The Austin Convention Center Hotel will function as a living machine responding to the physical environment and immediate context. Among the main passive design strategies to be implemented, it will collect rain water, use daylight harvesting, implement green roofs, utilize solar radiation for passive heating and hot water, and collect energy through solar cells. In addition, the skin will have the capability of serving as a protective buffer against the solar radiation year-round, while providing enough daylight access which will reduce the lighting / energy consumption.