Heatherwick Studio Reveals Redesigned Belvedere Park for Louisville's Riverfront
A 5.5-acre elevated plaza built over a six-lane highway in Louisville, Kentucky, is getting a second life. London-based Heatherwick Studio has unveiled updated designs for The Belvedere, a riverfront civic space first developed in the 1970s that the studio's founder, Thomas Heatherwick, says "has become barren and disconnected from the energy of the city around it" (Dezeen).
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg unveiled the reimagined design on 11 August 2026, according to a city statement (Louisvilleky.gov). The Belvedere sits between 4th and 6th Streets in downtown Louisville, perched on a large overpass that carries traffic across the I-64 highway along the Ohio River. The new design will partly sit on top of that overpass structure.
The plan centres on a large, expressive performance pavilion and a looping, textured pathway running roughly 400 yards (365 metres) across the site. The pathway threads into the surrounding city blocks, then descends via a staircase onto the Louisville Riverwalk, the pedestrian and cycling trail that runs along the water.
Heatherwick said the redesign is "about restoring the buzz and sense of connection" of the Belvedere's early years by creating a greener, more welcoming urban heart (Dezeen).
This is the second pass at the site. Heatherwick Studio first revealed a design in February 2025, envisioning a large waved form covered in grass sitting atop the highway overpass. That earlier concept pictured a sweeping, hill-like canopy of greenery. The current iteration is scaled back, a change attributed by local news outlet WLKY to expense and safety concerns (WLKY).
Between the two designs, the project team held community meetings in late 2025 and ran an online survey to gather feedback before making adjustments (Louisvilleky.gov). Heatherwick Studio framed the effort as a collaboration, publishing a statement on its website in February 2025 that it was "joining forces" with the Louisville community to reinvigorate the space.
The studio was retained for design services on the 5.5-acre site under the administration of PLC Management, a project and construction firm, after Greenberg issued proposal requests in May 2025 (Louisvilleky.gov). Layla George was named Project Executive for the redesign on 31 January 2025 (Louisvilleky.gov).
Construction is expected to begin in 2026, according to architecture publication Metalocus (Metalocus).
For a city that built its riverfront plaza in an era when decking over highways was the civic ambition, the question now is whether a performance pavilion and a looping path can pull people back to a space many had stopped visiting. The updated design keeps the overpass but changes what people find on top of it.
