Emblem Park is a mixed-use development in Nashville’s rapidly growing Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood, where the design team worked to balance the energy of a dense urban setting with moments of respite, connection, and ecological health. Hawkins Partners played a central role in shaping this vision, from the public streetscape to intimate residential courtyards.
Early in the design process, the team met with the local neighborhood group (SNAP), who asked that the development include a pollinator garden with native and adaptive plantings—something that would serve the community as a public parklet while also strengthening the neighborhood’s identity. This request guided the landscape approach, inspiring a planting palette for the entire project rooted in biophilic design principles and resulting in a lush, layered environment that ties people more closely to nature.
Throughout the site, these plant-driven strategies are balanced with bold architectural forms through a hardscape design that complements the building’s unique character. The result is a collection of diverse outdoor experiences.
These layered landscapes demonstrate Hawkins Partners’ commitment to creating spaces that are not only functional and beautiful but also responsive to community voices, ecological systems, and the evolving character of Nashville’s neighborhoods. Emblem Park is both an amenity-rich destination and a living example of how thoughtful design can transform place into community.