Archinect - News

Michael Graves Architecture acquires Tennessee's Studio Four Design, its sixth firm since 2022

2024-03-11T16:08:00-04:00

Princeton, New Jersey-based Michael Graves Architecture has announced that the firm is expanding once again with the acquisition of Studio Four Design, a successful 17-person operation working with over twenty years of experience on various project types in the Knoxville, Tennessee, market.

The expansion follows five other acquisitions completed between March 2022 and June of last year. The move will allow the firm to compete in a new region, where they say they have identified a need for design services. The two share a similar organizational mission that's geared towards creating a "human-centric" architecture. Michael Graves' CEO and President Joe Furey says the addition "[encourages] us to embrace new perspectives and experiences, furthering our mission to create impactful design nationally."

Stacy Cox, Principal at Studio Four Design, added: "This merger leverages the skillsets and experiences at Studio Four Design, allowing us to take our capabilities and offerings to a new le...

Historic civil rights-era church in Memphis to undergo $25 million renovation

2024-02-19T12:02:00-05:00

Memphis’ Clayborn Temple, a historic civil rights landmark, is set to undergo a $25 million renovation. The five-year-long project hopes to “not only preserve its historic significance but also usher in a new era of vitality for this cultural gem and the surrounding community,” as seen in new renderings by Self+Tucker Architects.

Image credit: Self+Tucker Architects

The building was originally constructed in 1892 as Second Presbyterian Church, where it served an all-white congregation. In 1949, the building was sold to an African Methodist Episcopal congregation for $100,000 and renamed Clayborn Temple.

Image credit: Self+Tucker Architects

Throughout the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the church served as an important node for social, cultural, spiritual, and political expressions for the city’s African American communities, ultimately becoming the organizing headquarters for The Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last campaign.

Image credit: Self+Tu...

Studio Gang, SCAPE complete work on transformative $61 million Tom Lee Park in Memphis

2023-11-06T15:35:00-05:00

Studio Gang and SCAPE have shared new photos following the completion of work on their $61 million Tom Lee Park redevelopment project in Memphis, Tennessee.

The 31-acre riverfront space puts Memphis squarely in league with a host of contemporary restorative urban green space projects slated for other major American cities, including San Francisco's new Presidio Tunnel Tops and the partially completed Freshkills Park in Staten Island.

Its ecological restoration work and accessibility to the residents of one of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods make it an instant industry standard-bearer. The project creates a connection between downtown and the Mississippi River, also providing new ADA-approved access at three different points for the first time.

Image © Tom Harris

Studio head Jeanne Gang says: “Insights and input from the Memphis community were essential to this project from the very beginning, to make sure the park’s programming reflects how Memphians from across the city ...

Tennessee Titans pick construction team for new Nashville NFL stadium

2023-08-23T13:47:00-04:00

NFL franchise Tennessee Titans has announced that Tennessee Builders Alliance (TBA) will serve as the Construction Manager at Risk on its new stadium project.

TBA consists of Nashville-based ICF Builders, Polk & Associates, Turner Construction Company, and AECOM Hunt. The team has more than 55 years of NFL stadium construction experience, with Turner and AECOM Hunt behind 17 of the 30 most recently completed NFL stadiums.

Renderings of the Titans’ proposed $1.2 billion, 60,000-seat stadium by Manica Architecture in collaboration with HASTINGS Architecture were revealed in October 2022. The structure will span 1.7 million square feet and sit along Nashville’s East Bank, on the east side of the current stadium. It will feature a circular ETFE translucent roof, exterior porches with panoramic views of the city, improved sightlines for spectators through a variety of seating experiences, and a 12,000-square-foot community space that is available year-round.

Previously on Archinect: T...

Populous and HASTINGS complete North America's largest purpose-built soccer venue in Nashville

2022-10-27T12:53:00-04:00

A day after Nashville’s NFL franchise unveiled its plans for a new 60,000-seat stadium, Populous and HASTINGS have officially announced the completion of what is now the largest purpose-built soccer stadium in North America for Tennessee’s "other" football team, Nashville SC.

Located inside the Nashville Fairgrounds complex, the 30,000-seat GEODIS Park is meant to evoke the "look and feel" of the Music City’s industrial past as it enhances the local civic space with a multipurpose facility that can accommodate a host of different public events, concerts, and other community activities.

Image: Tom Harris courtesy Nashville SC

"GEODIS Park is a world-class stadium that speaks specifically to human scale," Bruce Miller, Populous’ Senior Principal and Managing Director for the Americas, said in a statement. "The Nashville identity is seamlessly and authentically woven into the design and the fabric of this stadium through our collaboration with HAST...

Tennessee Titans reveal renderings for proposed new stadium design in Nashville

2022-10-26T15:45:00-04:00

The Tennessee Titans NFL franchise has shared renderings for its proposed new 60,000-seat stadium in Nashville from Manica Architecture.

The 1.7-million-square-foot design will feature a dome enclosure with a network of exterior public terrace “porches,” inspired by the city, that will “serve Nashville and Tennessee for generations,” according to Titans president and CEO Burke Nihill.

Per a team press announcement: “The stadium architecture is inspired by the city of Nashville and is planned to be complementary to the broader East Bank development plan led by the City. The design gave specific attention to multi-purpose function, in order to maximize the number and types of events that could take place in the building.”

Rendering courtesy Manica Architecture

Key design elements will reportedly include:

A circular-shaped, high-tech ETFE translucent roof
12,000-square-foot dedicated community and public events space
Improved sight lines for all spectators through diverse viewing experien...

Nashville's booming construction sector also leads in workplace-related injuries, study shows

2018-09-17T18:32:00-04:00

The culture of fear and intimidation on construction sites has led to basic safety precautions being overlooked. Nashville is currently the most dangerous city in the south for construction workers, according to a report released in May 2017 by the Partnership for Working Families, Workers Defense Project and the University of Illinois at Chicago professor Nik Theodore, titled Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the US South.

The Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the US South study examined construction industry labor conditions across six key cities in the southern United States: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Nashville.

"Among workers who had been injured during the past year, just 19% reported that workers’ compensation covered the medical bills for their injury," the study finds for Nashville which had the highest injury rate of all six surveyed southern cities. "An additional 38% said that their employer paid for at least part of the medical bills through some other mechanism, but 19% of injured workers paid for the medical bills out of their own pocket. The fact that fewer than one in five injured workers in Tennessee had their medical bills covered by workers’ compensation is troubling given the fact that all construction employers with one or more employees in the state are legally required to be covered by a workers’ compensation insurance policy."

Find t...

Get Lectured: University of Tennessee - Knoxville, 2016-17

2016-10-07T15:34:00-04:00

Gearing up for another eventful school year this fall? Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss. Mark those calendars!

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Robert B. Church Memorial Lecture Series is celebrating 42 years of exploring architecture and design. Check out their upcoming lectures for Fall '16, and see what's ahead for Spring '17.

Oct 10
Liam Young / Princeton School of Architecture

Oct 27
Keller Easterling / Yale School of Architecture

Nov 7
Avigail Sachs, UT College of Architecture + Design

Dec 5
Bill Baker / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

2017

Jan 23
Craig Dykers / Snøhetta

Feb 6
Scott Duncan / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Governor’s Chair Lecture

Feb 13
Da...

"Curve Appeal" will be globe's first Freeform 3D printed house

2016-07-06T14:11:00-04:00

First, it was an office, and now, it's an entire 3D printed house. Well, mostly 3D printed: while the "primary vertical structure, roof, and large portions of the facade will be freeform 3D printed, the glass enclosure and interior finishes will be conventional construction" for the future Chattanooga, Tennessee house, according to a Forbes article.

Freeform 3D printing is far more versatile than traditional 3D printing, primarily because it allows designers to create shapes in open space, while traditional 3D printing requires that the printer be larger than the object it is trying to create.

In this particular case, a 3D-printed matrix of carbon-reinforced ABS plastic will be used to print the complex outer facade of the house. No official construction cost has been released as of yet; the 800 square foot house, which was designed by WATG’s Urban Architecture Studio, has an estimated completion date of 2017.

Special interest money kills Nashville's "Amp" BRT aspirations

2015-01-23T20:25:00-05:00

Nashville’s bid to build its first high-capacity transit line is dead, the Tennessean is reporting today. It’s a victory for the Koch brothers-funded local chapter of Americans for Prosperity and a defeat for the city’s near-term hopes of transitioning to less congested, more sustainable streets. The project, known as the Amp, called for a 7-mile busway linking growing East Nashville to downtown and parts of the city’s west end.

Jason Young Appointed as New Director of the University of Tennessee School of Architecture

2014-08-19T15:20:00-04:00

Jason Young has been named the new director of the School of Architecture of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He becomes acting director on August 1. Young, a researcher specializing in contemporary conditions of American urbanism, brings over twenty years of teaching experience to the College of Architecture and Design. He comes to Knoxville from the University of Michigan, where he was an associate professor in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Get Lectured: University of Tennessee - Knoxville Fall '13

2013-10-04T16:50:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2013

Here on Archinect we recently launched "Get Lectured", where we'll feature a school's lecture series--along with their snazzy posters--for the current season. Check back regularly to stay up-to-date and mark your calendars for any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Friday's Get Lectured is the Church Lecture Series at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, College of Architecture and Design.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Listed below are lectures only. All lectures begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Art + Architecture Building McCarty Auditorium (room 109) unless otherwise noted. Lectures will also be streamed live.

SEPTEMBER

September 16
Peter Walker / PWP Landscape Architecture
"Before the Memorial"

September 23
Roberto de Leon + M. Ross Primmer / De Leon & Primmer
“Recent Work”

September 30
Preston Scott Cohen / Harvard Grad...

Bringing Architectural Ghosts Back To Life, In Knoxville

2012-08-03T17:59:00-04:00

Nearly ten years ago, Tricia Stuth and Ted Shelton--the married co-founders of the architecture firm Curb--set out to build a home in downtown Knoxville. They ended up with roughly three: a trio of attached homes they call the Ghost Houses. Earlier this summer, the American Institute of Architects honored Curb for the project, including it in their 2012 Small Projects Awards [...].

Click here to see more of this year's AIA Small Projects Award winners.