AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II

[JoninATX]

New arts center on tap at Mueller

Published : Sunday, 29 Jan 2012, 9:18 PM CST

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The design plans for a $26.6 million Performing Arts Center will be approved by Austin Independent School District trustees at Monday night's school board meeting.

A 3-acre site for the complex, at the intersection of Mueller Boulevard and East 51st Street, was purchased by Austin ISD last April. That followed the hiring of Pfluger Associates Architects to design the PAC in 2009.

Funding for the project, which is still on budget, came out of the 2008 AISD bond issue. The programmed space in the building will include a 1,200-seat auditorium, a 225-seat black box theater, facility offices for the Fine Arts Department, plus a parking garage that contains 400 spaces for scheduled events.

The earliest stages of construction will begin on the site in June 2012. Construction should be completed, according to the school district, in the Fall of 2013.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/new-arts-center-on-tap-at-mueller

[migol24]

Originally Posted by ahealy

For those who've said Gensler's design was boring......EAT IT!!!!
I've never seen this rendering before... I'm super excited for this

the first thing that came to my mind was the spire. i'm not sure it's the end design since i remember that they were going to place a helipad on this building. it seems impossible to place a spire along with a helipad, unless the helipad will be placed on the lower second tower?

[Jdawgboy]

That article from wordpress was wrong about the attendees last year, the number was 286,000 people that came to SXSW, not 125,000.

Also we can safely assume this tower will be over 700 feet, now how much of it will be spire we will have to see.

Also cool render but I am not sure how much it is to scale if it is supposed to be the tallest building the floor count isn't even at 50 floors so unless its not accurate with the floor count and just the overall design then its a nice looking building but we will see if it is the final rendering.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Also we can safely assume this tower will be over 700 feet, now how much of it will be spire we will have to see.

Also cool render but I am not sure how much it is to scale if it is supposed to be the tallest building the floor count isn't even at 50 floors so unless its not accurate with the floor count and just the overall design then its a nice looking building but we will see if it is the final rendering.

I am in love with the spire. I am guessing the helipad will be on a lower floor...

[hookem]

Originally Posted by ahealy

I am in love with the spire. I am guessing the helipad will be on a lower floor...

Sure, and that makes plenty of sense. Just because you have a helipad doesn't mean it's got to be at the top of the building! The ones at Brackenridge aren't on the top. In fact, I'm sure pilots would prefer not try to land on the rather small footprint of the top of a tower (which probably has to house a bunch of other mechanicals, too). The optimal location would be on the top level of a parking garage, where there is a little wiggle room if things aren't perfect. As long as the VIPs have an easy entrance into the building, it doesn't matter whether it's on a lower floor...

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by hookem

Sure, and that makes plenty of sense. Just because you have a helipad doesn't mean it's got to be at the top of the building! The ones at Brackenridge aren't on the top. In fact, I'm sure pilots would prefer not try to land on the rather small footprint of the top of a tower (which probably has to house a bunch of other mechanicals, too). The optimal location would be on the top level of a parking garage, where there is a little wiggle room if things aren't perfect. As long as the VIPs have an easy entrance into the building, it doesn't matter whether it's on a lower floor...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how it will be built. When is the target start date?

[Jdawgboy]

The crown of the building alone looks pretty large let alone the spire on top. I would like to hear specifics on roof height, to crown height to spire height. If the roof top is between 600 to 650 feet assume that the crown from that pic looks to be as high as 6 floors worth maybe another 100 feet that would put it to 700 to 750, take in the spire which looks fairly tall in the rendering we could be talking about an 800 footer. That would technically make it I believe the tallest hotel in the United States assuming the rendering is anything near a proper scale ratio which again I don't know since it seems to be lacking in floor count.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

The crown of the building alone looks pretty large let alone the spire on top. I would like to hear specifics on roof height, to crown height to spire height. If the roof top is between 600 to 650 feet assume that the crown from that pic looks to be as high as 6 floors worth maybe another 100 feet that would put it to 700 to 750, take in the spire which looks fairly tall in the rendering we could be talking about an 800 footer. That would technically make it I believe the tallest hotel in the United States assuming the rendering is anything near a proper scale ratio which again I don't know since it seems to be lacking in floor count.

I'm totally happy with this being the tallest building in Austin, and tallest all hotel in the US

[BevoLJ]

Originally Posted by ahealy

For those who've said Gensler's design was boring......EAT IT!!!!
I've never seen this rendering before... I'm super excited for this

Awesome! Thank you.

The only thing I can see people having an issue with that is the crosswalk bridge. But even that bridge looks great. And the only thing it is going over is water so it isn't like to mess up street retail that is why many don't like those bridges.

I love it.

I think the start date is Sept?

[Jdawgboy]

I heard July but Im guessing sometime in the summer, wish they would just start ASAP we really need the hotel space now and all the hotels in Austin are already booked up for SXSW. I know it wouldnt matter at this point but at least there would be more construction going on now lol. What project is supposed to start in May??? I remember seeing something about a construction start this spring on a building. It not the new 23 story building on Rainy Street, I thought it was a hotel project on Cesar Chavez maybe the 21 C?

[migol24]

Originally Posted by ahealy

I am in love with the spire. I am guessing the helipad will be on a lower floor...

that could be the case, i guess i assumed the pool would go there or something. it would be a little noisy if a helicopter would land there if there are people out chilling at the pool.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by migol24

that could be the case, i guess i assumed the pool would go there or something. it would be a little noisy if a helicopter would land there if there are people out chilling at the pool.

I'm sure it will be designed with that in mind. I just don't see how the helipad would be anywhere near the top of the building with that massive spire poking out. Dang, I am more excited about this than .......any project (besides Seaholm, The Library, and Whole Foods office tower expansion)

[migol24]

Originally Posted by ahealy

I'm sure it will be designed with that in mind. I just don't see how the helipad would be anywhere near the top of the building with that massive spire poking out.

yeah, i guess that's why i thought the render was not the official one. i thought there was some article posted awhile back that said there would be no spire. or something... i dunno. i'm really excited about it though. i'm about as excited about it as i am for the greenwater treatment plan. if only these plans along with 21c and t. stacy would get going, austin would be a solid competitor in most beautiful american skylines.

btw, am i the only one that thinks this building at this angle mimics the trump tower in chicago a little?

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by migol24

yeah, i guess that's why i thought the render was not the official one. i thought there was some article posted awhile back that said there would be no spire. or something... i dunno. i'm really excited about it though. i'm about as excited about it as i am for the greenwater treatment plan. if only these plans along with 21c and t. stacy would get going, austin would be a solid competitor in most beautiful american skylines.

Austin already has a pretty skyline. It isn't titanic, but it's certainly quite attractive for what it is. This hotel will be yet another beacon for our city core.

[migol24]

Originally Posted by ahealy

Austin already has a pretty skyline. It isn't titanic, but it's certainly quite attractive for what it is. This hotel will be yet another beacon for our city core.

i knew someone would say that. not saying it isn't nice but it's not top tier.... yet! i truly believe austin's skyline will whoop houston's and dallas' once all these buildings get finished. it may still not be bigger but it still would be more impressive aesthetically... easily! in my humble opinion i think it will look much more nicer than some of the best skylines out there as of now.... pittsburgh, minneapolis, seattle, sf, etc. it will get there, i'm telling ya!

furthermore, i'd even add and this is something that hasn't really been mentioned but from 2000 to 2010 listing all the major high-rises and skyscrapers there were about a total of 9 buildings that made a major difference to the skyline. and those bldgs were frost, monarch, 360, the shore, legacy, austonian, amli ii, spring and the w. these are the major ones that have made a major impact on the skyline. now having that in mind, just within the greenwater treatment plans and the seaholm district there's about another 8 highrises planned. that's almost doubling the number of buildings that austin added in the last decade just within this small area. that's flippin impressive considering the 9 that have made a dramatic change in the skyline. that's still not including the buildings outside of this area. this is pretty darn ambitious to say the least, let alone even during these economic challenges. that's insane... and not most people seem to make mention of this. i'm pretty stoked as you could tell.

[BevoLJ]

That hotel as in the picture that ahealy posted is just so perfect for our skyline.

I am very biased so of course I think we have the best skyline, though I know that not to be necessarily true. However, it is hard to argue it is not one of the most iconic sky lines. I mean thanks to ACL for 35 years having that stage set to show it, and all of the many other way our sky line is so often view it really works.

And this hotel is from that picture ahealy showed fits in great in what most think of when thinking of our sky line, which for me are these (the below images)..... That hotel just seem like it would so naturally fit both. (I also love how the new ACL stage has cranes! lol)


http://30daysout.wordpress.com/tag/austin-city-limits/


http://photoblog.statesman.com/2011/09

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by ahealy

For those who've said Gensler's design was boring......EAT IT!!!!
I've never seen this rendering before... I'm super excited for this

Where did you find that?

I counted 42 floors in the rendering. I remember them saying in one article that it would be 45 floors. I hope they haven't revised the height to make it shorter. I am glad they brought the spire back, but I'd rather have the roof height instead.

Originally Posted by hookem

Just because you have a helipad doesn't mean it's got to be at the top of the building!

When I had gotten the heights from the architect, they told me that the spire being left on the building would depend on whether or not the client decided they wanted the helipad. So I'm assuming they were planning to have it on the highest roof at that point. They may have changed it, but I'm not sure where they could have it. Putting it on that 2nd level might work, but that rendering makes that 2nd level look small. And having it on the podium level near the creek might interfere with a pool deck. Not to mention the noise from helicopters being a nuisance along the creek. Maybe they did away with the helipad afterall.

The height they told me originally without the spire was 600 feet to the roof with 50 floors. Now it looks like there's fewer floors and they had mentioned there might be 45 floors. The spire looks to me like it's around 150 feet tall. So if it's 600 to the roof, then it should be around 750 feet to the spire. That would make it as tall as the Tower of the Americas down in San Antonio. The Tower of the Americas is 622 feet to the roof and the antenna is 128 feet tall.

I'll have to email them again to see if anything's changed. I haven't been able to visit the forum as often as I'd like. Our computer is pretty much dead. I've been checking in on the forum at the library. But, we should be getting another computer soon. My brother's working on refurbing one that his mother-in-law gave them. He's going to give that one to us.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by ahealy

Austin already has a pretty skyline. It isn't titanic, but it's certainly quite attractive for what it is. This hotel will be yet another beacon for our city core.

As an aside, I've taken visitors across the Mopac bridge over Lady Bird Lake (northbound), and they've been blown away by the view of the skyline from that vantage point. That particular view is amazing.

[Jdawgboy]

Yea thats what I was wondering about when I counted the tower portion, though I counted 47 floors Im assuming that the lower platform section is going to be fairly tall itself. It will house several large ball rooms but I am not sure how many floors will be on that section. I guess we will know only when they officially release more info and specific heights. There is a detailed brochure I have seen that still says it will be 50 floors so who knows other than the people doing it.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

As an aside, I've taken visitors across the Mopac bridge over Lady Bird Lake (northbound), and they've been blown away by the view of the skyline from that vantage point. That particular view is amazing.

That view is the best one in Austin. All of the buildings line up nicely where as they look too spaced out in most other views. That view from the Mopac bridge is especially awsome at dusk when the last bit of sunlight reflects off all of the glass towers.