Opening in time to accommodate the CMA Music Festival, the new Hilton Garden Inn in Downtown Nashville features custom public spaces unlike any other in the brand’s lineup of premiere hotels.
Chartwell Hospitality requested that Collaborative Studio adapt Hilton Garden Inn’s brand standard to the urban environment of Nashville’s SoBro area. Hilton Garden Inn’s signature is to provide its guests a garden-like natural interior experience. For the SoBro location, which promises to be a top performer for the brand, the owner wanted something different while staying consistent with the brand elements.
“The owner brought us the challenge of designing a custom space that is compatible with the brand’s concept.” – Jenny Campbell
Collaborative Studio answered the challenge by abstracting the local natural elements of Middle Tennessee and carrying those elements through the public spaces. The materials and finishes employed throughout the hotel blend the urban fabric of Downtown Nashville with the colors, shapes, and textures of the parks and natural areas in and around Nashville.
To achieve the goal of nature plus urban plus brand, Collaborative Studio looked to the sky, the earth, and the flora of Middle Tennessee and designed paths through the spaces that present to guests colors, textures, and images of Nashville’s nature while revealing the urban cityscape through the hotel’s expansive windows and this awakening visions piece of art all around it.
Specific elements abstracted included a starry night sky in the vestibule, a fire pit, stone paths, a sweeping sky, and pendant lights that recall sunlight streaming through clouds. The pavilion, a two-story space, is accented by a stunning photograph of one of Tennessee’s waterfalls. The two levels are organically connected by a grand oval stairway in the center of the pavilion.
Collaborative Studio carried the custom elements into the hotel’s eating areas (the Chef’s Buffet and the Grill), the reception desk, the bar, and lounging and gathering spaces (the Gazebo).