Design Firm Revives Abandoned Nashville Library for its New HQ

A Nashville-based architectural firm is settling into its new home in a classic midcentury modern building that it saved from demolition.

Hastings Architecture bought the former Nashville Public Library in 2015 and has since transformed the mothballed marble and concrete “new formalism" building into an open and light-filled office building.

Today, the 42,000-square-foot landmark is home to the company's 75 employees, as well as to interior design firm McAlpine and United Talent Agency.

While the cavernous space has been quieter than usual as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tennessee began relaxing its restrictions on business operations in May and Hastings is looking forward to a safe, phased return to its new home. In the meantime, the firm has continued working on projects remotely.

A Midcentury Classic

Hastings, which has extensive experience repurposing old buildings, relocated to the new building from an old warehouse it had repurposed nearly 20 years ago for its former headquarters.

"We've been a trailblazer in doing adaptive reuse projects," says architect David M. Powell, one of the firm's principals. “We love the idea of saving an old building, restoring it and bringing it to life with new use."

Hastings enlisted local company Carter Group as the general contractor on the ambitious project, along with Power Management Corp. for mechanical systems, EMC Structural Engineers for the bones, Hodson Douglas for landscape architecture, and a cadre of specialty contractors for everything from custom millwork and marble restoration to new glasswork and terrazzo flooring.

Re-animating an Abandoned Landmark

Opened in 1966 as the city's main library, the historic structure at 225 Polk Avenue fell into disrepair after the city opened a new library building in 2001. The original building, designed by architect Bruce Crabtree, emphasized classical design elements — such as strict rhythm, proportions and symmetry — with a repeating motif of columns and arches. It cost $1.9 million to build the original edifice back in the mid-1960s. The $15 million Hastings project infused the building with new life.

The Hastings team approached the adaptive reuse of the former library with a commitment to retaining its original design intent, says Powell. The building's facade, composed of Georgia Cherokee marble panels, was cleaned, repaired and/or replaced with new, perfectly matched marble from the same quarry that supplied the original material. The building's distinctive 16-foot tall glass windows, forming what is believed to be one of the earliest example of a curtain wall in the city, were left in place, but substituted with high-performance, environmentally-friendly glass windows.

Let There Be Light

On the building's southern facade, the renovation added glass in place of the precast panels that had been part of the original build. This was one of the project's biggest challenges, explains Powell.

The city initially hesitated to allow changes to the exterior of the historic building. But they agreed after the Hastings team found drawings from the original architect's plan that included detailed instructions on how to replace the precast inserts with glass. Adding a wall of glass with a southern exposure flooded the interior space with natural light.

Because the long-vacant building was already an empty shell, the architects decided to strip the interior down to its original skeleton, exposing concrete columns, shear walls and waffle slab floor and ceiling components. The entrance to the Hastings studio now features a reception desk with the original concrete shear wall looming over it.

“Behind that is a big mechanical chase," says Powell. “Instead of covering that up with drywall, we stripped it and cleaned it. Now, we don't have any signage in our space. We actually project our logo onto that concrete wall."

The renovation work also included refurbishment of the original terrazzo floor in the lobby, and the terrazzo-clad stairway connecting the two main floors of the building. The walnut railings on the stairway inspired the design team to use walnut as a color accent in the otherwise stark black, white and gray interior. Throughout the building, walnut work tables and even a long dining table in the in-house cafe are reminiscent of the historic library furnishings.

Much of the original interior space was left open. The studio space on the southern half of the first and second floors retains an open plan — a nod to its past use as a reading room. A walnut slatwall — inspired by a similar wall in the original library auditorium — separates the public spaces from the studio's offices, and from a large cafe that serves as a staff dining room.

The main floor of the design firm's offices features 21-foot high ceilings. Long LED light fixtures were installed to evoke the look of the floor-to-ceiling book stacks that once occupied the space. The second floor now includes studio space, meeting rooms, a materials library, private offices and a balcony that wraps around the building. Because it's perched on a hill overlooking the city, the balcony provides panoramic views of Nashville's city center, and of the nearby Tennessee state capitol building.

The architects wanted the public to have continued access to the building, so they relocated the original library auditorium, The Athenaeum, to the ground level. The 1,500-square-foot community room is intended for use by community organizations and nonprofit groups. The Athenaeum comfortably seats 100 people and has standing room for up to 300 guests.

Powell says the finished space that his firm now calls home is indicative of what he calls “the Hastings brand." Moreover, he says, the space reflects the design aesthetic of its current occupants.

“After 35 years we've had a lot of discussion about who are we and what we want to become," he says. “It really comes down to two important points. One is that we are architects and we love to design and create beautiful things. But very much equal to that is that we are about people and community, and being inviting. So, when you combine those two, we tried to create an architecture in this building that is special and that tells its own story."