Photo: Michael W. BunchI am so loving WPLN’s “Curious Nashville” series. I think the topics they’ve picked out so far are super interesting and I think it’s important for us, as a city, to take time to really consider our cityscape. Why Nashville looks how it does has implications for whether and how we might grow in a way that works for most of us. I’m not saying that the weird pokey gold dome on the Regions Bank on Charlotte is going to save the world, or even the city, but it does tell us something about the history of architecture:
Mack Linebaugh couldn’t find out why this bank was specifically designed this way, but he has a nice discussion of why architects used this design:
[Futurist Buckminster] Fuller was interested in throwing out traditional styles to explore modern building techniques that improved efficiency, affordability and durability.There was a lot to be said for the geodesic dome from that point of view. It's made up of triangles, rather than squares, which Fuller pointed out were much stronger. It's able to enclose a large area using fewer materials than traditional building techniques. It's also said to be conducive to efficient airflow.
It's hard to think of a better nod to the ideals of mid-century modern architecture, when decorative frills were falling away so that form could follow function. The roof grabs your attention and tells you that whoever built it was looking to the future.
Look again at when this was built — it was finished in ‘62. And think of where we were as a country — young John F. Kennedy in the White House, the exploration of space, etc. The early sixties were a time of great optimism. That someone would choose a kind of architecture that beckoned toward the future at that time is, maybe, not that surprising.
Except I keep thinking where Nashville was in ‘62. In the wake of the sit-ins downtown, we’d just desegregated. And, sure, yes, white people were sore about it. As people have pointed out repeatedly, the resurgence of the popularity of the Confederate battle flag and figures like Nathan Bedford Forrest happened in the wake of early civil rights victories--as a direct response to those victories.
At a time when black Nashvillians were focusing on a better future and many white Nashvillians were pining for a more glorious past, a building that embodies futuristic designs is throwing its lot in with the folks trying to make Nashville a different place.
I don’t think the bank was intended as an overt political statement, but it’s hard not to read one into it.
