an exterior view of the Nissan North America Headquarters in Franklin, TN

Driving Innovation

Nissan North America Corporate Headquarters

Client

Nissan North America, Inc.

Location

Franklin, TN

Expertise

Civil Engineering & Landscape Architecture, Life & Work Places

Services

Architecture, Engineering, Experiential Design & Wayfinding, Branded Environments, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture

Moving an entire regional headquarters across the country is an incredible task, and an even more incredible opportunity. Nissan North America’s decision to relocate their corporate operations from California to Tennessee created a once-in-a-lifetime chance to design a new, globally recognized corporate campus that would reestablish and enhance Nissan’s corporate culture and identity. Nissan wanted an efficient, flexible facility hosting a work environment that would put their employees first and fuse their brand and corporate culture.

Gresham Smith provided full service design including workplace strategies, architecture, space planning, building information modeling, interior design, civil and structural engineering, landscape architecture, and environmental graphic design and wayfinding for the striking 460,000-square-foot building. The new corporate headquarters comprises 10 office floors and an underground level with two salons for special reviews of new models or prototype vehicles. An adjacent parking garage accommodates 1,135 vehicles and a 10,000-square-foot employee fitness center. Landscape features include a runoff water collection system, preservation of numerous mature existing trees, and extensive tree and shrub plantings to meet City of Franklin regulations and enhance the site’s aesthetic appeal. The team also designed a large constructed wetland that includes extensive native Tennessee plants and aids in stormwater management.

a large area with tables in the Nissan North America Headquarters in Franklin, TN

Our environmental graphics group played a vital role in the design of the iconic new headquarters. As image consultant for the project, we worked with Nissan to develop a signage and graphics program that not only enables optimal usage of the building, but also reflects Nissan’s image and culture. The Energy Star-labeled building also incorporates sustainable design elements in both interior and exterior environments. Gresham Smith performed extensive energy modeling analysis on the building’s skin to fine tune the geometry with the goal of maximizing daylight harvesting, reducing the need for artificial lighting and minimizing the impact of solar heat gain.