On October 2, Main League Soccer’s Nashville SC concluded its first common season schedule at its new everlasting residence at GEODIS Park, a 30,1-seat stadium simply south of Music Metropolis’s downtown core on the historic Nashville Fairgrounds advanced. Nashville SC hosted its first (utterly sold-out) match towards the Philadelphia Union on Might 1 on the freshly accomplished venue, which ranks as the biggest purpose-built soccer stadium in america and Canada. The $335 million mission—one not with out ample controversy—was designed in partnership by Populous within the position of architect of report and design architect with Nashville’s personal HASTINGS serving as design architect. The design staff labored in shut collaboration with Nashville SC, a comparatively new membership established in 2020 that performed its first two seasons throughout the Cumberland River on the HOK Sport–designed Nissan Stadium whereas development on GEODIS Park was underway.
Whereas professional soccer is clearly the crowd-drawing raison d’être of the landmark new stadium, GEODIS PARK was additionally designed—this being Nashville—to host main concert events. Capable of accommodate up 27,500 music lovers, the versatile, open-air venue was designed with the requisite back-of-house infrastructure for one-off concert events and excursions, together with a flex room for stage crews, built-in energy sources, and a truck tunnel main immediately from a loading dock space to the sphere.
“GEODIS Park is a world-class stadium that speaks particularly to human scale,” stated Bruce Miller, Populous Senior Principal and Managing Director | Americas, and Populous Principal-in-Cost. “The Nashville identification is seamlessly and authentically woven into the design and the material of this stadium via our collaboration with HASTINGS, which pairs innovation and excessive design to energise and serve Nashville SC, its followers and town.”
As talked about by Miller, the design staff strove for a way of authenticity in creating Nashville’s latest stadium, which takes type as an uncovered metal construction ringed by a 360-degree cover that soars above the stands. Its acquainted, unfussy design is supposed to be reflective of its location throughout the downtown-adjacent Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. As soon as a gritty industrial zone, the Wedgewood-Houston of as we speak is a buzzy artistic hub dotted with transformed warehouses and historic manufacturing facility buildings. “The stadium expresses this juxtaposition with the excessive cover construction representing the economic aesthetic, and the brick-clad floor stage buildings that outline the concourse representing the residential houses discovered within the neighborhood,” a press announcement detailed.
The design of GEODIS Park additionally isn’t meant to overwhelm guests with garish, rah-rah fandom. Whereas clearly very a lot the house of Nashville SC, the stadium embraces a extra delicate, “lived-in” aesthetic with a heat materiality and an industrial edge. Bamboo strains the ceiling of the 65-wide concourse and wayfinding pays homage to the economic heritage of the encompassing neighborhood. Bolstered by a sturdy public artwork program, murals and posters across the exterior of the stadium pay homage to Nashville’s wealthy historical past—significantly its musical legacy—whereas staff slogans line the sphere tunnel and vivid graphics depicting the membership’s gamers and followers may be discovered hanging from its uncovered metal beams.
GEODIS Park contains a trio of membership experiences: the swank Valkyrie Premiere Membership on the center heart line, the music-themed WeHO Membership on the north finish, and the informal, sports activities bar–esque Lo Siento Purpose Submit Membership on the south finish. For many who need to get near motion, there’s a 3,150-square-foot secure standing supporter’s part integrated into the bowl. The venue additionally affords a variety of suite choices, together with a shared suite idea. With a small military of native distributors working on-site, the all-important concession choices—sizzling rooster, road tacos, pickle spear–topped sizzling canines, and extra—are, just like the seating choices, equally numerous.
“A constructing of this scale and prominence introduced an unimaginable alternative to memorialize the economic heritage of this quickly altering neighborhood,” Dave Powell associate at HASTINGS instructed AN. “Our design answer celebrates the structural metal, painted black with white stenciled signage, making a hanging backdrop to the colourful tapestry of followers populating the stadium.”
GEODIS Park’s show boards—together with two massive shows within the area bowl together with ribbon boards and area boards—are by Daktronics, which additionally designed a show on the outside of the stadium to “increase the neighborhood expertise” pre-game, post-game, and through non-game day occasions.
“Designing areas for our neighborhood is at all times rewarding, however a mission of this scale, in a storied neighborhood similar to this, and internet hosting the amount and voracity of this fan base, is an unprecedented privilege for me,” Powell stated. “Nashville SC acknowledged from the start that this stadium needed to be uniquely Nashville. We had been honored to signify our metropolis in executing their imaginative and prescient.”
Whereas Nashville SC followers have embraced the superlatively massive, state-of-the-art new residence of the membership with gusto (the 2022 season was completely offered out), the lead-up to the event of the stadium, as talked about, was mired in controversy and authorized clashes. In its early phases, two separate lawsuits had been filed towards stadium proprietor Metro Nashville over issues that the development of the stadium would disrupt the annual Tennessee State Honest held on the Nashville Fairgrounds, which can be residence to the Nashville Speedway, a month-to-month flea market, and an enviornment well-known as a professional wrestling mecca. A decision to halt the demolition of buildings to make approach for the brand new stadium, a marquee factor of a bigger mixed-use redevelopment plan on the fairgrounds, was additionally launched by Metropolitan Council member Steve Glover in August 2019 however in the end voted down.
Stalled by litigation and a ballooning finances, demolition work on the Nashville Fairgrounds lastly kicked off in March 2020 (the venue was speculated to be accomplished by SC Nashville’s inaugural 2020 season) after an settlement was reached between Nashville Mayor John Cooper and lead membership proprietor John R. Ingram and amendments had been made to the unique stadium deal. A naming rights deal was finalized with domestically primarily based freight logistics firm GEODIS in March 2022.
