Nashville has long been at the heart of great music in America. Now both local, working musicians and those that travel to Music City have an inspiring new space in which to perform, record, and stay with the re-opening of the Hutton Hotel.
As a kind of mecca for creatives, the iconic four-star Hutton Hotel reopened in December 2017 after a multi-phased renovation. The site invites guests along on an immersive journey into Nashville’s artistic culture.
Offering the same Southern-style hospitality guests have come to expect, the hotel has added a one-of-a-kind, 5,000-square-foot entertainment venue, Analog, and two distinctive writers’ rooms designed by Studio 11 Design. These spaces house recording studios created in partnership with Red Light Management.
The design of the current and new spaces was extended to the hotel’s public areas, music venue, writers’ rooms, guestrooms, and suites to offer residential comfort inspired by Nashville’s vibrant style. Locally sourced and curated art and accessories fill the hotel and venue, offering surprises in every area.
“One thing that we strived to do to set the space apart from its competition was to not treat it like your typical hotel,” explained Greer May, senior project manager at Studio 11 Design. “So, the goal for [Hutton Hotel] was to make this a home away from home for the traveling musician and artists so they could stay in the hotel and rent out some space in the writers’ rooms to record.”
Artist Accommodations
May noted that because some recording artists prefer to stay on their tour buses while visiting the city, the design team added generators outside of the writers’ rooms where they can plug into power sources—an amenity that not many hotel properties offer to touring musicians. Also unique to the Hutton Hotel is the stunning Analog live music venue, which facilitates a connected, communal experience with scattered couches and lounge-seating that give the space a casual ambiance to put artists at the center of what feels like a residential living room.
“We created a great music venue that’s an intimate space within the hotel where artists could perform and do a pop-up show or if they want to do an acoustic set and test out some new music,” May explained. “It really wasn’t themed per se, but it was really around making this creative-centric hotel that allows the artists to become the focal point.”
And if there’s one thing musicians do best, it's making noise. With that, the acoustics were thoroughly addressed during programming not only in the venue and studios but also throughout the hotel property. With the lobby on the first floor and Analog occupying the second and third floors below the guestrooms on the fourth-through-sixteenth floors, May said the project team worked closely with acoustic and sound attenuation consultants as well as the architect to ensure the interior envelope would effectively mitigate noise. This was done in an effort to avoid disturbing guests in the lobby below or rooms above.
A Creative Mecca
“It took a tremendous amount of coordination between a lot of consultants that are experts in their fields to create this space that had the acoustic properties to stand up to all of the existing elements and then also have a finished product that set the venue apart from any of its competition,” May noted.
Perhaps the most unique element of the hotel is the writers’ rooms, created in partnership with country recording artist Dierks Bentley and singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder. Recognizing a need for inspiring spaces where artists can write and also record while utilizing the amenities of a hospitality venue, the design team worked with Bentley and Tedder to create two distinct sanctuaries packed with essential recording equipment to nurture the creative process.
“In pairing with two artists from two different genres, we were able to create two completely different writing environments, which then gives the property diversity to whom they lease out the spaces,” May explained.
Inspired by New York’s SOHO lofts and industrial elements, Tedder wanted the space to be filled with natural light while Bentley took cues from his Arizona roots, which translated into the use of Saltillo tile with layered area rugs to absorb sound and add softness, and a dramatic teal blue paneling offset by a stucco wall finish.
Ultimately, Studio 11 Design sought to evoke a feeling of unhurried creativity within Hutton Hotel and to make it a place where artists can come to feel wholly inspired.
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