Vanderbilt University
Owen Graduate School of Management Expansion + Renovation
Project
Owen Graduate School of Management Expansion + Renovation
Client
Vanderbilt University
Location
Nashville, TN
Completion
2023
Size
Addition: 50,000 GSF, Renovation: 50,000 GSF
Certification
Tracking LEED Gold
Category
Campus Innovations, Renovations + Additions
The renovation and addition to the Owen Graduate School of Management (OGSM) reinforces the Business School’s leadership role within the campus community and to the surrounding city. This new building serves as a necessary upgrade to a 21st-century business school and an important landmark in the Vanderbilt campus landscape. The design offers a renewed prominence and visibility to Owen and reinforces the school’s commitment to serving as a resource available to the entire school. Re-imagined gathering spaces, classrooms, and a new multi-purpose space allows Owen to foster trans-institutional collaboration by playing host to law, medical, engineering and other disciplines.
The Owen Graduate School of Management (OGSM) focuses on delivering world-class business education on a personal scale. This focus guided the school’s strategy to build a portfolio of in-person graduate programs with a high degree of personal contact between students, faculty, and staff.
Owen has always emphasized a welcoming, intimate community that facilitates openness. This culture had been nurtured through the existing architecture, but OGSM had grown beyond its footprint and departments: classes were scattered across multiple leased spaces, existing classrooms were cramped and did not support the experimental learning desired by the school. The architectural challenge be-came to expand the building while strengthening the essence of the school and preserving the level of intimacy and personal scale OGSM prides itself with. To achieve this, the design team aimed to:
• Transform Lobby into an Active Collaboration Hub
• Grow in Place while Maintaining School’s Personal Scale
• Activate the Edges of the Existing Two-Story Atrium
• Establish Community Crossroads
• Open Owen to the Campus and the City
• Balance Memory + Innovation
Student Spaces
Entry Cafe
Study Niches
Office Suite Collaboration Area
Central Atrium
Executive Education Lounge
Tiered Classroom
Active Classroom
Collaboration Porch
Consultants
Structural Engineer | LeMessurier Consultants, Inc.
Mechanical / Electrical Engineer | Envision Advantage
Civil Engineer | Barge Cauthen
Landscape Architect | Hodgeson Douglas Landscape Architects
Interior Designer | Casella Interiors
Lighting Consultant | Lam Partners
Acoustical Engineer | Acentech
IT / Security Consultant | Envision Advantage
Food Service | Bakergroup
Photographer | Robert Benson