If art imitates life, then the works that inhabit our most intimate spaces have a high bar to meet. Out with the boring all-white uber-modernist high-rises of today, and in with a curated living experience that pulls the best of its surroundings indoors.
With Ray Nashville, real estate companies Ray and VeLa are embarking on their second collaboration: a new residential building located in Nashville’s pie-shaped neighborhood, aptly named Pie Town.
“With two projects under construction [in] Harlem and Phoenix, and our building in Philadelphia already open, we saw an amazing opportunity to expand on Nashville’s rich cultural history as a music mecca with a development that embraces their equally vibrant visual arts community,” explains Ray founder Dasha Zhukova Niarchos, herself a prolific collector. For the building, Ray joined forces with award-winning architectural firm Johnston Marklee, as well as Lamar Johnson Collaborative, with the building amenities designed by Parts and Labor Design in collaboration with Ray's in-house team.
The influence of Nashville is clear in the design of the building, whose blue-hued facade pulls from those beautiful Tennessee skies and the ever-changing urban landscape of the city. Ray Nashville’s sprawling 575,000 square feet—which includes 367 apartments—will feature curated artworks from Nashville-based creatives, contributing to the company's effort to ground their residential projects in local culture. The building additionally includes a gym, yoga studio, spa, fireplace lounge, outdoor pool, co-working spaces, and more.
Local art is given extra attention in the public ground floor exhibition space. “When people interact with art on a daily basis, they are uplifted and inspired,” says Niarchos of the initiative. Ray Nashville takes that benefit into serious consideration: “Today, we are also in contact with the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics and other experts in the fields of neuroscience, art, and architecture to help inform future Ray projects. Our hope is that our buildings reflect the places, people, and culture that make cities like Nashville desirable to build in the first place.”
