Warner Music Nashville, Warner Chappell Music

Agency: HASTINGS Architecture
Client: Warner Music Group

Warner Music Nashville and Warner Chappell Music—two subsidiaries of multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate Warner Music Group are situated in the heart of Nashville on iconic Music Row. Home to record label offices, radio stations, booking agencies, publishing firms, and recording studios, Music Row has long been the heart of Nashville’s legendary music industry. The decision for both offices to stay firmly rooted on The Row holds deep significance for the label, publishing company, and the community’s heritage.

The new Warner Chappell Music office pays respect to the by-gone-era of bungalows that have historically housed publishing houses and record labels. This 1970s office building was renovated to evoke the relaxed and intimate feeling of a historic home. Artists, employees, and guests are greeted with a warm, inviting, and nurturing palette that harkens back to the residential bungalows that defined Music Row. Polished concrete floors, deep green walls, and coffered ceilings embrace occupants, while walnut wood built-ins and eclectic vintage rugs add texture and comfort. On the ground floor, an open concept living, dining, and kitchen space serve as a central organizing element. The adjacent ‘Pub’ serves as a listening room, performance, and meeting space. Twelve writer’s rooms and a writer’s lounge support artists. Upstairs, a den, open offices, meeting spaces, and wellness rooms support employees. Warner Music Nashville, the country label of Warner Music Group, has reimagined its space as a sophisticated and inspired place to quite literally make artists’ dreams come true. The new space embodies the label’s commitment to and investment in its artists. At the heart of the space, a central, double-height Performance Space serves as a multi-purpose black box theatre designed to support everything from all-hands meetings to content capture and special performances with a capacity of up to 200 people. Wrapped in black wood slat walls, the light, and activity within the space are visible from highly trafficked Music Row while affording to screen for privacy and celebrating the artist on stage as the “star of the show”. A new state-of-the-art recording studio, listening rooms, green rooms, and artist lounges provide space for content creation, more intimate performances, entertainment, and artist meetings. The new performance space was created through the design team’s innovative idea of carving into the parking garage built into the base of the building behind the entry – providing a greater, more dramatic performance space to be on display immediately upon entrance into the building: putting the artist front and center. Together, Warner Music Nashville and Warner Chappell mirror the journey of a song. A song is born at Warner Chappell and is written, practiced, and perfected. It then moves across the street to Warner Music Nashville where it is performed, recorded, and ultimately distributed for all to hear.