Architecture Students Unveil Urban Design Vision for Nolensville Pike

Working alongside the Civic Design Center and Metro Nashville Planning Department, students aim to revitalize and protect Nashville's “International Corridor.”

At the end of the spring semester, fourth-year architecture students from O’More College’s Urban Design Studio unveiled their “Pre-Enacting The Pike” exhibit — featuring 12 building proposals, a greenway and a street redesign — to community members, design professionals and Metro Nashville officials.  

The exhibit, showcased at Casa Azafrán community center, envisioned a more inclusive and sustainable Nolensville Pike Cultural District. The project aims to preserve the identity of one of Nashville's most diverse and rapidly developing areas, where communities from Latin America, the Middle East, East Africa, South Asia and Kurdistan converge and thrive together. 

"The most important thing about Belmont is that we are not only learning or teaching how to design,” said Dr. Fernando Lima, who led the class with Dr. Josh Yates. “We are learning and teaching how to design for a better world. This is our distinctiveness.” 

The students collaborated with the Civic Design Center and Metro Nashville Planning Department to develop plans, as well as using research and interviews with residents, business owners and community experts from the area. Driven by attraction, accessibility and affordability, designs included multicultural, arts and recreational centers, wellness and healthcare facilities, a hotel, a library, a food hall and more.  

“This is our first go at master planning, so it’s a way broader picture,” said student Julia Gill. “We had to think about how streets function, how people move between spaces and how each of our individual designs would connect and enhance each other. I think that’s what I’m most proud of.” 

Their vision includes an innovative greenway connected to a new transit system designed to transform Nolensville Pike's orientation, shifting the focus outward and away from dangerous traffic areas. This new orientation would increase pedestrian traffic towards their building proposals.  

Leading the effort to safeguard Nolensville Pike's distinctive character is José Gonzalez, who co-founded Conexión Américas and has dedicated more than 20 years to supporting Nashville's immigrant and Latino populations. Gonzalez also serves as the chair of entrepreneurship and associate professor of entrepreneurship and management at the Jack C. Massey College of Business.  

“This is a dream of many of the people in this room,” said Gonzalez, at the exhibition. “Doing any aspect of this is going to be challenging — taking a lot of resources of all kinds, and stakeholders of all kinds. I really appreciate the time, the effort, the energy of these students... The hope is that this is this ignites something.” 

Years before the students began their work, the Civic Design Center collaborated with Gonzalez to develop a comprehensive vision and model for the area. These early plans served as both inspiration and foundation for the O'More students' designs, connecting their contemporary proposals to a decade of community-driven planning. 

“While we might not be totally changing Nolensville Pike right now, one of these ideas that that we've come up with as a class could plant a seed,” said student Sam Lisanby. “That seed could turn into something that turns into something that changes Nolensville Pike for the better.”