Hello again Nashville! The Music City is the metropolitan area I capture architectural photography most outside of North Carolina and Texas, particularly over the last three years. These are three of the projects recently photographed in the area this summer.
Architects Gilbert McLaughlin Casella hired me to captured a couple of their Vanderbilt University projects. The Divinity School addition and renovation extracts from the aesthetic spirit of the existing building with a modern interpretation featuring generous fenestration on all sides. Here is the east elevation as it relates to the existing building and chapel steeple in the background.
Tiered planter walls and steps navigate the local change in elevation from street to building entry.
Inside the lobby is a water feature with metal tree sculpture. One can navigate up the addition or further back into the renovation.
Into the renovated interiors and where the lit columns currently are formerly was the elevator entry and shaft, which is now in the new structure.
The Divinity School is an ecumenical theological school, meaning it represents many religions. This is physically represented in the pathway that forms an axis to the water element.
That axis continues into a new, multipurpose chapel space with colorful glass window that interfaces with the outside campus.
And here is more of that room:
The colors make for a very standout feature, especially at night.
In the new addition, visitors can pass through the lobby and up the new grand stair tower.
Which straight up, looks like this:
From the top landing, more generous windows open up to the greenery of campus beyond, allowing natural light to flood the staircase as architectural lighting “rains” down.
Another view of the lobby from the landing above:
And the dean’s office, definitely an early modern throwback with the design.
I also photographed the Hawkins baseball field faculty for Gilbert McLaughlin Casella, including it’s own screened”big green monster”, with building program beyond.
It’s mostly a 3 story building. Here, the exercise equipment overlooks the batting cages and above is office space. As many of these athletic facilities do, graphics play an important interior role.
The programming of the facility opens up directly to center field.
Above, a short pedestrian bridge spans above the exercise area to most of the building’s other functions.
Down below is the batting cage area, which features part of the old Vanderbilt Baseball field wall.
Vandy has a very successful baseball program, especially of late, winning the national championship in 2014 and 2019, and runner-up this year in 2021. This hallway features the program’s NCAA trophies, bases representing team USA players, and…I forgot what the gold bats were.
Down another hallway displays baseball jerseys from professional players that made it into MLB.
Finally, is the locker room with players displayed above.
I was also in town photographing graphic packages and sign installations for McCoy Design, including the Montgomery Bell Academy Wellness Center. This includes the recessed concrete panels embedded in the main entry’s brick facades reflecting the academy’s eight Pillars of Wellness.
The interior lobby and atrium is pretty spectacular and there’s quite a graphics wall that stretches the staircase and runs above and along the mezzanine. Love the hawk art installation soaring above.
That’s it for now, always great to work in Nashville, the city’s absolutely exploded in the 8 years I’ve been shooting in the metro
