Last month, the Franklin Special School District, which serves 3,200 pre-K to 8th-grade students in an area south of Nashville, held two ribbon-cutting ceremonies for a new gym and performance arts center that answer years-long needs.
Designed by Wold|HFR Design (which is based in Brentwood, Tenn.) and built by Nabholz Construction, the 34,400-sf Franklin Special School District Performing Arts Center is available to the district’s eight schools, as well as for other events held by the community. It seats 490 people surrounding a thrust stage that extends into the audience on three sides, with a 120-sf proscenium.
The PAC includes dressing rooms, pre-performance spaces, prop rooms, a building workshop, concession stand, and ticket booth. The facility also features a 650-sf Legacy Gallery installation that celebrates the history of the school district, which dates back to 1906. In celebration of PAC’s opening, a stone-engraved logo was revealed on the building’s façade.
According to Nabholz, the PAC, which began construction in 2020, cost $16.2 million.
The same design-build team was involved in the 22,800-sf, $9.2 million gymnasium for the Poplar Grove Elementary School in Franklin, which previously had been sharing a gym with the Poplar Grove Middle School. The new facility, which seats 480, includes a full-size basketball court, two cross-court practice courts, a volleyball court, and four-square courts. The new gym also houses a concession stand, multiple locker rooms, teacher offices, and a multipurpose room that doubles as a storm shelter.
“We’re proud to celebrate another successful project with Franklin Special School District and look forward to seeing the positive impact of these new facilities on students, educators and the community,” said Stephen Griffin, AIA, Principal at Wold|HFR Design. “As a national firm with a 100-plus-year legacy in Middle Tennessee, we’re particularly proud of the projects we design in the communities where we live and work, and it’s one of the many reasons we’re delighted to be part of these projects and celebrations.”
Related Stories
| Apr 10, 2013
6 funding sources for charter school construction
Competition for grants, loans, and bond financing among charter schools is heating up, so make your clients aware of these potential sources.
| Apr 10, 2013
23 things you need to know about charter schools
Charter schools are growing like Topsy. But don’t jump on board unless you know what you’re getting into.
| Apr 2, 2013
6 lobby design tips
If you do hotels, schools, student unions, office buildings, performing arts centers, transportation facilities, or any structure with a lobby, here are six principles from healthcare lobby design that make for happier users—and more satisfied owners.
| Mar 21, 2013
Are charter schools killing private schools?
A recent post on Atlantic Cities highlights research by the U.S. Census Bureau's Stephanie Ewert that shows a correlation between the growth of charter schools and the decline in private school enrollment.