Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

Sanders Pace have rehabilitated five historic log cabins dating back to the 1930s as a new Gateway Building for The Aslan Foundation to provide communal artist spaces along with a multidisciplinary studio and two studio buildings purpose-built for visual and performing artists.

The Loghaven Artist Residency is a multidisciplinary artist residency occupying 90 acres just 2 miles from downtown Knoxville. 

The project was awarded the American Prize for Architecture 2021 from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

Completed in late 2019, the project is the culmination of years of planning, research, and coordination between a charitable foundation and the design team. 

Threatened with development, the property was initially acquired by the foundation in 2008 with the goal of preserving the site for future generations. From the outset, goals and priorities were established including:
• The rehabilitation strategy that included the preservation of the original 1930s era log cabins originally constructed by Myssie Thompson as rental homes for her family;
• An ecological strategy that preserved and enhanced the existing character of Loghaven Drive and the surrounding 90 acre property;
• A strategy for new construction which contrasts but complements the character of the originals, reinterpreting the typology, scale, and materiality of the original buildings in new ways.

The site is programmed with 3 primary functions including artist cabins, a Gateway Building, and dedicated artist studio space. 

These programs are all interconnected by a combination of original roads and paths and a newly constructed trail system which weaves through the forest and woodlands flanking both sides of a ridge. 

A brief description of each function is as follows:

Loghaven Artist Cabins. In the 1930’s Martha “Myssie” Thompson began developing the community, including four log cabins along Loghaven Drive and one on Cherokee Cove. 

The rehabilitation of these cabins and associated site infrastructure improvements were the initial projects on campus. 

After documenting years of deferred maintenance and poorly constructed additions it became clear that the cabins were not originally built to last the 80 years they had lasted, much less another 80 years. 

Along with stabilization of each of the cabins the design team preserved the important characteristics of each cabin while carefully adapting and modernizing them for their new use as residences for visiting artists.

Gateway Building. The first new building on the campus includes space for a rotating entry gallery, a director’s office, a commercial kitchen staffed by a local chef, communal living and dining spaces for residents, and a multidisciplinary studio space dedicated to one of the visiting artists. 

This space is also capable of hosting lectures, performances, multimedia exhibitions. 

A clear design objective was established for new buildings on the campus that new structures would be a recognizable departure from the historic structures already in place. 

While establishing a clear distinction between the eras of development was a primary driver cues were still taken from the cabins in order to create a dialogue between old and new spaces on site.

Loghaven Artist Studios. Located just a short walk from the Gateway building through the woods of Loghaven, The Visual Arts Studio and Performing Arts Studio are designed as companion buildings with flexible open workspaces that can accommodate visiting artists. 

Each studio is designed with privacy in mind, with large panoramic windows opening to the surrounding wooded landscape and distant views to the Smoky Mountains beyond. 

While these studios take formal cues from the language of the historic structures on campus, the materials and detailing are reflective of the current era and reflect the more utilitarian function of these buildings.

Project: Loghaven Artist Residency
Architects: Sanders Pace Architecture
Client: The Aslan Foundation
Contractor: Johnson & Galyon Construction
Photographers: Bruce Cole