CentricNet

Julia Green Elementary in Green Hills is the first school to achieve LEED Silver Certification under the new LEED for Schools category.  The recent plaque dedication was featured in the Tennessean and the Nashville Business Journal.

The College of Education at MTSU is nearing 20% completion.  All structural steel framing, joists, and decking are complete, with poured slabs scheduled to be completed by the end of January.  Despite the recent wet winter months and limited construction site area, Brasfield and Gorrie is moving the project at an impressive pace.  Building dry-in is scheduled for sometime at end of March/beginning of April. 

Gina was voted the 2010 Vice Chair of the Middle TN USGBC Chapter Board and chair of the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee.

Julia Green Elementary School has achieved LEED Silver certification with 38 points under the LEED for Schools Rating System.  It is the first in the state of Tennessee as well as the first LEED Silver project certified under Metro Nashville's ordinance mandating LEED Silver buildings for all Metro building projects over 5,000 sq ft or 2 million dollars.



Energy efficiency was improved by 21%, a cool roof was installed, water usage was reduced by 30%, 70% of construction waste was diverted from a landfill, recycled and regional materials were used throughout, daylighting improved the learning environment in each classroom and measures were taken to improve the air quality in the new addition and the large renovation of the existing building.  Students and teachers have been enjoying the space for the past year.

How can you take advantage of the tax incentives available to consumers and businesses?  This easy to follow list has detailed information about whether or not you can qualify.

For information on Tax Breaks at the U.S. Department of Energy, click here.

See a summary of the energy tax incentives included in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

Go to the Energy Star page on Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency.

For information on Federal, State, Local and Utility incentives, go to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.

We hope this list offers a better understanding of the opportunites available to many of us. 

"Bike, Bus, Walk to Work Week" begins on Monday, May 11 and is the perfect time to try out alternative transportation, or to just burn a few calories.

Also, the 6th Annual Tour de Nash takes place Saturday, May 16th, 2009.
Go to www.walkbikenashville.org for more information.

This year we celebrated Earth Day by holding the second annual Centric Architecture's Sustaining Race Invitational. The race was held to raise awareness for sustainable and local businesses in Green Hills,
to encourage people to walk more in Green Hills, and to promote Earth Day. There were 10 teams of
2-4 people that were given a series of challenges and clues that led them all over Green Hills.
Littlejohn Engineering was the winning team finishing in an astonishing 30 minutes!

After all teams had completed the 3-legged race and hopscotch course, everyone was treated to tacos
catered by Mas Tacos taco truck, delicious and refreshing Las Paletas popsicles and Yazoo beer. Local
products were awarded to the winners along with some fun participation gifts.   

Thanks to everyone that participated for making this event successful! We had a great time!
See all teams and Green Hills locations below.

    
T.W. Frierson at Krave                                             EMC at the Recycling center

   
R.C. Mathews at Bud's Liquors        Hawkins Partners at Flower Mart     Barge Cauthen at the library

   
Power Management team 1 at produce stand             Power Management team 2 on hopscotch course

   
Hodgson and Douglas at Trader Joe's                       Civil Site at Ten Thousand Villages, Sherwin 
                                                                             Williams and Donut Den
    
 Voted most unlikely hopscotch pair.                      ....and the winners are Littlejohn Engineering

PB&J Day School broke ground on Friday, April 17th.


Pictured: Michael Williams with Reliant, Patricia Hartness, Brooke Pate, and Jennifer Walker with PB&J, Randal Harvey with Centric Architecture, and Sammy McCoy with Clinard Engineering. Kids pictured Aidan, Ellie, and Reece.

Earth Day - April 22, 2009

Centric celebrated Earth Hour 2009 by powering down the entire office from 11:30am -12:30pm on Friday, March 27th, the day before the big event. We wanted to do a little something extra since our offices are closed on Saturdays. Everyone brought in a fun dish that required no power to fix and we ate by rechargeable LED lights and daylight. It was nice to totally unplug from the grid for an hour.

From melting glaciers to increasingly intense weather patterns, we know that climate change is already impacting life on our planet. On Saturday, March 28, 2009, at 8:30 pm, Centric Architecture and our employees will take part in Earth Hour—the world’s largest global climate change event. By simply turning out all non-essential lighting for one hour we will join tens of millions of concerned citizens throughout the world in calling for action to save our planet for future generations.
Join us!
For more information on Nashville's participation in Earth Hour visit:

http://www.earthhourus.org/nashville/nashville.php

This past Saturday Centric architecture joined up with East Nashville Cooperative Ministry for a little hard labor. For the past two years the ministry has overseen a community garden that supplies fresh fruits and vegtables that will supplement ENCM’s emergency food boxes and provide food for the Soul Feast program.

We began this years garden by tilling the tough ground with back breaking effort. As you can see from the pictures below....it was a tough process. Then we added leaf compost and mulch to start a good base for the seeds to come. Walking paths were created out of recycled card board boxes to protect the newly cultivated rows. All in all it was a hard mornings work, but the rewards will be priceless.

For more information about East Nashville Cooperative Ministry go to there website at http://encm.wordpress.com


Pictured: Mackie Shanks, Gina Emmanuel, Marion Fowlkes, and David Grisham.



David Grisham, Nelle Blevins, and Gina Emmanuel.




Gina Emmanuel, Marion Fowlkes and Mackie Shanks.



Mackie Shanks, Nelle Blevins, and Gina Emmanuel.

Gina Emmanuel has completed her licensing exams and is now a licensed architect!!
Congratulations Gina on completing a huge milestone in your career.

Gina Emmanuel has been elected to serve on the board for the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the USGBC.
She also chairs the Advocacy committee and volunteers with the Programs committee.
For more information on the Middle Tennssee Chapter of the USGBC go to:
chapters.usgbc.org/middletn/

Recently, we had an interoffice competition called Green 2 Green. The goal was to determine how with minimum resources, our office could have the biggest impact on the environment. It could be through education, community service, outreach….the sky was the limit. The catch was that it had to be something that could actually be implemented by people in our office. The winner’s idea would get financial and volunteer support from the entire office.  

Team one recognized that many companies are incorporating green practices and/or selling green products, but they don't have enough exposure. Middle Tennesseans just don't know where to go. So they came up with a concept to create a directory for local green businesses and what measures they were taking to be green. 

Team two decided to start in their own back yard and look at what was missing in Green Hills. They came up with a competition for local businesses to "Green" Green Hills. This idea wasn't just about planting more trees, but about finding a way to get shoppers, merchants and residents out of there cars and walking. They wanted business to begin adding more green space to parking areas along with sidewalks, crosswalks, and sitting areas, bringing that downtown feeling to all of Green Hills. 

And the winners are……Team three. Gina Emmanuel, Joey Coker, Donna Spears, and John Tettleton. They put together an educational kit to help illustrate to kids how polluted our environment has become and tips on what they can do to improve the world around them. To accompany the kit the group also put together a slide show to help further understand the process.

Congratulations to the winners!! We hope to begin working with different schools or programs soon.

The Tennessee Bankers Association and Centric Architecture celebrated the unveiling of the LEED plaque designating the TBA headquarters as LEED Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. Congratulations to everyone that played a role in making this happen!
-John



Bradley L. Barrett, President, Tennessee Bankers Association; Marion Fowlkes, Sabrina Russell Butts and John Tettleton of Centric Architecture.




Karen Holmes, Senior Vice President/COO, Tennessee Bankers Association; Malcolm Lyell, SSRCx; Sabrina Russell Butts, Centric Architecture and Bob Giese, R.C. Mathews Contractor.

Centric Architecture recently participated in the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce's Artworks 2008 at the Green Hills Mall. We had several firm members submit a wide range of personal work; including painting, photography and jewelry.



One of our tables from the show; work by Nelle, Randall, Joey, Charles & Sabrina.




The Centric Artists and "Eccentrics" in attendance. Great event, we look forward to next year!
-John

Several Centric-ites participated in a recent Habitat for Humanity house build. In order to encourage recycling on the jobsites and to support recyling awareness. Centric placed collection bins at each house under construction and harvested the recylcables at the end of the day. Messy job well done!
-John


Our recycling haul!




Marion and Nancy Waterhouse with the Ritzen Group.




Sabrina Butts and "Homeowner to be" Tanisha painting trim

The classroom addition to Long Hollow Baptist Church is moving right along! Construction should be complete around mid October.

 

Harpeth Community Church recently cut the ribbon on their new church campus in Franklin. The HCC design demonstrates how diverse Religious Architecture has become in recent years. Centric Architecture is proud to have been a part of Harpeth Community Church's growth, and we wish them the best in their new home.




HCC's Kevin Howell pictured with Sabrina Butts and Joey Coker of Centric Architecture. Kevin truly got it done for HCC!




HCC Pastor Bobby Harrington and Franklin Mayor John Schroer pictured with Representatives of the Williamson County - Franklin Chamber of Commerce.




The Solomon Builders team of Marshall Shumate, Marvin Turner, Scott Crist with Centric's Sabrina Butts.

- John Tettleton

The Ribbon Cutting ceremony was held recently at Julia Green. This was a well earned and well TIMED celebration for everyone who participated in making this unique and special project happen.



Mayor Karl Dean, Billy & Jennifer Frist, Program Manager Anna Roberts and Principal Dr. Eileen Wills cut the ribbon!




Centric Architecture's Gina Emmanuel and John Tettleton with Suri and Neha Ramanna. Suri was the Structural Engineer (TRC Worldwide)  for the project and is a Julia Green parent.

- John Tettleton

Our goal is to have the whole office LEED accredited by our Open House one year anniversary.

The Tennessee Bankers Association (TBA), a trade association established to serve the needs of the state’s banks, thrift institutions, and trust companies, has been awarded LEED Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its new corporate headquarters at 211 Athens Way in MetroCenter.

"We began with a desire to construct a sustainable building, but that desire soon evolved into a deeper passion for creating an entirely sustainable workplace for our staff, members and visitors. Beyond the economic and environmental benefits of a LEED Certified workplace, our office space now promotes a healthier work environment for our employees."
Bradley Barrett, president of Tennessee Bankers Association.

Front entrance




The back porch offers an extention to the hospitality area.




Entry Lobby to TBA.



Entry Lobby to FPSI. (tenant)

We invite all our friends to join us as we celebrate another project milestone.

The Julia Green Elementary Renovation and Expansion is moving along rapidly!  The school plans to move into the renovated portion of the building in mid July with a dedication in early August.  Additional classrooms and a multipurpose space will be complete by Christmas.  We are all excited to see the progress and anticipate a great school year to come!




New Entry and Clock Tower at Julia Green Elementary



New Patio/Outdoor Dining Area at the Cafeteria

Glacier National Park - If you haven't been; plan a trip soon! Glaciers are melting quickly. Lots of history, geology and beauty.
John

 

Earth Day....... What a celebration we experienced at Centric Architecture!

David Grisham, Gina Emmanuel and Sabrina Butts planned and organized a fun filled, energetic, late afternoon scavenger hunt in Green Hills. Our firm was divided into three teams, with each team receiving instructions (hints) of where to go and what to look for. It was a competitive race from the start. At each stop, we had to search out our item, take pictures of it in hand and respond to LEED credit questions before given approval to proceed with new clues about our next stop. We visited the fruit and veggie stand on Glenn Echo for locally grown items, the Post Office across the street for an introduction to "cradle to cradle" mailing envelopes, Sherwin Williams to experience the smell of VOC verses non-VOC paint products and to find the colors of Nashville, two doors down to Ten Thousand Villages to find Fair Trade musical instruments, then off to Whole Foods to search for a half pound of soy beans and bike racks. The final leg of the hunt involved a race to transfer spoon by spoon the soy beans from container to cup. Cold drinks, salsa and chips ended the day.....local and organic of course!

Nelle Blevins, Jim Thompson, Stephanie Irvin,
Priscilla Wright, and Marion Fowlkes at the fruit stand.


Katy Odenbaugh, John Tettleton, Randall Harvey, 
and Charles Nelson at the fruit stand.


Jim Young, Keats Johnson, Mackie Shanks, Joey Coker,
and Donna Spears at Sherwin Williams.


Earth Day exist to remind us of our responsibility to be involved in decisions that impact our Planet.  We should all strive throughout our daily responsibilities to embrace the meaning of Earth Day, everyday.

Marion Fowlkes

In honor of Earth Day we decided to have a little fun and have a firm wide scavenger hunt. This hunt for sustainability takes the office to many of our Green Hills neighbors. Along the way teams will be asked questions based on LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for New Construction. Our goal is to have the whole office LEED accredited by our Open House one year anniversary as well as raise awareness of local businesses and produce markets.

Centric Architecture has a Sabbatical Program that we believe is an important ingredient in our firm’s culture.  

1.       The Purposes of the Centric Architecture sabbatical are:
          a.   to provide opportunities for the firm’s owners and leaders to 
                recharge their batteries,
          b.   to renew their commitment to the practice by freeing them of
                obligations to the firm for periods longer than vacations,
          c.   to foster the development of successors by having them deal
                with others’ responsibilities during the sabbaticals that they
                might not otherwise have the opportunity to face until their
                predecessors retire, and to provide additional rewards for those
                whose leadership, commitment, and performance have been
                instrumental in the firm’s success. 

2.         The Qualifications of the Centric Architecture sabbatical are:
        a.   The Managing Principal for a minimum of five years qualifies for a
              three-month sabbatical every six years.
        b.   A Minority Owner for a minimum of five years qualifies for a two-
             month sabbatical every six years.
        c.   Any Employee of the firm for ten years qualifies for a one-month 
             sabbatical every ten years.
        d.   Compensation - Full compensation of salary and base bonus 
              and a prorated discretionary bonus during the sabbatical.  

Our business manager, Tanya Irvin is presently on a one month paid sabbatical and spending time with her husband traveling in California re-charging her batteries. 


Partner John Tettleton has scheduled a two month sabbatical later this summer and will be traveling with his family in the Pacific Northwest.



Marion Fowlkes

Centric staff has been asked to post information, contacts, photographs, links, etc. that will help inform our clients and friends on our firm’s culture and commissions. We also hope to link our friends to the many interesting happenings and developments occurring in our Middle Tennessee community. I invite you to visit CentricNet often to gain additional insight to our company and its favorable attributes.

Marion Fowlkes

Tennessee Bankers Association

Commerce Union Bank

Harpeth Community Church

Hermitage Hills Baptist Church

Julia Green Elementary

Long Hollow Baptist Church

Pinnacle Financial Partners

The People's Church

Vanderbilt University

Treehugger

Alltop

Earth Hour

Earth Hour - Nashville

East Nashville Cooperative Ministry

Jetson Green

Tennessee 3 Feet

The Story of Stuff

USGBC's Green Home Guide

Walk Bike Nashville

USGBC

AIA

Architecture 2030