In 2016, the City of Austin adopted a planning framework envisioning a more urban and connected development pattern for the roughly 118-acre collection of adjacent properties directly south of the river from downtown, a district freshly dubbed the South Central Waterfront. The South Central Waterfront Vision Framework Plan — you know, the S.C.W.V.F.P. we all know . . . Become a patron to get the…
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Austin, Consider the Bulletin Board
Growing up in Austin, the bulletin board at our neighborhood park was sort of like the early days of social media — you’d find dog-walking gigs, garage sale flyers, and considerably weirder stuff long before anyone was trying to go viral. Most people love this sort of community-minded design feature in the abstract, but the Terminator-like gaze of…
Is This Downtown Austin’s Silliest Parking Lot?
Believe it or not, the flagship Whole Foods at Sixth Street and North Lamar Boulevard was once the center of gravity for much of downtown Austin’s daytime social life — you’d meet friends for brunch there and take visitors from out of town to gawk at the cheese displays. That sounds kind of silly now,…
Sticking a Camera Over the Fence at Duncan Park in Downtown Austin
Duncan Neighborhood Park is rounding the corner on its first phase of upgrades by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, the most significant improvements planned in decades for this wildly underrated piece of downtown parkland just east of Shoal Creek between West Ninth and 10th Streets. It’s not just the park’s excellent skyline views we’re after — we are very . ….
In North Austin, the Lone Star Center Thumbs Its Nose at the Highway
At the southeast corner where Burnet Road passes under Highway 183 in North Austin, an unusual 8.7-acre shopping center sits tucked behind the Highland Lanes bowling alley at 9012 Research Boulevard. Since it’s all connected by an ocean of parking lots, the
Project Connect Is Saving Dirty Martin’s, Just Not the Way You Think
The motto of the University of Texas is Disciplina praesidium civitatis according to the official seal, but you hear more about the school’s buzzy modern slogan, which would look so much better on the side of a blimp — “What Starts Here Changes the World.” We mean no disrespect to the rest of the world, but from our…