Selected Works Nico Forlenza
A LITTLE ABOUT MYSELF In my opinion, the most important aspect of architectural design is the creation of place. With a background in both architecture and interior architecture, I’ve always been extremely interested in how people interact with a design on a human level. I try to search for what gives a space it’s identity. The irst act of my career has been in the corporate world with many large scale, new construction, urban buildings. However, I have continuously driven myself to make my contribution to the projects rooted in contextual and cultural signiicance, whether that be in the scale, texture, or character of what is designed. I learned early through my young career the power an image can have. An important tool I’ve used to communicate my passion for the creation of place are photo realistic renderings that attempt to illustrate the impact of thoughtful and rooted design concepts for clients and team members to see. (please note that all renderings in this portfolio were completed 100% personally, unless otherwise stated, including the one on the next page)
Thank you in advance for taking the time to look through my work.
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LIFEWAY CORPORATE HQ page 4
SOBRO TOWER 222 page 20
FIFTH AND BROADWAY page 36
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Lifew Selected Works
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LIFEWAY
THE DICHOTOMY OF HISTORIC ROOTS AND A GROWING “IT” CITY
THE SITE AND THE INSTITUTION Nashville has earned every bit of its recently donned nickname “the it city”. With over 100 people moving to town each day and upward of 40 cranes visible from downtown at any point in time, the city is booming with what seems to be a brand new, glass-adorned, shiny building around every corner.
The challenge for the design became how to create a modern, corporate oice building that found a balance between the shiny high-rise oices sprouting up all around downtown and a 110 year old automobile factory that it would be situated next to. Added to that complexity was the diiculty of creating a building that boasted the image and success of a company whose values are LifeWay is a Christian publishing company that centered around humility and service to others. expanded from its humble roots as a local Nashville publisher 125 years ago to an international corporation that serves in over 120 countries. After selling its old campus, which was a staple in downtown for over a century, LifeWay was moving to a new development on the edge of the city. Its new home would be adjacent to a block of brick warehouse buildings engrained with their own 100 year histories.
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(above) The top image is of the marathon motor factory; a one hundred and ten year old factory that has been converted into a music and event venue. Below is an image of a book wall incorporated into the inal LifeWay oice space which includes the irst book they printed back in the late 1800’s.
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LIFEWAY
DEPTH, TEXTURE, AND RYTHYM The irst step in the façade development was to create a framework that visually tied into the surrounding warehouse buildings. A simple, limited palette of deep red, wire cut, hand-laid and thin brick and a dark aluminum composite panels speak back to the industrial feel of the neighborhood. Combined with that was the use of a rigid rhythm of openings and piers which was a prominent feature in the factory aesthetic. To introduce the feel of a modern oice building, a curtain wall system was incorporated that took advantage of a hierarchy of mullion cap extensions of various lengths. These extensions not only gave the curtain wall a visual depth that played well of the brick, but when projected out past the brick, gave an additional layer of richness to the building by casting a dynamic layer of shadow over the façade.
(Right) A series of renderings I completed were used convince the client of the importance the mullion cap extensions and the brick reveals to the depth and character of the building. These images were critical to keep them from being VE’ed out of the project and ultimately allowed the building to it contextually in the neighborhood.
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LIFEWAY
1’ - 0 1/2”
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APPLIED FIREPROOFING
B E.O.S. 1’ - 8 1/2”
2” MINERAL WOOL 6” CFMF 1/2” BLOCKING EXTERIOR JOINT SEALANT AND BACKER ROD FLOOR SLAB BEYOND
1’ - 7”
1’ - 4 1/2”
R19 BATT INSULATION
SHEET FLASHING (LAP PRECAST 1” MIN.) SELF-ADHERED SHEET WATERPROOFING MEMBRANE EXTERIOR JOINT SEALANT AND BACKER ROD MULLION CAP EXTENSION 1’ - 8”
8”
1’ - 8”
PRECAST ARCHITECTURAL CONCRETE WITH THIN BRICK INLAY
TYPICAL TOWER PRECAST JAMB (Above) This detail illustrates how both the mullion cap extensions and brick reveal were achieved. What is critical to note is how a continuous thermal barrier was held across the whole façade, despite transitioning from the brick, to glass, to metal panel. (Right) Close-up shot of the elevation showing the whole pallet of materials and systems for the facade. This image also gives a good sense of the depth created by the mullion cap extensions..
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LIFEWAY
(Above) The two images depict the rhythm and texture of the building exterior viewed from various elevations. These elevations illustrate how modern, metal elements were combined with the brick piers to create a building that played of aesthetics of both warehouse and corporate architecture.
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On the west elevation near the visitor garage entrance, a painted brick mural was added. This not only created an additional branding element, but further weaved the building into the fabric of the neighborhood rich with similar, striking, painted murals. (left) The LifeWay mural created a striking, visual element on an otherwise boring facade. The artwork also brings your eye up, away from the transformers that had to be placed there (above) a collage of other painted masonry murals in the neighborhood.
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LIFEWAY
INTEGRATION OF THE HISTORIC FABRIC LifeWay had curated its own vault of artifacts over their 125 year history, some elements of which they wanted to include in their new lobby space. The centerpiece of this collection was a series of 20’ tall stained glass windows nearly a century old that depicted stories which relected the company’s core values
The solution was to hang the stained glass pieces in custom steel frames turned 90° from the windows in the same rhythm as the exterior openings. This would allow the stained glass to protrude slightly into the two story lobby volume without being too obtrusive while casting a beautiful, color-illed light onto the space in the morning sun.
The design problem with displaying these became a similar one to exterior: how to showcase these very traditional, historic pieces in a modern way which called attention to them while tying them in to the character of the space.
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(Above) This was a rendering I developed with guidance from the interiors team to illustrate the concept for the stained glass in the lobby. This image immediately made the clients fall in love with the idea and move forward with it.
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detail shot of the light pouring through the inal installation of the stained Selectedglass Works
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Sobro Selected Works
Tower 222
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SOBRO TOWER 222
THE INTERPRETATION OF SOUND THROUGH ARCHITECTURE
A CITY’S CHARACTER AND MOST PROMINENT PARKING GARAGE The most exciting aspect of getting to work on Sobro Tower 222 was its prominence in downtown and in the skyline. Located in plain view from the riverfront, across from a new outdoor music venue that sees over 150,000 visitors a year, and 2 blocks of Broadway, which hosts over 10,000,000 annually of its own, this building is right in the public’s eye. It was important from a design standpoint for a building of this impact to relect the identity of the city it stood in.
to clad 12 lower level stories of parking garage on the most prominent strip of buildings in Nashville in a way the harkened back to the theme of music without being overtly blatant. Added to the dificulty of that was doing it using a two-toned rain screen system approved by the developer which also abided by the necessary code mandates for garage ventilation.
Most people could tell you that Nashville is Music City. When a city has such a strong identity tied to it, especially one like music, it is easy even in architectural design to get caught up in a lot of kitschy one ofs and exterior features like giant guitar shapes or a twelve-story vinyl record rain screen. The challenge for the tower became how
(Right) Rendering I created showing the view of the building from the new amphitheatre seating
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SOBRO TOWER 222
THE ABSTRACT REPRESENTATION OF SOUND The inal design of the garage was based around how soundwaves control particles as they propagate through space. Depending on where in the curve of the wave, the particles expand or contract in moments of either compression or rarefaction respectively. When these reactions of particle movement are drawn out, they created interesting patterns of form and void. In terms of the garage rainscreen, a solid white panel was used to represent the form, while a perforated dark gray panel the void, which doubled as the necessary openings for garage ventilation.
(Above) Close-up photo of the execution of the facade. Notice how the maximum amount of shear between perceived bands was used to try to emphasize the distinction between them (Right) Diagrams illustrating the movement of particles propagated through space as a result of soundwaves. This ultimately became the concept around which the garage cladding was based
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VARIOUS SOUND WAVE PATTERNS COMPRESSION
RAREFACTION
DIRECTION OF PROPAGATION
PARTICLE VELOCITY ACOUSTIC PRESSURE
AMPLITUDE WAVELENGTH
BREAKDOWN OF A SOUNDWAVE 25
SOBRO TOWER 222
NORTH ELEVATION
WEST ELEVATION
(Above) Elevations of the garage facade as they wrap the entirety of the building. These elevations show how the 9 story garage were broken down into 3 story sections to create each band, as well as how the pattern maintains its integrity even as it wraps the corners of the building. (Right) Diagram showing the breakdown of the perceived “form” and “void”. Every 5’ piece of the garage screen was broken down into one of four conigurations depicted.
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SOUTH ELEVATION
EAST ELEVATION
GARAGE SCREEN CONFIGURATIONS 1’
4’
2’
3’
3’
2’
4’
1’
WHITE METAL PANEL DARK GREY PERFORATED METAL PANEL
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(Above and Right) Renderings created 100% personally to test and illustrate the various potential cladding layouts. These images were also used for marketing and MDHA approval of the garage.
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Selected Works detail shot showing how the pattern of the bands maintain their integrity even when turning the corner
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SOBRO TOWER 222
BRICK 2 BRICK 1 L
1/3 L 1/3 L 1/3 L
VERTICAL 1/3 RUNNING BOND BRICK REPEATABLE PATTERN SMALLER SCALE, SIMILAR SITUATION Cladding the two garage entrances posed a similar issue to the one of the rainscreen above: how to do it in a way that called attention to itself without being obnoxious. Given 2 diferent colorways of brick to use, the challenge was how to create a repeatable pattern of brick that could be replicated by the masons while vaguely calling back to the musical theme of the garage. The end result is a pattern which takes its inspiration from the bars of an equalizer rising and falling. (Above) Diagram illustrating the inal pattern created (Right) Closeup photo of one of the garage entries displaying the full efect of the inal pattern
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full shot of the garage entry directly across the street from the amphitheater entry
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Broadway 37
FIFTH + BROADWAY
THE THREE C’S: COMMUNICATION, COORDINATION, AND CIRCULATION
THE UNDERTAKING Communication is key. Especially when embarking on building a contemporary residential tower, Class-A oice tower, 235,000 square feet of walkable shops and rooftop restaurants, a renovated conference center, the upcoming National Museum of African American Music and world-class entertainment oferings. The Fifth and Broadway development will be all that as a downtown destination that will transform the former 6.2 acres of the Nashville Convention Center into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood of its own.
and tenants. After that was complete, it was my task to help the retail architecture team detail and draw the project, speciically the more than 30 areas of circulation while also managing all the exhibits for contracts for the dozens of potential tenants. All this only skims the surface of this testament to teamwork and coordination.
My task on this project was a daunting one: take a project that was $100,000,000 over budget with no working BIM model after SD, start building a new model from the ground up, and create a clear set of color-coded plans that explained the project with all its embedded relationships and programs. This would begin the process of getting the project back on track and use as a tool to explain the project to future consultants
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(Above) Schematic rendering of the project curtesy of Gensler
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THE IMMENSE URBAN IMPACT The scope of the project is not only massive, but so is its prominence. As you can see in the panorama above of the site, it is located adjacent to some of the most prominent landmarks in the city: the Ryman Auditorium, the mother church of country music, Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators, and of course Broadway which hosts millions of visitors annually in its world famous honky tonks.
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STRUCTURAL ENGINEER MEP ENGINEERING TEAM CIVIL ENGINEER
CIRCULATION CONSULTANT
e
M
GRAPHICS / SIGNAGE TEAM LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
“C” NUMBER 1: COMMUNICATION Being able to communicate with a large number of people simultaneously was a key to completing this project. The diagram above represents all the entities I was in regular communication with, the dots below which represent individuals in that entity I communicated with. Also, the thickness of the line represents the frequency with which we exchanged information: the thicker the line, the more frequent in contact we were.
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EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT PROJECT MANAGER
RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE TEAM
OFFICE ARCHITECTURE TEAM
RETAIL ARCHITECTURE TEAM
CONFERENCE CENTER ARCHITECTURE TEAM
DEVELOPER / LEASING
RETAIL TENANTS
MUSEUM ENTITY & ARCHITECT RETAIL DESIGN ARCHITECT I RETAIL DESIGN ARCHITECT II
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FIFTH + BROADWAY
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NES VAULT OPEN TO BELOW
BIKE ROOM
DOWN TO B1
UP TO 5TH
OFFICE SLAB @ (+20)
FSAE
STOR.
ELEV MACH.
OPEN TO ABOVE
UP TO OFF 04
DOWN TO 5TH
RETAIL STORAGE
R S
1,188 SF
RETAIL C-107
RETAIL C-105
RETAIL C-104
RETAIL C-103
RETAIL C-102
RETAIL C-100
4,339 SF
2,050 SF
2,112 SF
2,661 SF
2,305 SF
3,480 SF
OPEN TO ABOVE AND BELOW
RETAIL CIRCULATION 6,557 SF UP FROM B1
S
S
DN TO B1
DN FROM 02
OPEN TO BELOW
OPEN TO ABOVE
LEASING
P
P
RETAIL C-102.5
RETAIL C-101
1,000 SF
1,059 SF
UP TO 02
1,916 SF
OPEN TO BELOW
27'
27'
46'
26' 35'
24'
30'
31'
45'
36'
CONFERENCE
92'
BOH OFFICE - BOH
85'
ELEC. RISER
854 SF
BUSWAY RISER ROOM
65' TELE
SECURITY
F&B B-101 8,194 SF
OFFICE CIRCULATION
86'
OPEN TO BELOW F&B A-106
RETAIL A-110
RETAIL A-109
RETAIL A-110
4,972 SF
3,802 SF
4,759 SF
9,773 SF
PARKING
3 LEVELS AND ROOFTOP TOTAL GLA 11,221 SF
RESIDENTIAL LOBBY
RESIDENTIAL
RETAIL B-104
1,059 SF
RESIDENTIAL CIRCULATION RETAIL BOH
28'
RETAIL STORAGE
293 SF
OPEN TO MUSEUM BELOW
935 SF
RETAIL CIRCULATION
F&B B-103
3,309 SF
P
31'
P
OPEN TO ABOVE
18'
3,011 SF RETAIL BOH
RETAIL A-105
21'
20' 20'
694 SF
20'
F RETAIL B-105
P
RETAIL A-104.5 RETAIL A-102
639 SF
TOTAL GLA 16,411 SF
RETAIL A-104 1,075 SF
806 SF
RETAIL - F&B
7,539 SF
3 LEVELS TOTAL GLA 27,115 SF
2 LEVELS AND ROOFTOP TOTAL GLA 12,122 SF
RETAIL B-106 F&B A-103
25'
DOWN TO B1
DOWN TO B1
UP TO BROADWAY
RETAIL B-105.5
245 SF F&B A-000
10,816 SF
F&B B-100 5,335 SF
RETAIL BOH
1,070 SF
2 LEVELS
RETAIL - BOH RETAIL CIRCULATION
S
1,011 SF
1,776 SF
RETAIL
RETAIL - LEASING RETAIL - OUTDOOR DINING TERRACE
43'
2,374 SF
RETAIL PARKING ENTRY
603 SF
RETAIL - STORAGE
20'
F&B B-107
RESI PARKING ENTRY TRUCK EXIT
VERTICAL SHAFT RETAIL A-102 @ (+8)
LEVEL 01 PLAN “C” NUMBER 2: COORDINATION One of my initial tasks in this project was creating a set of color-coordinated plans which tried to explain in the simplest manner possible, all of the programmatic areas and adjacencies of the project. These were key in determining the boundaries between the retail, residential, and oice portions of the project as well as deining the gray areas in between. These plans became the primary tool to explain the project to outside consultants and committees and was crucial to the success and progression of the design. They were also integral to explaining to potential tenants their presence in the project and gave the developers a dynamic, living document in which many tables where tied, that calculated gross area and GLA at any given moment. (left) A conceptual three-dimensional stacked diagram of all the color coordinated plans. This diagram illustrates how the plans representated diferent programs within the project as slices of the project moving upward in elevation of the development (above) An example of one of these plans.
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FIFTH + BROADWAY
Another very important coordination tool I oversaw were LOD’s: leasing outline documents. LOD’s were arguably the most important drawings in the project because they were used to negotiate and inalize all of the tenant contracts which inanced a great deal of the development. These documents were created for every individual tenant in the project and consisted of an overall plan showing their location in the development and a zoomed-in plan outlining the dimensions of their footprint, inish loor elevation, proximity to service corridors and exits, and called out special entrance or grade change requirements. These documents were constantly in lux as the developer talked to tenants and would request quick turnarounds of updated documents within the day in most cases.
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FIFTH + BROADWAY
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“C” NUMBER 3: CIRCULATION The main areas I was tasked with developing and documenting in the project were the circulation cores, the most prominent of which was an exterior entry that carried people from the internal street, up into the various levels of retail and food and dining. I worked closely with our signage and graphics team to incorporate their theme of “reined grit” for the project into the materiality of this circulation core as well as the 90’ graphic wall that would dominate the space.
(left) A branding identity cloud created by the graphics team to describe the development and aid them in focusing their work. (above) Images that correlated with the branding identity. The top image is of the shelves in the Hatch Print Shop. This shop has been in Nashville for over 100 years and has created numerous iconic images in the city. The shelves hold thousands of hand carved stamps used on their prints and is a piece of art on its own. It was these shelves that I wanted the design of the graphic wall to be based around which the graphics team took and ran with.
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FIFTH + BROADWAY
1’ - 6”
9’ - 6”
1.5”
8’ - 6”
2”
PLACEHOLDER WALL FINISH (FINAL FINISH FOR GRAPHIC WALL TBD)
GLASS BALUSTRADE
NOSE OF STEP SEALANT AND BACKER ROD FLASHING
STAINLESS STEEL INNER STEP
CUSTOM STAINLESS STEEL OUTER DECK
DARKENED STAINLESS STEEL OUTER STEP
METAL PANEL
METAL PANEL
1.5” RIGID INSULATION MOISTURE BARRIER
MOISTURE BARRIER 5/8” GYP SHEATHING HAT CHANNEL
2 LAYERS 5/8” GYP SHEATHING
FLASHING STEEL TUBE
FLASHING STEEL TUBE
ESCALATOR AND STAIR CROSS SECTION (Above) Section detail of the adjacent stairs and escalators in the exterior retail circulation core. (Right) Final design concept images created by the graphics team to show how their graphic wall it in the space. The design of the wall took the idea of the stamps on the shelves from the image on the last page, and rotated them so the characters on the stamps were showing. Also visible in these images are the elevator shaft and stairs clad in metal opposite the graphic wall. The metal contrasts the warmth of the wall, and adds to the idea of “reined grit”.
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