Tennessee State Museum

In 1996, Lord Cultural Resources was commissioned to develop a long-range Strategic Development Plan for the Tennessee State Museum (TSM) evaluating collections, space requirements, exhibitions and public programs.  In the following year, Lord collaborated with Nashville architect Earl Swenson to complete a Master Site Plan for the City’s Bicentennial Mall, the future site of the new museum.  In 2013, the Governor of Tennessee engaged Lord to complete a comprehensive study of the Museum and its needs.  The Lord plan included recommendations on site selection, capital cost projections, a facility master plan, and an operations plan that included a public programme plan and an interpretive plan for the new 55,000 square feet of exhibition space.

Using the Lord Master Plan as the foundation, the State of Tennessee is proceeding with plans to construct the new 130,000 square foot museum on the prominent Bicentennial Mall site.   In 2015 Lord was retained by the State as their sole museum consultant assisting them with architectural review and exhibitions procurement and management.   This work involved the procurement of both project management and designer teams paired with oversight of design documentation, specifications and building construction.  Assisting the museum’s curatorial staff, Lord helped redefine the interpretive plan and managed the process of exhibition design from procurement of the designers / fabricators through to opening day.