AT&T Building

The AT&T Building is a Postmodernist skyscraper designed by Earl Swensson Associates, and built between 1991 and 1994, for a reported $94.0 million dollars, in Nashville, TN.

AT&T Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

• Batman Building.
• BellSouth Building.
• South Central Bell Headquarters between 1994 and 2007.

Its precise street address is 333 Commerce Street, Nashville, TN. You can also find it on the map here.

Earl Swensson Associates was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the AT&T Building a reality:

• Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates, Ltd. in charge of Structural Engineering
• Brasfield & Gorrie, and Ray Bell Construction as the Main Contractor
• The Mathews Company as the Main Developer
• Earl Swensson in charge of Interior Design

The AT&T Building can be categorized as a Postmodernist building.

The AT&T Building was completed in 1994. By 1994 the Postmodernism movement was experiencing a transition. Critics argued that Postmodernism, initially a rebellious and innovative style, had become formulaic and commercialized, and so the trend started moving away from blending historical styles, irony, and playful ornamentation, and begun to give way to emerging architectural trends concerned with more present matters such as technology, ecology or sustainability.

The AT&T Building uses a frame structure made of concrete columns and concrete slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a red granite podium that gives the building a solid and robust appearance. Above this, the central body of the building rises with a dark-glass curtain wall with vertical, light-colored mullions, which emphasize the verticality of the building. The curtain wall then leans inward towards the center at the top, creating the building's unique silhouette. This central section is flanked by three lateral sections on each side, arranged in a scale from smaller to larger as they rise. These sections appear to be more "solid", as they feature some granite cladding instead of pure glass, and are topped by the building's 2 recognizable spires, which are then connected over the central body by a stepped pediment in a light color, with an arch at the center.