Dickson Street ArtCourt is located in the heart of the Dickson Street entertainment district, alongside Fayetteville’s arts and culture corridor anchored by The Walton Art Center, TheatreSquared, and George’s Majestic Lounge. Starting as a family-owned garage in the 1940s, the building has been home to local hangouts and bars, a theater and playhouse, and most recently, Dickson Street Theater. After falling into disrepair in the mid-2010s, a plan was devised to transform this core parcel of land into a basketball court and a space that lives at the intersection of art and play.
Ecological Design Group was the prime consultant for this project, coordinating all parties during the design and construction process, from the client and the City of Fayetteville to muralists, designers, structural engineers, and utility and lighting consultants. EDG’s main goal for the site design was to create a space that reflects the surrounding art while offering diverse experiences throughout the day and evening. The sliding security gate panels and the concrete jointing pattern seamlessly integrate with the overall aesthetic envisioned by the muralist for ArtCourt.
After consulting a structural engineer about removing the existing roof, the remaining trusses were repurposed and attached to the east facade to support evergreen vines, which screen the CMU structure from the adjacent parking lot. By night, ArtCourt takes on an entirely new personality, with the strong design forms illuminated against the backdrop of Dickson Street, creating a striking contrast to the daytime appearance.
This immersive and experiential site design invites users of all kinds. Whether that is a pickup game of basketball after class, a place to take your lunch break, or even a place for the Arkansas Razorbacks Men's Basketball team to film their latest pre-game hype videos, this project is a perfect example of adaptive reuse, assessing a site, identifying and enhancing the opportunities, discarding what is not working, and breathing new life into a neglected place.
