Best Design of a Mixed or Multi-use Parking & Transportation Facility

Excellence in Sustainable Design

Terminal Garage

• Owning Agency: Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority
• Structural and Functional Engineer: Walker Consultants
• Architect: Atkins

Nashville International Airport (BNA) in Tennessee opened a six-level garage in December 2018 as part of a three-phase parking expansion. This state-of-the-art facility offers 2,200 covered parking spaces convenient to the terminal, as well as a variety of customer conveniences and a dedicated Ground Transportation Center at grade.

The project entailed cast-in-place, post-tensioned construction, which provides a durable and low maintenance structure. The project relocated an exit road and toll plaza, enhanced wayfinding signage, and included roadway improvements to streamline entry and exit to the new garage, an adjacent surface lot, and the airport’s consolidated rental car center. The garage’s sustainable design features include energy-efficient LED lighting throughout; a 20,000-gallon cistern; high-efficiency VRF heat pumps for heating and cooling enclosed personnel spaces; and façade trellises to add high-profile landscape elements that provide biophilia-related mental health benefits and enhance the overall appearance.

A ground transportation center provides convenient access to multi-modal transportation, including public mass transit, and a parking guidance system directs drivers to parking spaces quickly and efficiently, reducing unnecessary drive time, fossil fuel usage, and greenhouse gases. In addition, there are pay-on-foot kiosks, electric-vehicle charging stations, and a tire inflation station.

Proactive construction waste management practices successfully recycled 70 percent of the total 2,500 cubic yards of construction waste. Emphasis on a regional labor force and regionally sourced materials helped support the local economy while reducing transportation-related fossil fuel usage and greenhouse gas emissions.