The AIA Austin Chapter 2004 Design Awards program honored 10 outstanding local projects, chosen from a field of 76 entries. The projects were announced and winning architects received their awards at the chapter’s annual Design Awards Celebration at the Lester E. Palmer Events Center in May. The distinguished jurors were Adèle Naudé Santos, FAIA, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT and principal of Santos Prescott and Associates, San Francisco; Steven Ehrlich, FAIA, design principal of Steven Ehrlich Architects, Culver City, Calif.; and Tim Blonkvist, FAIA, founding principal and chairman of the board of Overland Partners, San Antonio. AIA Austin Design Awards Committee Chair Michelle Rossomando, AIA, served as moderator.

Honor Awards

Metz-Fielding Building, Austin, by Hobson Crow Architects
This designated city landmark dates from the 1870s. Its limestone walls, typical of the original buildings along Congress Avenue, are the only original materials. These walls, paired with a reconstruction of the original façade, form the parameters of this building’s contemporary program. A minimal box volume, clad in zinc and housing the top-floor apartment, expresses a literal manifestation of this concept, the architect says. Hovering above and set back from the historic structure, it hints at a “reinvigorated contemporary interior.” Following the City of Austin’s Smart Growth initiatives, the building provides live/work space in an urban setting. Photo © Greg Hursley.

Twin Valley House, Austin, by Danze & Blood Architects
The greatest attribute of this house, as well as its greatest challenge, is its site. Located in a typical suburban neighborhood, the site has the potential for extensive views. The small lot is only 40 feet wide. Its neighbor on the south, directly on the property line, has a 25-foot-high elevation. A solid south wall, opened near the top with a continuous ribbon window, mitigates this close neighbor’s presence. The house wraps around a pool on the northwest. Rather than specifically defined areas of living, the architects created a collection of spaces suitable for flexible use. They explain that they “experimented with the sensual qualities of materials. For instance, concrete—dense, heavy, and cool and used as a fireplace hearth upstairs—has hard and reflective chromium-plated aluminum as its downstairs counterpart. Photo © Elizabeth Danze & John Blood.

Citations of Honor

The Lester E. Palmer Events Center, Austin, by Barnes Taniguchi Centerbrook, Joint Venture
This project is a 135,000-square-foot community events center tucked into the southeast corner of Austin’s 65-acre Town Lake Park, just across the Colorado River from the center of the city. The site plan maximizes Town Lake Park’s open acreage and minimizes its impact on park activities. The Palmer Events Center is in the 19th-century tradition of a “pavilion in a park,” one evocative of Austin’s unique character. Photo courtesy of the architect.

King Residence, Friendsville, Tenn., by Atelier Hines Almy
The King Residence sits along the flank of a ridge in the Smoky Mountains foothills. Its entry drive winds 250 vertical feet through a forested hillside on the northwest slope. Rolling over the top of the ridge into a meadow, the site opens up, revealing expansive views. Positioned along the forest edge, the house sequentially reveals the landscape as one ascends the hillside, progresses through the house, then out onto the southern terrace. The public space of the house sits level with the crest of the ridge, establishing a horizontal volume scaled to the tree line and the meadow. Private spaces extend to the north, separating the entry court from a lower walled garden cut into the hill. Lower-level guest quarters open onto the sunken garden. Photo courtesy of the architect.

Anthony Nak Jewelry Flagship Store, Austin, by M.J. Neal Architects
The architects strove to create an elegant, subtle space to show exquisite designer jewelry. Existing nonstructural arches and windows were removed, and the openings altered to form new rectilinear windows and an entry enabling a dynamic street presence. The palette of white surfaces offers very subtle changes in texture. The architect designed all of the casework: Window cases are of stainless steel and glass. Freestanding floor cases, called “pods,” are cherry wood, stainless steel, and glass. When open, the glass top of the pod becomes a surface on which to rest the jewelry. Adjacent to the front door, a bench flows out of the ceiling. From design through construction (including case work), this 800-square-foot project was completed in 12 weeks. Photo © Jett Butler.

Tarrytown Modern Residence, Austin, by Steinbomer & Associates Architects
Located in a long-established 1930s and ’40s traditional neighborhood, this 1957 Modern builder home was an anomaly when discovered by its owners. A longtime rental property advertised as a tear-down, architect and client collectively saw the house as an opportunity for the clients to adapt a more informal lifestyle—with a relatively small remodeling effort—and live in a house they stylistically admired. Drawing on a rich palette of materials, the architects developed a glassy master-suite addition that opens onto a new trellised courtyard. The courtyard presents a layered, dynamic façade to the street, doubles as outdoor entertaining area, and aesthetically sets the pervasive updates to the home’s finishes. Photo © Coin Hairson Photography.

Frisco/Stallones Residence, Wimberley, Tex., by Jackson & McElhaney Architects
The architects designed this modest weekend house for a young family of three, with the option of adding bedrooms when the home becomes their permanent residence. They oriented the residence toward spectacular views of the Blanco River Valley and the surrounding hills to the south. Low-maintenance and sustainable design features include metal-panel exterior siding, local limestone, sealed concrete floors, large overhangs, screen porches, daylighting (high windows under eaves), rain-water harvesting, and efficient, small-zoned AC systems. The home, at approximately $110 per square foot, proved economical to build. The architects report that it is easy to maintain while feeling open, airy, and closely connected to the land. Photo © Robert Jackson.

Merit Awards

ARCH—Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, Austin, by LZT Architects Inc.
Designed to be open and accessible, ARCH combines a range of services for the homeless into one facility, including an entry lobby/day room, shower and locker rooms, laundry, computer room, advocacy offices, commercial kitchen, dining facilities, clinic, and art room. The pavilion-like, 100-bed shelter is located on the rooftop. Composed of interpenetrating interior and exterior volumes, the building spaces allow light inside and create visual connections between floors and uses. A LEED-rated building, ARCH implements many innovative building techniques and components, including a 13,000-gallon rainwater collection system with column-like collection tanks visible in the building’s elevation. Photo © Thomas McConnell 2004.

Austin City Lofts, Austin, by PageSoutherlandPage LLP
This 82-unit, 14-story tower provides an anchor and landmark for a new mixed-use district in the southwest quadrant of downtown Austin. Along busy Fifth Street, a three-story horizontal stone volume houses the entry lobby; deep, stacked porches; and a modest retail strip off a shady arcade. Parking for 150 vehicles is tucked behind and below. Along Shoal Creek, a garden, pool, and cookout area are edged by the stacked-stone porches and a five-story, metal-clad series of units with great views up and down the creek. Atop the carefully articulated base rises a long, twin tower with primary views south of Town Lake and north to the Capitol Building and the university. Two-story through-units in much of the tower command vistas in both directions. Photo © Lawrence W. Speck, FAIA.

Twin Peaks, Austin, by M.J. Neal Architects
This urban-suburban hybrid offers 1,700-square-foot single-family dwellings for two infill lots adjacent to downtown. The main configuration of the houses maintains privacy, while the screened-in porches provide outdoor living and a relationship with the street. The large trees on site make the houses want to push upwards, the architects say, and platforms and decks offer distant views. Photo courtesy of the architect.

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