In keeping with its rich country music heritage, the Gaylord Entertainment Center has become a hit in arena designs and an icon in its own right. The unique HOK-designed facility was strongly influenced by Nashville’s image as Music City, USA.

Designed to accommodate sports such as basketball and hockey, the building’s emphasis is also on staging musical events – a rare combination among the latest generation of arenas. Building upon and complimenting Nashville’s heritage, the arena’s overall form resembles a French horn, with the 1,400-square meter rehearsal hall serving as the horn shaped element. As patrons approach the main entrance, a steel canopy gives the illusion of being on stage as light cannons search the sky. The main concourse features a terrazzo floor with a pattern resembling a guitar neck. Thin bronze dividing strips in the deep blue terrazzo look like strings and white terrazzo discs serve as fret markers. And at the lower suite level, balcony recesses give the impression of a piano keyboard.

Tnemec’s instrument in this orchestration was its Series 10 Tnemec Primer, a modified alkyd coating applied to all the structural steel elements by the fabricator. A special application of Series 90-97 Tneme-Zinc, a zinc-rich polyurethane primer, was used in lieu of Series 10 for all the slip critical connections in order to achieve the required AISC Class B rating.

With Tnemec primers protecting this cherished landmark, all attention can be directed towards center stage.