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.
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.
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).
Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center
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.
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.
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).
Related Stories
K-12 Schools | Apr 10, 2024
Surprise, surprise: Students excel in modernized K-12 school buildings
Too many of the nation’s school districts are having to make it work with less-than-ideal educational facilities. But at what cost to student performance and staff satisfaction?
K-12 Schools | Apr 1, 2024
High school includes YMCA to share facilities and connect with the broader community
In Omaha, Neb., a public high school and a YMCA come together in one facility, connecting the school with the broader community. The 285,000-sf Westview High School, programmed and designed by the team of Perkins&Will and architect of record BCDM Architects, has its own athletic facilities but shares a pool, weight room, and more with the 30,000-sf YMCA.
Security and Life Safety | Mar 26, 2024
Safeguarding our schools: Strategies to protect students and keep campuses safe
HMC Architects' PreK-12 Principal in Charge, Sherry Sajadpour, shares insights from school security experts and advisors on PreK-12 design strategies.
K-12 Schools | Mar 18, 2024
New study shows connections between K-12 school modernizations, improved test scores, graduation rates
Conducted by Drexel University in conjunction with Perkins Eastman, the research study reveals K-12 school modernizations significantly impact key educational indicators, including test scores, graduation rates, and enrollment over time.
K-12 Schools | Feb 29, 2024
Average age of U.S. school buildings is just under 50 years
The average age of a main instructional school building in the United States is 49 years, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). About 38% of schools were built before 1970. Roughly half of the schools surveyed have undergone a major building renovation or addition.
Construction Costs | Feb 22, 2024
K-12 school construction costs for 2024
Data from Gordian breaks down the average cost per square foot for four different types of K-12 school buildings (elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools, and vocational schools) across 10 U.S. cities.
K-12 Schools | Feb 13, 2024
K-12 school design trends for 2024: health, wellness, net zero energy
K-12 school sector experts are seeing “healthiness” for schools expand beyond air quality or the ease of cleaning interior surfaces. In this post-Covid era, “healthy” and “wellness” are intersecting expectations that, for many school districts, encompass the physical and mental wellbeing of students and teachers, greater access to outdoor spaces for play and learning, and the school’s connection to its community as a hub and resource.
K-12 Schools | Jan 25, 2024
Video: Research-based design for K-12 schools
Two experts from national architecture firm PBK discuss how behavioral research is benefiting the design of K-12 schools in Texas, Florida, and other states. Dan Boggio, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, Founder & Executive Chair, PBK, and Melissa Turnbaugh, AIA, NCARB, Partner & National Education & Innovation Leader, PBK, speak with Robert Cassidy, Executive Editor, Building Design+Construction.
K-12 Schools | Jan 8, 2024
Video: Learn how DLR Group converted two big-box stores into an early education center
Learn how the North Kansas City (Mo.) School District and DLR Group adapted two big-box stores into a 115,000-sf early education center offering services for children with special needs.
Designers | Jan 3, 2024
Designing better built environments for a neurodiverse world
For most of human history, design has mostly considered “typical users” who are fully able-bodied without clinical or emotional disabilities. The problem with this approach is that it offers a limited perspective on how space can positively or negatively influence someone based on their physical, mental, and sensory abilities.
