Nashville, Tennessee – May 22, 2013 – This past Sunday and Monday Nashville celebrated the grand opening of the beautiful Music City Center. Designed by tvsdesign, Moody Nolan and Tuck-Hinton, the $585 million building took several years to complete. It spans across six city blocks and is three times the size of the former convention center building. And that is big! As a comparison Mayor Karl Dean showed us a semi truck trailor parked inside the convention hall, where Fan Fair X will be situated in 2 weeks, saying that it would take 23 of these giants parked end-to-end to reach the east wall from the west wall. Or it would take 286 guitars laid end to end to reach from one end of the hall to the other. An even better example; three 737 airplanes will fit into this building!
Whichever comparison you choose it’s obvious that the new building is absolutely massive but surprisingly not that hard to navigate. The designers added a lot of windows and natural light to make sure you don’t feel boxed in and you can actually orientate yourself by looking outside. You can also walk outside. Not just on the ground floor but onto one of the many balconies the building has. The view is great so why not show it off.
The mayor was happy to show us around the building, also including the fully equipped kitchen and its staff which is run by a Swiss chef, the public art collection comprised of more than 80 pieces, the Grand Ballroom with a roof that’s designed to make you feel like you’re inside a guitar and the 14-acre green roof. The roof has been installed with solar panels and actually has grass growing on it. This will isolate the building and will also help harvest rainwater that will then be collected in a 360,000-gallon tank to be reused.
The building also houses the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The grand opening of the building also meant the opening of an actual home for them. The world’s best writers have been looking for a place to call home for 42 year and have now found it. Guests of the sate of the art lobby are able to go through all the information on three 55” touch screens that will allow visitors to access sound, video and other digital information about the history of Nashville-associated songwriting and the 188 current members of the Hall of Fame. To celebrate the event many songwriters came in to witness this occasion and many visitors were lucky enough to catch these talented songwriters sing songs the way they were written.
The Hall of Famers participating were:
Sonny Curtis («I’m No Stranger To The Rain» & «I Fought The Law (And The Law Won)”)
Bill Anderson («The Tips Of My Fingers & «Whiskey Lullaby»),
Bobby Braddock («He Stopped Loving Her Today» & «I Want To Talk About Me»),
Thom Schuyler («16th Avenue» & «Love Will Turn You Around»).
Rory Bourke («I Know A Heartache When I See One» & «Shadows In The Moonlight»)
Don Schlitz («The Gambler» & «Forever And Ever Amen»)
Pat Alger («Small Town Saturday Night» & “Unanswered Prayers»)
Larry Henley (“Wind Beneath My Wings” & ‘Til I Get It Right”)
What a joy to see them all together and how wonderful to know we now have two halls of fame next to each other.
The festivities ended with a free concert on both nights. Phil Vassar and Ten out of Tenn showed off their skills on Sunday night. The Grand Finale concert and fireworks at the plaza between the Convention Center and the Country Music Hall of Fame on Monday night featured Fisk Jubilee Singers, The Time Jumpers with Vince Gill, Mikky Ekko and Sheryl Crow, of which you can see a videos below. With this line up the city showed that it’s more then just the home of country music. It’s home to all genre’s of music; Gospel, Bluegrass, Pop and Country Rock, it all has it’s roots in this community. What a great party to end the events.
Fun Facts:
– Acreage: 16
– Total Square Footage: 2.1 million
– Public Square Footage: 1.2 million
– Exhibit Space: 350,000 sq. ft.
– Meeting Rooms/Break-out Space: 90,000 sq. ft.
– Grand Ballroom: 57,500 sq. ft.
– Davidson Ballroom: 18,000 sq. ft.
– Retail Space: 5,000 sq. ft.
– Tallest Point: 150 feet
– Meeting Rooms: 60
– Parking Spaces: 1,800
– Elevators & Escalators: 22
– Doors: 1,100
– Loading Docks: 32
– Steel: 11,000 tons
– Concrete: 110,000 cubic yards
– Light fixtures: 13,500
– Track Lighting: 21,000 linear feet
– Green Roof: 4 acres
– Rainwater collection tank: 360,000 gallons
– Solar Panels: 845
– Art: 8 site-specific commissions, 52 acquired from mostly local artists
– Committed to LEED Silver Certification
– Performance-enhanced extras including additional rigging, lighting, green rooms and, of course, exceptional acoustics
About the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
To the world, Nashville is synonymous with music and songwriting. Songwriters in particular have found a nurturing home in this culturally rich, diverse and growing city. To acknowledge and celebrate those who create the songs, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1970, and currently boasts 188 members. Each year, four additional writers are inducted into the elite Hall of Fame, which claims members from all genres of music, underscoring Nashville’s musical diversity in the songwriting world. For most of its 42 years, the Hall of Fame has been a virtual one. Now with the opening of the new, state of the art Music City Center, The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame finally becomes a physical reality. The Hall of Fame is funded and managed by the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation, dedicated to the mission of educating, archiving and celebrating the songwriting community that is uniquely associated with Nashville.
The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame includes such songwriting luminaries as Bobby Braddock, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell, Hal David, Don & Phil Everly, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Vince Gill, Harlan Howard, Alan Jackson, Bob McDill, Roger Miller, Bill Monroe, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Carl Perkins, Dottie Rambo, Jimmie Rodgers, Don Schlitz, Cindy Walker, Jimmy Webb, Hank Williams, Sr. and Hank Williams, Jr. More information is available at: http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/.
About TVSDESIGN
tvsdesign is a global design firm whose award-winning solutions reflect more than 40 years of experience in planning, architecture and interior design. With offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dubai and Shanghai, the firm’s passions for design excellence, sustainability and collaboration produce client-driven results. With projects around the globe, tvsdesign is recognized for its work in multiple market segments including convention and public assembly, cultural arts, retail and mixed-use, office, workplace and showroom, education, government and hospitality. The sustainable design experience of the tvsdesign studios encompasses 29 LEED Certified and 15 LEED registered projects. In 2002, tvsdesign was awarded the prestigious American Institute of Architects Firm Award. www.tvsdesign.com
For more information on the Music City Center go to: www.nashvillemusiccitycenter.com
