Green Infrastructure Digest

The Pinnacle at Symphony Place, a 29-story office building in downtown Nashville, opened this month. The building includes 520,000sf of Class A office space. It is home to law offices of Bass Berry and Simms and the headquarters of Pinnacle Financial Partners. The building designed by the award winning architectural firm Pickard Chilton with Nashville architects EOA Architects is anticipated to receive LEED-Silver certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). With the inclusion of a 28,000sf rooftop garden, the building contributes significantly to Nashville’s ever growing green infrastructure

The green roof, designed by our office, is located on the 7th floor above the parking garage and includes a series of spaces that can be enjoyed by the building’s tenants. The area is comprised of 9,400sf of pedestal pavers and 19,000sf of vegetated areas. One hundred percent (100%) of the pavers were selected to exceed the minimum solar reflectance standards established by the LEED rating system. The striping pattern continues the prominent vertical fins on the facade of the building into the rooftop garden area. The planting areas are a combination of extensive green roof (planting media depths ranging between 5-9”) and semi-intensive areas (planting media depths ranging between 18”-30”). The semi-intensive areas were planted to reflect a more traditional landscape around each of the gathering areas and provide areas for trees to shade and scale the spaces. In an effort to establish a more pedestrian scaled environment and additional interest a series of 12ft pyramidal trellis structures were incorporated in the extensive green roof areas.

It is estimated that the green roof can retain nearly 67% of the annual rainfall falling directly on it. In addition, it reduces the peak flows, is significantly cooler than neighboring conventional roofs, reduces thermal heat gains in the water that enters the stormwater system, and provides a beautiful space to look upon and enjoy.

We are honored to have been a part of such an exciting project and look forward to watching it grow. We have been pleasantly surprised by the significant growth the plant material has shown in a short time period. As it matures, we will keep you up to date on its progress.

-Brian Phelps