June 19, 2013—Greenrise Technologies, a full-service green infrastructure firm, recently announced the completion of a four-acre green roof atop the new Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
At the open house held to showcase the center and new green roof earlier this month, curious city residents seemed delighted by this sustainable feature.
“We have installed green roofs all around the country, including universities and government buildings, but I have never seen a turnout like this,” commented Scott McGaughy, president of Greenrise Technologies. “People are fascinated to have such a beautiful and natural setting on this building in downtown Nashville.”
The Green Roofs for Healthy Cities organization points out that green roofs and walls offer many public and private benefits such as aesthetic benefits, stormwater management, and moderation of the “urban heat island” effect for the surrounding area, as well as energy efficiency, fire retardation, noise reduction and increased marketability for the building.
Beyond the green roof, the 1.2 million-square-foot facility features a 350,000-square-foot exhibit hall, a 57,000-square-foot grand ballroom and 18,000-square-foot junior ballroom, and about 1,800 parking spaces, says the center’s management. It also offers 90,000 square feet of meeting room space.
Designed by Atlanta-based Thompson, Ventulett, and Stainback Associates and Nashville-based Tuck Hinton Architects and Moody-Nolan Architects, the center is on track to be certified Silver Level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
Features key to the building’s LEED status include a 360,000-gallon retention tank. Run-off water stored in the tank is used to irrigate the green roof and outside landscaping and to flush the building’s hundreds of toilets.
Music City Center is the latest facility to open in a resurgent downtown Nashville.
