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Hastings Architecture completes two new K-12 projects in Nashville

K-12 Schools

Hastings Architecture completes two new K-12 projects in Nashville

The projects have very different programs but both play critical roles on their respective campuses.


By David Malone, Managing Editor | August 18, 2021
Christ Presbyterian Academy Fine Arts Center at night

All photos: Steve Hall © Hall + Merrick Photographers

Hastings Architecture has recently completed two new K-12 projects in Nashville; the Christ Presbyterian Academy Fine Arts Center and the Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center. While the projects have vastly different programs, they’re both critical components on their respective campuses.

The 45,000-sf Fine Arts Center was designed to establish a new front door to Christ Presbyterian Academy’s campus. The project is part of a larger master plan and is sited to enclose and define a new central quad. This new central quad helps transform the 58-acre campus from being automotive-centered to one that embraces the human scale.

 

Christ Presbyterian Academy Fine Arts Center exterior

 

Brick massing wraps the building base and references existing campus scale and materiality. An undulating corrugated metal panel, meant to evoke a stage curtain, sheaths the theater house and fly tower. The brick mass opens up at the main entry to reveal a transparent lobby capped with a wooden canopy. The lobby’s glazing pattern introduces a contemporary vocabulary unique to the campus.

The lobby blurs the line between indoors and outdoors with natural materials and abundant natural light to invite curiosity and wonder through both the grand scale of the space and its sculptural gestures. An expansive light monitor diffuses light throughout the lobby and furthers the connection between indoors and out. At night, light from within transforms the building into a glowing lantern, placing the venue’s activity on display.

 

Christ Presbyterian Academy Fine Arts Center interior lobby

 

In total, the building comprises a 550-seat theatre, a black box theatre, makeup and dressing rooms, a costume shop, a scene shop, a green room, administrative offices, and art department offices.

The build team also included Ragan Smith (civil engineer), Civil Site Design Group (landscape architect), EMC Structural Engineers (structural engineer), C. Thomasson Associates (MEP engineer), and Solomon (general contractor).

 

Christ Presbyterian Academy Fine Arts Center theater space

 

Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center

Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center exterior at night

 

The second Nashville project recently completed by Hastings is the 200,000-sf H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center on the Montgomery Bell Academy campus. The project was designed to support both mental and physical health

The new center strategically cloaks the mass and scale of interior spaces while still carrying forward the campus’ architectural and formal language. It includes space to gather, host, meet, study, perform, meditate, learn, play, practice, and compete. The project’s interiors do not have the aesthetics of traditional athletics programs, but instead attempt to create a more cerebral discussion about holistic wellness.

 

Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center interior space

 

Included in the new Wellness Center is a 1,200-seat event center; a three-court fieldhouse; a double-height indoor practice field; a golf center; a squash center; a dedicated wrestling gym; a fitness center; locker rooms; training facilities; offices for coaches and administrators; and yoga, meditation, screening, meeting, and instructional classrooms.

 

Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center event center

 

The Center has efficient building systems to save an estimated 20% on annual energy costs. High efficiency and low-flow plumbing fixtures reduce potable water consumption by an estimated 35% annually. The project is pursuing LEED Gold certification.

The build team also included Barge Cauthen & Associates (civil engineer), HDLA (landscape architect), EMC Structural Engineers (structural engineer), Smith Seckman Reid (MEP engineer), and Brasfield & Gorrie (general contractor).

 

Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center practice field

 

Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center fitness center

 

Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center stadium

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