest—rooted yet restless, solid yet in motion. From afar, it is a silhouette of reaching forms; up close, its surface flickers with shifting patterns of light and shadow.

The pier carries the city’s elevated ground plane into the green, extending the rhythm of streets and sidewalks into the quiet embrace of the park. Beneath its shelter, the air feels different—softened, dappled, alive. Sunlight drips through thousands of tiny perforations, scattering on the earth like windblown leaves. At night, the canopy glows in gentle tones, a luminous arc between neighborhoods.

Here, connection is not just physical but poetic. Pier 865 links not only districts, but moments—of performance, of gathering, of solitary reflection. It is an urban threshold, an open room without walls, a landmark that asks nothing and yet invites everything. Under its branching vault, the noise of the city fades, replaced by the hum of footsteps, conversation, and the quiet wonder of looking up.