Christ Presbyterian Academy Fine Arts Center / Hastings
Christ Presbyterian Academy Fine Arts Center / Hastings
+ 25
- Area:
45000 ft²
Year:
2020
Photographs: Steve Hall © Hall + Merrick Photographers
Manufacturers: Alucoil, Ducharme, Molded glass, Guardian Glass, Tubelite, Armstrong ACGI, Babcock-Davis, Fabral, Golterman & Sabo, Innovations, Thermotex Industries
Text description provided by the architects. This Fine Arts Center establishes a new front door to the Christ Presbyterian Academy campus, and welcomes students, families and visitors alike. As part of a larger master plan, the Fine Arts Center is located to enclose and define a new central quad – the long-awaited heart of campus.
Christ Presbyterian Academy is a private co-educational college preparatory school for grade 12 preschool located on a 58-acre campus in Nashville, Tennessee. HASTINGS ‘campus-wide master plan deliberately placed the new Arts Center to establish a central outdoor quad that transformed the campus from an automotive-centric campus to one that embraces the human scale and celebrates the school’s idyllic setting. Since its founding in 1982, the campus, which grew without an overall style or aesthetic, is now united around the central quad.
The previously uneven facades on campus now speak in harmony with a new color palette. Like the program it houses, the new Fine Arts Center is bright and inspired. Brick massage encloses the base of the building and refers to the existing campus scale and materiality. An undulating corrugated metal panel reminiscent of the stage curtain covers the theater house and the fly tower. At the main entrance, the brick mass opens to reveal a transparent lobby lined with a wooden canopy – a welcoming gesture for both students and visitors. The Glass Pattern – an interpretation of the Academy’s tartan pattern – introduces a contemporary vocabulary that is unique to this campus.
Through the transparent façade, the lobby blurs the line between inside and out with natural materials and abundant natural light, inviting curiosity and wonder through both the large scale of the room and its sculptural gesture. The theater’s auditorium reflects the gentle curves found in the lobby, which represent the creative expression that is promoted in the building and contrasts with the Art Center’s orthogonal brick masses. An expansive light monitor spreads the light through the lobby and promotes the connection between inside and outside.
The program includes a 550-seat theater, black box theater, makeup and dressing room, a costume shop, stage shop, green room, administration and art department offices. At night, The Fine Arts Center and its large glass planes become an inviting lighthouse on the quad. Both form and program work together to create a contextual response that elevates campus and inspires creativity and art.
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