Corporate environments generally reference a brand visual paired with contract home furnishings to support personnel as they perform their daily tasks. When designers picture their own spaces, they typically strive to record a smooth mix of type and function that mirrors the company’s signature structures.
When the Powell team pictured their own head office, they decided to develop a
contemporary work area that doubles as a showcase of their abilities.”As an architecture, design, and building and construction firm, we wished to bring our customers into an area where all of that was fully incorporated and to reveal them what we can do,”states Katie Vance, partner and chief creative officer at Powell. Found in the Berry Hill area, home of Nashville’s style district, two ordinary parcels were transformed into a three-story story structure that houses Powell’s spaces and those of another tenant, a high-end functional medication and movement studio. Fine workmanship sets the tone as quickly as visitors get in the structure through a first-floor lobby, where they are welcomed through an 11-foot customized white oak door. The location opens into a glass entryway stressed by exposed steel, jazzed up by terrazzo tile in tones of peach, black, cream, and hunter green.
Powell’s 3,806-square-foot office is on the 2nd floor. Yet instead of just stress a couple of interiors with distinct colors and signs, this section is immersive and warm, with bold visual minutes layered in.”We have a series of vignettes that you see in hospitality environments, like an incredible lounge or a cubicle that feels relaxing,” notes Luke Tidwell, Powell partner and CEO. “These are the same kinds of spaces that we develop, but in a smaller kind.”
The studio acts as a gallery filled with special aspects produced by 13 local makers, who likewise often team up with Powell. In the lounge, comfortable seating is paired with a Pullman-style upholstered cubicle. A custom bodega-like bar sits across the space. Dressed in tile, it includes spirited design iconography with items that begin with the letter P (for Powell, naturally), consisting of pizza, a pirate, and pretzel.
The marquee meeting room is decorated with a bespoke wallpaper from New Hat, with hues and information motivated by Powell’s completed jobs, each represented in its own rectangular shape. Plant includes vibrancy throughout the work environment, while glass walls let light in and maintain a connection to the outdoors.
More than a place to work, Powell’s headquarters is a dimensional story and a living prototype that will continue to
evolve together with the company.
To see other works by the company, see powellnashville.com. Photography thanks to Emily Dorio. Anna Zappia is a New york city City-based writer and editor with an enthusiasm for fabrics, and she can often be found at a style display or shopping for more books. Anna writes the Friday Five column, along with industrial material.