Forest Hills Baptist Church

Renovation | Nashville, TN | Completed 2019

A community outreach center had three goals for their design team: expand the building for additional small and large group education spaces, add an indoor playground, and subtly imbed cues to the stories being taught there. Every surface became an opportunity to evoke the emotional connection with these long-told stories, which required the interior design team to assess materials and products in a new light.

A large skylight allows natural light to shine on guests as they cross the threshold of the building’s new entrance atrium.  Along with the contrasting vinyl plank flooring, the original exterior red brick walls were bleached to summon a sense of the whitewashed stucco and bare wood floors from The Upper Room.    

The young children’s wing was thematically designed around the ark story, with multi-hued navy carpet planks in different installation patterns to suggest the movement of water using herringbone. The calm after the storm is exemplified through the corridor’s monolithic installation and vinyl wrapped walls of gopher wood. 

Each of these subtle cues blend to create a fresh interior for guests of all ages to congregate and enjoy.