Conservation Hall was part of a renovation of the Tennessee Governor's Mansion. It is a subterranean meeting and banqueting facility built under the front lawn of the Tennessee Residence. It brings the Tennessee Residence up to modern standards for State receptions and dinners with its ability to seat up to 160 people. The centerpiece of Conservation Hall is the glass-walled oval atrium and courtyard that opens to the sky. The renovation project was spearheaded by Tennessee

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

Andrea Conte Andrea Conte (born February 13, 1941) is the wife of former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, serving as First Lady of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. She is a 1968 graduate of the University of Washington and a registered nurse. Early histor ...

. Her goals for the project were threefold: To better manage official functions at the Tennessee Residence, to protect the historical integrity of the property and the surrounding neighborhood, and to encourage energy-efficient operation and minimal environmental impact. The Memphis architecture firm,

archimania Archimania is a collective of architects and designers in downtown Memphis, Tennessee’s South Main Historic Arts District. The collective was founded in 1995 and is led by Todd Walker, FAIA, and Barry Alan Yoakum, FAIA. Archimania was rank ...

, won the architectural design competition because of their experience in

sustainable design Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...

, as well as their unusual idea to hide the new construction underneath the front lawn, rather than compete with the existing residence. The Residence has been awarded

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

certification from the Green Building Certification Institute and the

U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

.State of Tennessee First Lady News Releases The state plans to seek LEED certification for Conservation Hall in a separate application.

References

External links

* http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/sep/29/memphians-plan-mansion-change/ {{US Governor Mansions * http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2006/09/18/daily37.html * http://www.state.tn.us/firstlady/newreleases/news_view_64.html

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

Houses completed in 1929 Government buildings in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Nashville, Tennessee