Archinect - News

Robert A.M. Stern Architects to author renovation of Austin’s historic UT Tower

2024-10-10T11:28:00-04:00

Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) has signed on to a new higher education project for the University of Texas at Austin. The project to renovate the historic UT Tower (aka the 'Main Building') back to its original 1937 appearance will be completed by the end of summer 2027. Restoration of its exterior will begin next month. The listed budget for the project is $70 million.

Image: The University of Texas at Austin

Updating KPF’s quest to deliver Texas’ new tallest skyscraper

2024-06-10T10:37:00-04:00

Contractor Brett Bickford recently described his firm DPR's work on their “dream job” constructing the new 74-story KPF-designed The Waterline skyscraper in Austin. The project that will yield 2.7 million square feet of space and a mixed-use program that includes 351 luxury residences, a 251-key hotel, and 700,000-square-foot office component will become the state’s new tallest building in 2026. Construction recently reached the halfway mark, with I.M. Pei’s 1981 JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston dead in its sights and the adjacent Lady Bird Lake and Waller Creek water features anchoring it in the periphery.

Apple begins construction on $1 billion campus in Austin

2019-11-25T14:50:00-05:00

According to a recent press release, Apple has broken ground on its new $1 billion, 3-million-square-foot campus. The campus will initially house 5,000 employees, with the capacity to grow to 15,000, and is expected to open in 2022.

Apple's growth in Austin is part of the company's nation wide expansion to increase its investment in manufacturing, engineering, and other jobs across the country. Apple is on track to contribute $350 billion to the US economy between 2018 and 2023, and during that time will hire an additional 20,000 employees, the company reports.

Apple has also partnered with Austin-based Bartlett Tree Experts in an effort to preserve the diversity of native trees on the 133-acre property. According to the organization, over 60 percent of the campus will consist of landscaping, which will include a "50-acre nature and wildlife preserve that will be open to the public."

According to reports, it is assumed that Studio8 Architects will be handling the design of the new c...

Austin says yes to 135,000 new housing units

2019-06-18T13:42:00-04:00

Austin is planning to grow significantly over the next few years. 60,000 new units are planned for the city, to be complete in the next few years, according to KVUE.

This month, the Austin City Council voted to support a new housing plan for the city that could bring up to 135,000 new residences to the Texas capital. According to the plan, up to 60,000 of those new homes will be administered as affordable housing units.

The new plan is focused on bringing housing costs down in the city, where experts have been sounding alarms for years over rampant income segregation.

According to the Austin Chronicle, the city's population has more than doubled since 1990, with a large percentage of the new arrivals enjoying a high degree of wealth. As a result, many low- and moderate-income Austinites have become rent-burdened. The problem matches that of many other American cities: Despite receiving an influx of new residents in recent years, housing production has lagged behind growth rates, ...

UT Austin's architecture school begins new initiative focused on "race, gender, and the American built environment"

2016-09-09T18:06:00-04:00

The effort aims to facilitate diversity among design and planning professionals and students, and foster innovation in teaching and research on race, gender and inequality in American cities. Partially funded by the university’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, the initiative will ensure that the School of Architecture is on the leading edge of scholarship and practice regarding these important issues.

More on race and gender in architecture: