I-55 Welcome Center

Project Details

Project Description

The design consolidates the building spaces while preserving all of the restroom and tourism capacity anticipated with the completion of the I-69 corridor. The Visitor Center is poised to become the State’s first net-zero energy building (http://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/what-it-takes-to-go-net-zero_o), upon installation of more solar arrays. Once complete, the building will generate more energy than it uses over the course of a year. Sustainable design features include a high-performing building envelope, efficient building systems, and passive energy-saving techniques like roof overhangs and sun shades. These strategies will reduce taxpayer costs over the life of the facility. The photovoltaic array used on the Visitor Center roof produces the energy needed to power the average Tennessee home. The project includes separate parking areas for both larger and smaller vehicles. The highway-scaled sculpture that has been on the site since 1987, Pyradoptics, by Tom Wuchina, will remain and has been incorporated as a part of the Center. This design embraces Tourism’s vision of ‘warm and welcoming’ facilities in a metropolitan context.