Gresham Smith is proud to announce two new market design leaders. Adam Nicholson, AIA, has been named market design leader of the firm’s Life and Work Places market, and Chris Hoal, AIA, has been named market design leader of the firm’s Healthcare market.
“Our market design leaders play a key role in creating the value we deliver to our clients through excellence in design,” said Jeff Kuhnhenn, AIA, LEED AP, director of architectural design at Gresham Smith. “Beyond being talented experts in their practice areas, they are great mentors, members of their communities and thought leaders.”
Nicholson previously served as Nashville studio design leader for the firm’s Life and Work Places market. In his new role as market design leader and member of the Life and Work Places core team, he will play a pivotal role in steering the firm’s design vision throughout the market. He will also take the lead in forecasting design trends and overseeing cross-market review processes. Since joining the firm in 2014, Adam has led the design of several key projects, including HCA Capitol View at 1100 Charlotte, the LifeWay Christian Resources Headquarters, the Rutherford County Judicial Center, and the Medpace campus master plan in Cincinnati, Ohio, which encompasses a corporate headquarters and on-site Element Eatery food hall. He also leads Gresham Smith’s design efforts at Nashville Yards, which include a masterplan of the 19.2-acre mixed-use site and the architectural design of multiple buildings within the development. Beyond his skills as a designer, Nicholson mentors emerging studio design leaders, with a focus on fostering relationship-building and collaboration.
“Over the past decade, and in partnership with an amazing set of clients, our talented designers in the Life and Work Places Market have delivered a series of transformational projects within the city of Nashville and beyond,” says Nicholson. “With an emphasis on People, Places and Performance, our team has become increasingly skilled at addressing complex challenges across all scales of development. We strive to deliver bespoke design solutions that enhance the character of communities and support the people who seek to thrive within them. I am excited by this new opportunity to facilitate growth within our studios and expand our capabilities to ensure that Gresham Smith is a trusted advisor poised to meet the opportunities of the next decade.”
Hoal previously served as the Healthcare market’s Nashville studio design leader. In his new role, he will focus on cultivating a culture of design excellence, supporting project teams in delivering high-quality design solutions, and helping guide the market’s strategic direction as a member of the Healthcare Core Team. Hoal joined Gresham Smith in 2012. Since then, he has demonstrated the creative ambition to successfully lead or serve as a key team member for numerous award-winning projects, such as Kaiser Permanente’s North Baltimore Medical Center, UP Health System’s Marquette hospital, Baptist Health Care Pensacola’s new Brent Lane campus and The Nashville Food Project’s headquarters. Hoal brings a process-oriented design approach that fosters collaboration and emphasizes critical thinking about building performance, the environment and the social fabric of communities.
“I see my main goal as bringing a collaborative, iterative design process to the Healthcare market where idea generation, design value and criticality are most important,” says Hoal. “Design isn’t a ‘black box,’ it gets better when you include more people with diverse perspectives, and it gets better when you resist the urge to rush to conclusions. Taking the time to integrate users and the community into the design team while establishing a shared perspective enables us to provide clear, high-quality solutions.”
