We believe that the Music City Center’s success as a monumental public project will depend largely upon its design as a body of civic architecture. Of course, any convention center’s primary function will be that of a convention center—but, as a sizable public project in the stirring heart of our city, the Music City Center will also have to turn outwards to an extent and perform a greater, more complex and diverse role as a good neighbor and a worthy public investment that will both surpass and outlive its immediate program. While we have great faith in our city leaders’ ability to choose an architectural designer with the skills and experience necessary to craft a solid convention center, we also understand that this designer will, simply by nature of the task at hand, have their work cut out for them. The typology of the modern convention hall does not lend itself very gracefully to the principles of good urban design. It is difficult to competently fashion what is by definition a massive, program-specific structure while keeping it humane, flexible, and generally useful on all sides, at every corner.

For this reason, we would like to suggest a few design precedents that may be helpful as our city and its chosen designers work to “civilize” the modern convention center. We have deliberately chosen not to include any convention centers among these architectural precedents. We do not presume to tell our democratically selected, highly specialized and qualified design firms how they should leverage their expertise and experience to serve convention space. We do, however, want to shed a little light on the strong civic character of a number of mixed-use public spaces for which many Nashvillians have expressed affection and respect, as well as a little longing. It is our fervent hope that the Music City Center will include such spaces, both great and small.

The relevance of many of these precedents will be instantly apparent. The applicability of others may be less so, but this is rather our point—if there was ever an occasion for thinking “outside the (monolithic, single-use) box,” this is it. We have included both grand, monumental public spaces and intimate, elegant little ones. We have also included a selection of pedestrianized streets, and have chosen to discuss a few works of public architecture that create fascinating dynamics between above-ground and below-ground spaces, as our conceptual design study recommends that the Music City Center’s main exhibition hall be tucked into the slope of its site and capped by public spaces. There were many wonderful spaces that we did not include—the world is wealthy with excellent precedent. Here’s hoping that Nashville’s new convention center makes it wealthier still.

As usual, we welcome comments and criticism. This grassroots design study is, like the Music City Center itself, a public effort.