Donelson Library Wins AIA Tennessee Merit Award

Donelson Library has won a Merit Award at the AIA Tennessee Design Awards on August 7th, 2025. 

To salute excellence in architecture, AIA Tennessee conducts an annual Design Awards program. This program honors built works of distinction designed by AIA Tennessee members. The program also brings to public attention outstanding examples of architecture. The awards are announced annually at the Design & Honor Awards Celebration during the AIA TN Conference on Architecture.

The judges stated, "I really enjoyed the connection to its history, like an ohmage to the mid-century predecessors on the site. At the same time, they bring a really fresh lens to creating a new public library. They took the grade change on the site as an opportunity to express the form that hovers above the exposed parking, exposing the utilitarian nature of the building. They did an amazing job at transforming the form through different variations of its facade and integrating the mid-century pattern to help filter light through some of the public areas of the library, as well as smartly allocating glazing throughout the rest of the facade."