Alison Ledwith

Austin Center for Arts and Technology, 916 Springdale Road, Austin, TX

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Building upon the pottery studio project, a full-scale education center is proposed for East Austin. This project was designed in cooperation with Manchester Bidwell, an educational center in Pittsburgh, PA founded by Bill Strickland. This is a center that is not affiliated with the public school system, but provides arts and practical job training to those in need in the city. Due to a high success rate for the center, it has expanded into other cities around the country, and Austin is one of the locations in the early planning stages. To that end, this project has been designed around an existing building footprint, though only the foundation has been reused. The creation of interior and exterior courtyards, the reincorporation of landscape, and the presence of natural light are the three major themes.

Building Context

The adjacent site analysis shows that the majority of the surrounding areas are industrial or residential; indeed, the original purpose of this site was a warehouse. One of the core tenets of this educational institution is to set it apart from the surrounding neighborhood, which has been done through the use of landscaping in an otherwise barren region. Procession from the bus stop or parking through courtyard spaces is substantial to allow visitors time to reorient before entering the building.

A Center for Arts and Technology

Given the instructional program of the building, most of the program spaces have specific technical needs. Entry into the building occurs through the lobby and exhibit space, which is accompanied by public gathering spaces. Retaining the compression and release of the pottery studio, each art or technical studio has a similar entry, and each space shares a courtyard with an adjacent studio. The loft space provides naturally lit classrooms and auditorium space. The circulation for the loft includes windows into the art and technical studios; this allows tours to view the progress in the studios without disturbing the work.

Documentation

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Pottery Studio, Austin, TX

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This 2,000 square foot pottery studio is located on a fictional urban site in Austin, TX. The fundamental concept behind the studio is contrast, both between light and dark illuminance and between light and massive materials. Since a box of light is not a practical design from a solar heat gain perspective, this space carefully tempers the light and heat along the glazed wall. The glazed wall is a double skin facade whose interstitial space is used as the primary storage for the building. In contrast, the low, massive concrete wall has only a few small openings which wrap through the wall and ceiling of the building. The initial entry into the building is through a compressed opening in the concrete, resulting in a release into the main space. By placing the divide between light and darkness on an angle, the percentage of dark space increases as one moves further into the building. This provides a natural solid space at the back of the building for offices, pottery firing facilities, and a rest room. The plan has structural walls and a flexible workspace, here arranged so that the process of pottery making moves from the front entrance to the kilns located in the back of house.

Documentation

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LCRA Environmental Learning Center, Matagorda Nature Park, Matagorda, TX

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The Lower Colorado River Authority maintains a series of nature centers, including a small center in Matagorda, TX. A second, larger building is desired in the area to include conference space, exhibits, and offices for the nearby region. This 12,000 square foot nature center can function either as an enclosed center or as an open pavilion. Since the river is a fundamental portion of the mission, this building has been sited half upon land and half in water. The lower level includes decks, docks, and expendable program elements to accommodate the fifteen foot storm surge in the area. The upper level features the main spaces. All of these components are beneath a curved photovoltaic roof with integral gutters, which provides a substantial percentage of the electricity and rainwater needs of the building.

Program Description

One can explore the docks on the lower level or proceed upstairs to the exhibit and conference spaces. The longest bar, spanning both over land and water, is the main exhibit space of the building. To accomodate the flexible needs of the center, sliding walls form both the exterior perimeter and interior subspaces for classroom needs. The bar along the entry includes the conference space and support facilities, while the terminal angled bar houses an observation deck for bird watching. This center is part of a larger development plan including the parking area and a nature trail for incorporating exhibits within the lagoons.

Form and Structure

The building uses a 20’x20′ modular grid in all bars of the program. The three programmatic bars form an outdoor courtyard space, which can also be used for conference proceedings. Roof level on the second floor is dictated by program and creates an overall umbrella-like canopy over the space. Construction details of this system continue the umbrella metaphor in creating a structural grid with separate components resisting gravity and uplift. The roof bends into two cores used to house rainwater collection and native aquatic life; in addition to their programmatic purpose, these cores are reinforced for shear to guard against hurricane force winds. The remaining structural elements of the building include a glulam frame and concrete pile foundation, whose continuous load path is indicated in the large-scale construction details.

 Environmental Learning Center

The architecture of the building seeks not just to house conferences on environmental learning but to use the building itself as an instructional tool. To that end, all services are integrated and exposed, such as the use of the roof to channel rainwater into collection tanks. Walls in the building completely open up for natural ventilation, allowing the conditioning to occur without the use of electricity during the better weather seasons in the region. Integrated cool beams provide additional climate control when natural efforts are insufficient. Photovoltaic panels, LED lighting, and the use of stable ground and water temperatures in system design minimize the energy use of the building.

Documentation

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Oasis@6th Mixed Use Development, 6th and Colorado, Austin, TX

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Oasis@6th is a proposed mixed use development located in the heart of downtown Austin. An iconic midcentury modern building, used originally as a banking headquarters and now known as the Starr Building, forms the core of the project. An urban wellness center develops through a collaborative venture between the academic concentrations of historic preservation (Reed), interior design (Bodet), and architecture (myself).

A Mixed Use Development

Character defining features such as the 10′ x 30′ mural in the main banking space are preserved in the Starr Building while other spaces are adaptively reused. Adjacent sites to the east and south are included in the complex; an 8-story office and retail structure and a 15-story boutique hotel and modernized parking facility are proposed in their place. Finally, a two-story amenity deck is included in the footprint of the original mid-century pilotis-supported awning. The deck serves the office park and hotel with its fitness and spa facilities.

Wellness and Sustainability

Wellness-themed tenants have inspired the many sustainability features of the building. Such features include the green roof on the amenity and office buildings, the natural materials in cladding and interiors, and the new daylighting features in preserved buildings. Light wells in the historic building preserve the original intent of the facades and add daylighting. The hotel lobby engages the Austin street life, while a bamboo cladding system conceals the parking structure above. Light and views are present in the hotel guest and lobby levels. Water flows through channel glass to form the exterior threshold of the lobby, and landscaping completes the urban oasis.

Detailing brings sustainability into the user experience. Rich interior materials, such as the cork flooring in the spa, provide a similar experience of wellness inside the complex. Natural stones and wood provide a similar experience in the hotel rooms. Translucent plastic panels finished in wood veneer allow light into the hotel spaces. The slanted north wall and stepped south wall of the hotel create the angled effect of the tower and interact with the structure, building services, and guest amenities as shown in the detail drawing set.

Documentation

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Winery, Tow, TX

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This 30,000 square foot winery is located on the hill above the vineyards. Formally resembling a rock outcropping, this cantilever structure extends over the landscape and orients the visitor toward the view below.

Building Approach

Trees obscure the approach to the building until reaching the tip of the cantilever. The road circles the structure to allow a full view of the building and terminates at the rear. The threelevel winery is a collection of nine 40’ modules, which have been stacked and nestled in the landscape. The building is on axis with the vineyards and the lake beyond, which allows for views from modules.

The Operation of a Winery

Winery operation requires that an extensive set of programmatic requirements be met to facilitate the linear manufacture process. The second level is the main and entry level of the building, where trucks load and unload materials. The southwest bar of the building includes the laboratory, bottling line, and chemical storage facilities. The central bar includes the two-story fermentation tank space with an occupiable catwalk at ground level for tours and maintenance, as well as the barrel storage and cafe of the building. The northeast bar of the building includes sales, administration, and additional outdoor seating for the cafe.

In addition to the sectional organization, in plan the building operates with the tours taking place on the main and upper levels, while back-of-house operations occur on the lower level of the building. Finally, all spaces included on the main manufacture line have been designed for forklift operation and turning radii.

Sound Building

The project not only considers the programmatic requirements but also the technical requirements of structure and mechanical systems. The construction section and 1/2″ = 1′ bay model of the building demonstrate the structural premises of integrally cast concrete with slabs and walls as the sides of a “box beam.” Duct systems are sized in the mechanical diagrams and exposed in the work spaces; in contrast, a finish ceiling is included in the cafe and visitor spaces. Open web joist catwalks form the second level of the fermentation room for proper tank maintenance. Finally, the site plan meets requirements for parking, water retention, grading, and truck clearances and turning radii.

Interior

The thick walls necessary for the structural design create an earthy, cave-like quality in the interior spaces, with board-formed texture imitating rock strata. In areas where the thickness is not required for structural integrity of the cantilever, window openings have been included. In addition, the concrete walls are constructed with cavity spaces in the non-cantilever portion of the building; these cavities function as light wells with light filtering through gaps in the board-formed texture on the walls. Additional lighting is found at the oriented ends of the tubes; most ends are simply doubly-glazed, but the wine shop features water-filled wine bottles filtering the light to protect the integrity of bottled wine in the room.

Documentation

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Casa de Luz Meditation and Wellness Center, 7th and Congress, Austin, TX

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This downtown meditation center is an outgrowth of a local Austin wellness organization. In keeping with the name and principle of the center, “Casa de Luz,” this center manifests the treatise of enlightenment through the direction and control of daylighting. The use of nested curtain walls allows the building to maintain a reasonable temperature inside in the strong Austin heat. The primary staircase along 7th Street has been aligned along the building to provide interior and exterior views, while serving as a buffer space. All visitor spaces in the building have daylighting filtered through the facade system.

The center features a first floor restaurant, a second floor mediation center, and third floor classrooms and back of house spaces. Entry is through an outdoor gathering space which can double as exterior seating for the restaurant. The central section of the plans provides the primary programmatic elements of the building. The back-of-house section provides amenities and connection to the simultaneously constructed school (not part of the design scope). A patchwork of glazing — varying between opaque and transparent — provides a balance of privacy and views.

Documentation

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