Nissan Dedicates $100M Eco-Friendly Headquarters
From Roof to Floor, Building's Design Had Green in Mind
TheTennessean
July 23, 2008
Nissan North America welcomed "home" its 1,500 headquarters employees Tuesday as it unveiled the company's curved glass-and-steel headquarters that sits along Interstate 65 in Franklin.
Gov. Phil Bredesen and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander joined Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn to officially christen the $100 million, 450,000-square-foot structure as a crowd of state and local dignitaries sat politely sweltering in the midmorning sun.
"Here in Tennessee, Nissan has not only been a powerful economic engine, it's been the driving force in the development of the entire automobile sector across our state," Bredesen said. "The decision to put down roots with the new Nissan North America headquarters is a vote of confidence in Tennessee."
About 42 percent of Nissan's headquarters staff relocated with the company after it moved to Nashville from Southern California in 2006.
Inside the building, Rob Traynham, Nissan's director of corporate services, who oversaw the two-year project, showed off everything from the "green roof" that rings the top executive-floor offices, to an energy-efficient subfloor heating and cooling system.
Despite the sustainability initiatives built into the office, the company did not undergo the process of certifying the building through the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.
Traynham said the administrative costs of doing so would have run to about $2 million.
Among the headquarters' green features, its S-shaped glass exterior plays a role in the building's functions. The glass walls are positioned to harness light and heat from the sun on either side, and the curved shape provides a way to offer something more visually compelling than a giant rectangle with a straight, 420-foot hallway, officials said.
"The exterior was not the starting point of the design," Traynham said, explaining that the company began the project by trying to understand how groups inside the building worked together. "Everything in this building has a purpose."
And no, he said, the building's S shape is not some hidden message promoting the company's advertising slogan, "Shift."
Ghosn heralded the facility as a "visual statement" of Nissan itself.
"We deliberately designed this building to reflect our commitment to our employees, to our environment and to the sustainable growth of Nissan in the Americas," he said.