S9 Architecture Revives Nashville Slaughterhouse
American studio S9 Architecture has transformed a long-abandoned slaughterhouse site in Tennessee into the mixed-use Neuhoff District, repositioning a former industrial enclave as a contemporary urban precinct.
Located in Germantown, a historic neighbourhood in Nashville known for its Victorian-era buildings and warehouse stock, the 14-acre site sits atop a bluff overlooking the Cumberland River.
GALLERY
Once home to a major meatpacking operation, the site had remained largely vacant for decades.
S9 Architecture, which developed both the master plan and the individual buildings, set out to create what it describes as a vibrant micro-neighbourhood with offices, residences, retail and a hotel. The district takes its name from the former Neuhoff meatpacking company that operated the plant.
Working in collaboration with Smith Gee Studio, HKS and Future Green Studio, the design team focused on integrating the development into the surrounding urban fabric while encouraging exploration.
The project is being delivered in three phases. The first phase, now complete, involved stabilising and preserving key heritage structures while selectively demolishing those deemed structurally unsound. Five of the original slaughterhouse buildings were retained and adapted into office and retail spaces. Two were removed, with one replaced by a courtyard and the other by a sunken outdoor amphitheatre occupying a former cellar. Original stone and concrete walls frame the open-air venue, with a metal bridge spanning overhead.
The renovated slaughterhouse forms the focal point of the precinct, featuring a porous ground floor that opens towards a river bluff overlook. Surrounding it, new buildings create a modern industrial village defined by pedestrian-priority streets and landscaped public spaces, with structured parking positioned at the site’s edge.
A 14-storey glazed office tower anchors one edge of the site, its stepped facade oriented towards the river and a cantilevered portion extending over an internal road. Opposite sit two brick-clad mid-rise buildings accommodating 542 rental apartments above ground-floor retail, completing the first chapter of this adaptive reuse transformation.
Images by Seth Parker and Christopher Payne via Dezeen
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