A Modern-Day Renaissance

Nashville’s urban core is currently experiencing one of the most ambitious revitalization efforts in the United States. Nashville Yards, a 19-acre mixed-use development, is largely responsible for kickstarting the pivotal change in the city’s downtown landscape as it ushers in the latest in forward-thinking design. Pedestrian pathways, open green spaces, and a new wave of architectural design principles that support health and well-being find their home within this landmark development. The buildings that call this development home bear the responsibility of continuing the development’s themes of tenant-centric, cutting-edge design that rethinks what commercial, residential, and hospitality spaces can be for the tenants that use them.

101 Platform Way North is a marquee example of how a commercial office building can adapt to modern architectural and engineering principles and provide a state-of-the-art corporate space for an internationally recognized brand. Alvine Engineering’s part in bringing this vision to life was to provide bold, practical, and innovative architectural lighting solutions that make the building a memorable inclusion to the Nashville Yards development.

Natively Nashville

The overall architectural vision was to reflect the unique attributes and cultural profile of the rapidly expanding Nashville metro. Dubbed “Natively Nashville,” 101 Platform Way North celebrates aspects of the city’s people, places, and wide-open spaces on each floor. In order to support this Class-A office tower’s thematic focus, our architectural lighting team crafted luminaires that supported each floor’s unique theme while meeting the owner’s ambitious energy standards and budget.

The design requirements for the project necessitated our diverse experience and industry expertise in architectural lighting services. Decorative luminaires were custom-designed by our firm and double as practical lighting fixtures with energy-efficient controls. The idea was to create breathtaking fixtures that, while supporting the thematic design intent of each space, were eco-conscious, easy to maintain, and energy efficient.

“There was no such thing as a cookie-cutter design for this structure,” explained Ben Williams, LC, one of the leading architectural lighting designers on the project. “Different themes for each floor meant different custom solutions in the amenity areas, elevator lobbies, and the kitchenettes.”

On top of working to create the visions of the design architect and the client, our architectural lighting team needed to quickly adapt to the styling and organizational preferences of the project’s MEP firm. Our architectural lighting team connected with the electrical designers early on in the design process in order to familiarize themselves with their design styling guidelines, schedule formatting, and other document preferences. Collaborating early in the schematic design phase allowed for our firm’s designs and schedules to merge seamlessly with the electrical team’s design submission materials and allowed the MEP engineering team to present cohesive design documents.

Construction Made Simple

Our firm’s design strategy involved allowing the statement luminaires’ customization to be exceptional additions to each level’s thematic focus and the utility lighting needs for workstations to be met by more standard lighting solutions that were eco-conscious, budget-friendly, and easy to construct and maintain. This helped to expedite the design process for work areas and allowed more time and resources to be allocated for the creation and installation of the statement luminaires on each floor.

“The consolidation of more standardized luminaires for the work areas allows the contractor to get familiar with those fixtures and how to install them,” Ben explained, “It was important not to change that from floor to floor in order to expedite the implementation of work area lighting and allow for more time to be allocated towards the more intricate luminaires. The screw-based decorative fixtures are also very easy to maintain and replace.”

In addition to expediting workflow during the design phase, our architectural lighting team is well-experienced in construction administration. Our firm provided an additional level of support for the installation team on the building site and was there to work through any logistical issues, site-specific challenges, and any other obstacles that occurred throughout the construction process.

Our team was able to create lighting with energy outputs 43% lower than the code-required minimums, but the actual energy usage is anticipated to be lower as users become more attuned to their optimum lighting performance levels.

The End Result

As mentioned previously, the space’s theme celebrates the different aspects of Nashville’s people, places, and wide-open spaces. For example, level five’s music maker floor is reinforced with pendants fashioned from percussion cymbals, creating a whimsical environment for the game area. Shared work areas are complemented with ring pendants of various sizes and mounting heights to represent the delightfully rhythmic nature of music that helps accentuate the collaborative space. The lighting for the listening room was intentionally low profile, allowing occupants to be immersed in the sound. Luminous sconces emulating gold records add to the tone.

An undulating luminous tube meanders through the elevator lobby on the fourth floor to reinforce the level’s “scent maker” theme, creating a visual representation of a scent wafting through the air. On the 18th level, luminaires reminiscent of caterpillars and acorns are used to express “The Trail” theme. In total, there are 20 different themes that utilize nearly 200 luminaires. The architect, Gresham Smith, was responsible for crafting the interior design composition of each level. Our team coordinated the designs behind the more creative fixtures based on their visions. When Gresham Smith brought conceptual ideas to the table, our team would debrief them on possible options within the confines of the budget and create feasible alternatives when necessary. On some of the levels and areas, Gresham Smith entrusted our firm to lead the conceptual lighting design ideas and would collaborate with our lighting designers to finalize the fixture stylings.

The project’s success was contingent upon the collaboration between our team, the architect, building systems engineers, and the contractors to create a truly remarkable space in a cutting-edge development. Interested in projects similar to 101 Platform Way North? Check out our commercial office portfolio.