Top-Tier Amphitheater

by Jonathan McGaha | 31 July 2016 12:00 am

New Nashville open-air venue makes a sound expression

In the early 2000s, Nashville, Tenn.’s thermal transfer plant was phased out, just blocks from downtown. Original plans for the site were for a minor league baseball stadium for the Nashville Sounds. But after numerous delays, those plans struck out and construction soon started on the Ascend Amphitheater, where metal proved to be an active component helping to create the new venue.

 

Lasting Landmark

Part of a 11-acre civic park, the new bowl-shaped venue accommodates up to 6,500 people with semi-fixed seating for 2,200, a 300-person greenway pavilion and 4,000 lawn seats. The design of the amphitheater and its supporting facilities were influenced by the site, historic Nashville and the city’s place in American music. The view window through the stage provides audience members a framed vista of the Nashville skyline.

“Because it was meant to be a lasting civic landmark for the city of Nashville, it became vital to the design that the construction be comprised of an enduring material palette both robust and common to the contextual setting of the site along an industrial stretch of the Cumberland River,” says Darin Vieira, senior associate, Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture, Culver City, Calif. “Logically, the 100-foot clear span of the stage house and outrigger canopy could only be achieved with a robust steel structure as well. Bound on two ends by elevated bridges and on the third edge by mid-rise towers, the roofscape of the amphitheater was seen as a critical focal point of the design. We used the strong lines of the standing seam roof to assemble a cohesive texture across the site. The sponsor pavilion canopy, concession canopies, and the stage house grill of crisscrossing steel members were conceived as a set of similar assemblies, unifying the architecture of the site.”

Bemo USA Corp., Mesa, Ariz. supplied the standing seam roof and single-lock standing seam panels. Kovach Building Enclosures, Chandler, Ariz., installed the metal roof and wall panels, and assisted with the project design.

The amphitheater’s fascia, or grill as it is sometimes called, is above the stage house and is a layered assembly of crisscrossing steel extrusions over a robust, expanded metal mesh screen. Trussville, Ala.-based Modern Workshop LLC supplied and fabricated the fascia, and Birmingham, Ala.-based Alabama Metal Industries Corp. (AMICO) supplied the metal mesh screen. A soffit was supplied by Alcoa Architectural Products, Norcross, Ga., and Metal Sales Manufacturing Corp., Louisville, Ky. “The cavity between the two elements houses architectural lighting that can be programmed to illuminate the mesh screen to mimic the performance lighting on stage, incorporating the performance of the architecture into the show,” Vieira says.

Construction wasn’t easy; the amphitheater’s fast-track project delivery required that the steel shop drawings be approved prior even to plan check approval. “Extensive coordination throughout the construction documents process and close coordination with the contractor addressed as many issues as possible prior to site assembly,” Vieira says. “Special construction items such as the grill were shopassembled to ensure dimensional accuracy and quick assembly on-site.”

 

Sustainable Sound

Designers admit that the amphitheater does not conform to traditional sustainability criteria, but they were still able to instill green elements. So much so, according to Shelby Adams, senior director of communications for Skanska USA, Franklin, Tenn., its general contractor, the project became the first outdoor performance venue of its kind to achieve LEED Gold certification in the United States.

“The project was ultimately designed to promote biodiversity, reduce the risk of flooding in downtown Nashville, and encourage more sustainable modes of transport by creating an important link in Nashville’s walking and cycling greenway network,” she says. “Eighty-eight percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills, and 2,895 tons of crushed rock and 11,570 tons of soil from the existing site were repurposed. Biweekly soil erosion inspections were carried out at least 72 hours apart, and rainfall was monitored on a daily basis. Skanska worked to reduce the energy used on-site during construction by incorporating energy-efficient project lighting and programmable thermostats throughout the site that allowed lighting, office equipment and heating to be switched off at night and over the weekend when possible.”

“[Many areas] are naturally heated and ventilated,” says Craig Hodgetts, founding principal and creative director, Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture. “A 400,000-gallon holding tank provides runoff water for the landscape. The roof’s photovoltaic cells
[1,350 square feet] are sufficient to supply the demands for a percentage of domestic hot water and appliances.” The amphitheater has a 2,800-squarefoot green roof and a solar-powered media charger

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Sidebar: Ascend Amphitheater, Nashville, Tenn.

Owner: Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
Design architect: Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture, Los Angeles
Architect of record/interior architecture: Smith Gee Studio, Nashville
Civil engineer: Civil Site Design Group LLC, Nashville
General contractor: Skanska USA, Franklin, Tenn.
Structural engineer: EMC Structural Engineers P.C., Nashville
Metal roof/wall panel installer: Kovach Building Enclosures, Chandler, Ariz.
Fascia: Modern Workshop LLC, Trussville, Ala., www.modernworkshop.com[1]
Metal mesh screen: Alabama Metal Industries Corp. (AMICO), Birmingham, Ala., www.amicoglobal.com[2]
Soffit panels: Alcoa Architectural Products, Norcross, Ga., www.reynobond.com[3] and Metal Sales Manufacturing Corp. Louisville, Ky., www.metalsales.us.com[4]
Metal roof/wall panels: Bemo USA Corp., Mesa, Ariz., www.bemousa.com[5]

Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/top-tier-amphitheater/

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