Architecture

Dapper Owl is an adaptive reuse retail project located near Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The project utilizes an old traditional residential house that was converted into office space in the 2000s, reimagining the structure as a British-inspired pub, coffee shop, and bakery.

With the demographic target primarily being students and faculty, the transformed space makes a perfect spot for anyone in the community to gather anytime, day or night.

Architectural highlights include an open floor plan to accommodate spatial transparency and flow and an overall aesthetic update to the interiors, lighting, and finishes. A state-of-the-art commercial kitchen, complete with grease traps, kitchen exhaust hoods, bakery equipment, and other infrastructural items, was also included in the project scope.

Ophelia’s is a neo-Italian, lounge, restaurant, bar and neighborhood-gathering space located in the heart of Nashville’s evolving financial district that is quickly transforming to a high-end entertainment area of downtown Nashville, both day and night.

The project reuses the existing retail area at the base of the historical L&C Building and transforms it into a modern, yet comfortable and familiar space. Materials chosen for this project were intentionally curated to create a classic Italian cafe vibe while fitting seamlessly into the vibrant urban streetscape of the downtown scene. Rustic but clean white ceiling boards, simple plaster walls with intentionally over-crowded choreographed art work floor-to-ceiling is combined with clean walnut wood flooring that is carefully carved out to allow Italian tile to be laced in for unexpected yet functional moments. A glass facade is incorporated across the entire building face with sliding panels to blur the edges between indoors and outdoors.

This project is the second for the client, just across the street from their first Nashville restaurant, Church & Union.

The Fisk University Allied Science Building is a new project near the heart of the central campus that will provide a state-of-the-art new science building. The new building will capture the requirements of the University and imagines the changing needs for the future by providing flexible laboratory space and teaching labs as well as a divisible and multi-purpose auditorium.

The project has been envisioned with the assistance of the professors and administration, research of other exemplary science buildings across the country as well as expanding on programmatic and contextual elements provided by the University and the site itself. Some key architectural elements of this project include sculptural and double-height fluid spaces, atrium-like areas, catwalks, and transparency throughout to display the student and faculty work.

The building’s architecture marries a dynamic spatial experience with a pragmatic science laboratory and research areas, all serving as demonstrations to passersby and the surrounding campus and community.

The Boyd House is a historic renovation and adaptive reuse project of the historic Boyd House on the Fisk University campus.

This project required the project team to initiate initial interior demolition to expose structural elements, and areas where the structure could be improved or modified for future Fisk University office and administration space. The primary goal of this project was to capture and utilize the contextual significance of the historical structure while updating some of the spaces to accommodate the University’s requested programmatic uses.

The Boyd House was owned by Dr. Henry Allen Boyd (1876-1959) and his wife Georgia Bradford Boyd (1884-1952). Fisk University acquired it on October 11, 1938, and it is currently listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Dr. Boyd was a Fisk Trustee and part of the group of influential black men who convinced the Tennessee General Assembly to bring Tennessee State University to Nashville. Mrs. Georgia Boyd was a suffragist and a prominent figure in Nashville’s Colored Women’s Club movement who dedicated her life to serving Nashville’s poorest Black residents. – www.rhboyd.com