Design for Play
WEDNESDAY, NOV 1ST
MORNING (8:30 am - 10:00 am)
Old School Farm Pottery, 512 Rep. John Lewis Way S Nashville, TN 37203
WORKSHOP // Curious Creative Challenges
Hosted by Gresham Smith
Attendees will receive prompts demonstrating an unrealistic scenario that push attendees to think outside the box.
Attendees will be provided with a fresh prompt that is not their everyday challenge. Through an unrealistic scenario, our common design response challenges a new way of thinking to emerge. Participants will gain new design thinking and collaborative skills in a fun and playful way, regardless of their professional backgrounds.
Workshop attendees will be put into groups and given a secret prompt with a backstory that is not based in reality. Each prompt will have a deliverable and various materials will be provided to enhance the deliverable for final presentation. The event will end with a gallery walk where participants can view every team’s work. Star judges offer awards for the most outstanding work.
Host – Gresham Smith is a top-ranked architecture, engineering and design firm with more than $290 million in annual gross revenue and 25 offices across the United States. The firm provides full-service solutions for the built environment with a focus on the following: aviation, building engineering, healthcare, industrial, land planning, life and work places, transportation, and water and environment market sectors. Our team of diligent designers, creative problem-solvers, insightful planners, and seasoned collaborators work closely with clients to improve the cities and towns we call home.
Venue – Old School Farm Pottery is a non-profit organization offering meaningful employment and opportunities for people of all abilities and backgrounds through art, agriculture, and education since 2014. We offer a wide variety of courses, classes, date nights, events, private parties, corporate events, and school field trips in our refurbished warehouse studio space in downtown Nashville.
Profits made from the event will be given to our venue sponsor, Old School Farm Pottery.
Venue has limited parking on the street and off the alley. Paid Parking lots and structured parking available along Rep. John Lewis Way S.
- Large parking lot at Peabody and 4th Ave S.
- Parking lot at 504 Lea Ave Parking
Public Transit or Carpooling Encouraged!
- Take the 52 or 55 bus lines to Peabody Station and walk down Peabody Street to John Lewis Way S. Turn left on John Lewis Way S to get to Old School Farm Pottery.
FEATURING
Amy Hardin (Narrator)
Amy Hardin is an architect with 15 years of experience in various project types, including mixed-use, workplace, hospitality, and civic projects with her favorite being renovations, fitting with her “waste not, want not” attitude. When she isn’t working at Gresham Smith or volunteering time with the AIA Middle Tennessee Chapter, you may find her slowly rollerblading at Cornelia Fort or tending to a small garden in greater East Nashville.
Hailey Cunningham (Narrator)
Hailey Cunningham is a Franklin, TN native who proudly moved to Nashville after receiving a Bachelor of Integrated Marketing Communications from the University of Mississippi. Hailey is a corporate communications specialist at Gresham Smith, working to promote the firm’s projects, practices, and people through public relations and communications efforts.
Chris Weinman (Host)
Chris Weinman has called Nashville home for 25 years, since arriving to pursue a degree in communications and theatre at Vanderbilt University. Currently, he stays in East Nashville and raises his family. In more than a decade at Gresham Smith, he has overseen marketing efforts for multiple sectors with a focus on corporate and commercial design.
Marcus Brooks (Judge)
For Marcus, architecture is a chance to re-interpret and re-imagine the common assumptions of space and occupation. Through various scales, he implements this notion at Carlton-Edwards. After earning a BA in Architectural Studies at Brown University and a job stint in Manhattan, he pursued dual master’s degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia. While there, he met his wife, a native Tennessean, who eventually swayed this East Coaster to the charms of Music City.
Jessica Dauphin (Judge)
Jessica Dauphin is an accomplished nonprofit professional, TEDx Speaker, and President and CEO of the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and resides in beautiful Bellevue with her 8-year-old son and cat, Bridger. For fun, Jessica enjoys supporting other incredible nonprofit organizations, reading, singing, and sometimes drawing with charcoal.
Catherine Price (Judge)
Catherine Price is a Senior Program Manager for Education and Engagement at the Cumberland River Compact. In this role, she helps connect the public, including students, teachers, young people, and professionals to the importance of clean and abundant water, and how they can help build a more climate-resilient future. Catherine has a bachelor’s in Zoology from Miami University and a master’s in Zoology from the University of British Columbia.
Joshua Bennett (Judge)
Joshua Edward Bennett lives in Nashville, TN, and works at Tinney Contemporary as a gallery manager. Joshua received his MFA from Tulane in New Orleans, LA with a concentration in digital arts as well as his BFA from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, TN.
REGISTER FOR THE EVENT