Located in
Nashville, Tenn., NABRICO or the Nashville Bridge Co. Building is an iconic building located on the front of Nashville’s Cumberland River. Built in 1908, the six-story, 5,000-square-foot office building was erected by Arthur Dyer. In the mid-1990s, the construction of a new NFL stadium saw the demolition of most of the original industrial facilities found along the East Bank. NABRICO, however, was spared along with its two additions that were built in 1923 and 1965. The building is part of a Riverfront Redevelopment Initiative that calls for a 21st century repurposing of the building for office space. The office space, along with public restrooms and concessions is used for the adjacent water park.
To honor the building’s past barge manufacturing, the project added on a structured entrance that looks like the hull of a barge and leads all the way up from the ground floor to the Shelby Street pedestrian bridge. Completed in October 2011, the addition and renovations earned the NABRICO building LEED Platinum certification. The $450,000 project included pre-weathered stainless steel panels supplied by Western States Decking Inc., Phoenix, and fabricated and installed by MG McGrath, Maplewood, Minn. “The material choice was intentionally selected as a reference to the steel used for the fabrication of barges, which was the original use for the building and site,” says David Powell, architect with Hastings Architects, Nashville.
One design challenge Powell and Hastings Architects faced is that the end function at the time of design was unknown. “It was actually because the end-use was unknown that we arrived at the solution requiring an addition (the weathering steel ‘barge’),” Powell explains. “The irregular and undersized floor plates would have limited the number of possible uses, but the addition containing all of the systems, life safety components and basic infra-structure freed up the building for a variety of uses.”
To create the barge structure, the project features 16-gauge pre-weathered stainless steel panels, as well as 11-gauge pre-weathered stainless steel panels with 48 percent open perforations with 1/2-inch holes at 11/16 inches on-center. To replicate rusted structural steel beams and columns with storefront windows within the openings, the architects utilized 16-gauge cladding. A fourth panel type, anodized aluminum with 30 percent open perforated panels with 1/2-inch holes at 7/8 inches oncenter was supplied by Firestone Metal Products, Anoka, Minn. The aluminum panels are installed at the top and bottom of the elevator at the pedestrian bridge. The building also features a glass curtainwall from Santa Monica, Calif.-based Oldcastle Building- Envelope.
“The steel was designed to have rust on the finish, but it’s designed so it doesn’t continue to rust through,” says Mike LaSalle, project manager with MG McGrath. “We did a pre-patina rusted finish in our shop. We had to do a blast to clear the metal off and we have a proprietary process to patina the surface.” As a result of the coating, the panels are less likely to rust despite their waterfront setting.
In terms of installation, LaSalle explains that the biggest challenge was the panels’ size. “The size and weight of the panels
[were a challenge] since they are heavier than most panels that we install.”
Working with an older building also proved to be a challenge from a design standpoint. As Powell notes, “The biggest challenge was designing a new structure tying into an existing historic structure comprised of three different eras and construction types, all within a highly viewed and experienced public park in downtown Nashville.” Symbolically, Powell calls the building a “beacon” for the riverfront’s revitalization project while honoring the industrial past of Nashville.
NABRICO: The Bridge Building, Nashville, Tenn.
Completed: October 2011
Total square footage: 10,000 square feet
Architect: Hastings Architects, Nashville, www.haa.us
General contractor: RG Anderson Co., Nashville, www.rgandersoncompany.com
Curtainwall installer: Martin Glenn Glass Unlimited, McMinnville, Tenn., www.martinglennglass.com
Metal wall panel fabricator/installer: MG McGrath, Maplewood, Minn., www.mgmcgrath.com
Curtainwall: Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, Santa Monica, Calif., www.oldcastlebe.com
Metal wall panels: Western States Decking Inc., Phoenix, www.metaldeck.com, and Firestone Metal Products, Anoka, Minn., www.firestonemetal.com