From new to old, Austin, Texas, has an amalgamation of distinctive architectural marvels that are awe-inspiring for any curious visitor. Being home to rich cultural diversity, architecture in Austin has had its fair share of influence from multiple architectural styles. From high-rise, residential, hospitality, and commercial, we have picked out 15 gems commemorating the creativity of the Austin landscape.
Frost Bank Tower | Architecture In Austin
An integral part of Austin’s skyline, Frost Bank Tower stands tall at 91 meters. With its specific staggering outline, Frost Bank embraces the city’s unique character. The tower shimmers in the daytime with its blue-glass curtain wall and distinctive crown of folded glass planes. Its limestone base gives way to clear blue glass, enhancing the verticality of the building, inevitably folding into a jagged crown of glass and steel. It is hard to miss the conversation this building has with the city from day to night, reflecting the blue skies to pink at sunset and eventually lighting up at night.
Arrive East Austin Hotel
Baldridge Architects saw that a conventional hotel is in isolation from the public. They wanted to take a different approach to the hotel design by minimizing the hotel identity and maximising an open platform for public engagement with rentable rooms. Therefore, they proposed a dynamic form that responds to Austin’s street-side guidelines and grows with a subtle shift in floor plates. The building connects to its context and invokes the past by commemorating its surrounding structures. The masonry-infilled concrete structure hints at previously existing warehouses and the historical Huston Tillotson University.
Fifth + Tillery Office Building
Designed by Gensler, this environmentally friendly building is mindful of Austin’s climate. Fifth + Tillery office has revived a post-industrial site to a lush green office environment that brings the outside to the inside. The building optimally utilises pre-dominant breezes through its south-facing entry plaza, generating passive cooling. As Austin can get hot in the summer, ample shaded outdoor areas are provided within the building. The shade is provided through adequate vegetation like sycamore trees and a staggered photovoltaic panel. The building, complete with a hybrid-timber structure, creates a peaceful work environment.
Ellsworth Kelly’s “Austin”
Ellsworth Kelly’s final and only architectural work, Austin, is a 2715 square feet vaulted structure displayed at the Blanton Museum of Art. Simplistic yet contemplative, the small chapel’s light structure emphasises the harmony of color, form, and light. Although the building is reminiscent of a church, it is not one of them. Many have described it as a secular church. However, it does capture the essence of Roman religious architecture through stained glass windows, a double-barrel vault, a grid-based entrance, white facades, and a totem sculpture in the rear part of the building, in place of a conventional altar. This secular church reaches its full potential and spirituality throughout the daytime when the sun interacts with the multiple compositions of stained-glass windows, creating an awe-inspiring interior.
House Zero | Architecture In Austin
As an immersion of new technology with reality, Austin got presented with House Zero at the SXSW Festival in 2022. House Zero is a 3D-printed ranch-style home for single families. It took ten days to print and features walls laid down for 2000 square feet. ICON and Lake Flato collaborated on this design by utilising a material that ICON calls Lavacrete. Lavacrete is an air-tight cement-like substance that provides adequate insulation and structural stability. This house is paving the way for new construction and opening avenues for a new design language!
Austin City Hall and Public Plaza
Growing from the rich landscape of Austin, the new city hall constructed in 2004 exudes connectivity with the city. The form designed by Antoine Predock cascades down towards Lady Bird Lake. Angled windows along the periphery capture scenic views of the lake. The building symbolises the warm informality of Austin and acts as a catalyst for community gatherings. The informal grid of the building skews away from the formal grid of the city, providing open avenues for interaction. A 4-story lobby is sliced by catwalk-like bridges in the interior, reflecting the informality of the outside to the inside. Overall, the qualities plaza and the limestone exterior create a living room within the city.
Shore Vista Boat House
Designed by Bercy Chen Studio, the Shore Vista beach house flows into Lake Austin. The house has many features, like an elliptical form with a winding circulation. Here, Large curved glass windows create a portal to the natural surroundings. All 1600 square feet of mass undulates from the landscape. One of the key features of this house is a falling waterfall that merges the house with the lake. From connection to the beach and the water, this house is perfect for a weekend getaway!
The Long Center for the Performing Arts
From old to new, Nelsen Architects, along with Zeidler Partnership, recycled the 1950s Palmer Auditorium into the Long Center for Performing Arts. This building is home to Austin’s opera, symphony, and ballet. A large ring beam hoisted up by several columns envelops the theatre and reflects the circular ceiling inside the concert hall, all as an ode to the Palmer Center. The Michael and Susan Dell Concert Hall within the long center is a classically designed 2300-seater bound to immerse you with melodies, a symphonic museum, or even spoken word!
The State Capitol building
Celebrating Renaissance Revival Architecture, the State Capitol building sits in the heart of Austin. Opened in 1888, the building is a harmony of domes, columns, plasterwork, and pediments that exude classical proportions. The building creates a unique hue due to its sunset-red granite from mountains near Marble Falls. Due to its unique style and excellent maintenance, visitors are attracted to this building each year!
Driskill Hotel | Architecture In Austin
A blast from the past is what best describes the Driskill Hotel. The oldest and one of the best-known hotels in Texas welcomes you with its Romanesque style façade. It was built in 1886 and still stands today in note-worthy condition. Two buildings make up the Driskill hotel, a four-story Romanesque revival building constructed in 1886 and a 13-story annexe been built in 1930. The architect Jasper Preston designed the building around two porticos on the east and western façade, containing one of the largest Richardsonian-style arches in Texas. Adorned with gable ends and longhorns, the pressed bricks and limestone façade greets you as you enter the city!
LBJ Library and Museum
The first presidential library in Austin, The LBJ Library and Museum is designed to reflect on the life of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Lyndon Baines Johnson was the 36th president of the United States and was responsible for multiple changes. These changes are all reflected in the museums in terms of permanent exhibits. The exterior is simplistic to hold the complex ideas LBJ had. It is monumental, with a stark plain façade that lets one contemplate what’s inside. The interior also acts like a blank canvas, where the exhibit brings the museum to life.
Cathedral of Saint Mary in Austin | Architecture In Austin
Built in the 1850s for Austin’s Irish community, the church still stands as an architectural marvel. The cathedral was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and is the cathedral parish of the Catholic Diocese in Austin. Designed by Nicholas J. Clayton, the church is a Victorian Design and Gothic Revival. Time and time again, other additions and removals have been conducted on the church, but it’s still preserved sufficiently. With its rose window, tree-like columns, and tracery of vines and leaves, the cathedral will surely transport you into a fairy tale!
John Bremond House
Austin has a rich cultural heritage, especially in the Northwest downtown. There are multiple residences, from Victorian to Georgian to Greek Revival, can be found here. The state has converted this area into a walking tour, giving glimpses of the past. One such structure that stands out from the tour is the John Bermond House. It is a part of the Bermond Block Historic District, which contains 11 homes designed in classic Victorian architecture from the 1850s to 1910. Made a part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, this house consists of classic columns, arches, stylised gable roofs, and even circular and rounded planning. This house represents the lavish lifestyle of the Bermond family, who were popular socialites of Austin in the late nineteenth century.
Walter Tips Building
Still a commercial space today, the Walter Tips Building is one of Austin’s important landmarks. Designed by architect Jasper Newton Preston, this building becomes a sight for sour eyes due to its hybrid architectural styles, combing Venetian Gothic and Italianate Renaissance. From pointed arches, Corinthian capitals, and fluted pilasters, we can see how intricate the building design is. The interior is just as marvellous as the exterior, comprised of two skylights and an intricate structural system. A cast-iron colonnade is spanned by cast-iron arches on one level, transitioning to wooden columns and arches at the second level. Architects are sure to draw inspiration from such a well-crafted framework!
Bumble HQ “The Hive” | Architecture In Austin
For our last building, we will present one of the newer works of Architecture. Bumble HQ is an adaptive reuse project in the Rosedale neighbourhood. It drives inspiration from the old commercial building of the early-60s to create a lifestyle-focused environment. This 4800 square foot arena Beehive revolves around hexagonal patterns and bold colours, reflecting the client’s brand. Mark Odom Studios have successfully created two stories of a productive environment that feels homely. Key features to notice in this project are the intricate flooring, exposed ceiling, and importantly, a balance of private and public spaces using pattern and colour.
References:
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Dreith , B.D. (2022) Icon and Lake Flato build 3D-printed house Zero in Austin, Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2022/03/04/icon-lake-flato-3d-printed-house-zero-austin/ (Accessed: December 11, 2022).
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Publicdelivery, P.D. (2022) Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin – not a chapel, Public Delivery. Available at: https://publicdelivery.org/ellsworth-kellys-austin/ (Accessed: December 11, 2022).
Rojas, C. (2017) Bumble HQ “The hive” / Mark Odom studio, ArchDaily. ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/885903/bumble-hq-the-hive-mark-odom-studio?ad_source=search&ad_medium=projects_tab (Accessed: December 11, 2022).
Silva, V. (2022) Fifth + tillery office building / gensler, ArchDaily. ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/985228/fifth-plus-tillery-office-building-gensler (Accessed: December 11, 2022).
texascapitolhist3317 Architectural style, Architecture of the Texas State Capitol by Sharon Farrow. Available at: https://texascapitolhist3317.weebly.com/architectural-style.html (Accessed: December 11, 2022).
