Let's say you're building an office building on top of a parking garage in a pedestrian-heavy area of downtown. Though some projects manage to get away with not doing it for various tricky reasons, for a building of this variety Austin's land development code typically requires parking garages to be screened from the street by a "pedestrian-oriented use." Here's what the code ...
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See the Stunning Design of an Expanded MACC in the Rainey Street District
No matter how many downtown Austin condo and apartment towers rise in the Rainey Street District -- and the answer is "a lot" -- the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (ESB-MACC) at 600 River Street will always be the most important building in this neighborhood. Designed by the late Mexican architect Teodoro González de León with help from ...
Shape the Future of a Downtown Public Space at Cypress and Shoal Creek
As part of its larger plan to improve trail connectivity and recreational spaces along Shoal Creek in downtown Austin and beyond, the Shoal Creek Conservancy along with the City of Austin and Downtown Austin Alliance hopes to create a new public destination in the heart of the area sometimes known as the Seaholm District, roughly centered around where West Third Street becomes ...
Downtown Austin’s Iconic Central Fire Station Considers a Careful Upgrade
Dating back to 1938, the New Deal-financed Austin Central Fire Station No. 1 sitting at 401 East Fifth Street on the northwest corner of Brush Square is an unlikely gem of downtown architecture, one of the few really striking examples of the Art Deco subset known as Moderne or Streamline Moderne in the city's stock of public buildings -- unfortunately, great vintage design ...
See Austin Condo Tower Construction Up Close With ‘Beyond the Fence’ Episode 2
Construction outfit Flintco, currently putting up developer Intracorp's 44 East Avenue condo tower in the Rainey Street District of downtown Austin, is giving us another episode of its documentary series "Beyond the Fence" -- providing an unusually inside look at the kitchen-sink process of developing a 49-floor building. Episode 2 of the series, "Harmony by Design," ...
The TOWERS.net 2020 Austin Gift Guide
As the holiday season approaches and Amazon shipping windows begin to slide shut, the ambient state of panic already in the air thanks to the pandemic has become electrified. Maybe you bought all your gifts months ago -- maybe your 2020 has been different than ours and you're using this time to get organized. Maybe. For the rest of us, these last-minute gifts are available for ...