flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

First look: Austin breaks ground on 'light-filled' Central Library

First look: Austin breaks ground on 'light-filled' Central Library

Design scheme by Lake|Flato and Shepley Bulfinch incorporates reading "porches" and a light-filled, six-story atrium.


By BD+C Editors | June 7, 2013
The city of Austin, Texas, last week broke ground on its new Central Library, establishing a major civic presence and community gathering space in the heart of the city’s redeveloped Seaholm district. The library, which is scheduled for completion in 2016, is designed by the architectural joint venture of Lake|Flato and Shepley Bulfinch.
 
The building is defined by a light-filled, six-story atrium space wrapped by collections and event space. Distinctive elements include a series of reading porches that overlook Shoal Creek and Lady Bird Lake, a quiet reading room, café, and Recycled Reads bookstore. Special areas that support the city’s emerging culture and arts scene include a 350-seat special events center.
 
The library is targeting a minimum of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification. Its sustainable strategies include a major photovoltaic panel array, which will generate electrical power for the building; a rainwater harvesting system that will provide water for landscape irrigation and restroom plumbing fixtures; and a landscaped roof.
 
The facility supports alternative transportation, with charging stations for electric cars; a 150-bike corral, and direct links to the multi-use paths that run along the water.
 
The 198,000 square foot facility will replace the city’s 1979 Faulk Central Library.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Related Stories

| Mar 11, 2011

Community sports center in Nashville features NCAA-grade training facility

A multisport community facility in Nashville featuring a training facility that will meet NCAA Division I standards is being constructed by St. Louis-based Clayco and Chicago-based Pinnacle.

| Mar 11, 2011

Slam dunk for the University of Nebraska’s basketball arena

The University of Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball programs will have a new home beginning in 2013. Designed by the DLR Group, the $344 million West Haymarket Civic Arena in Lincoln, Neb., will have 16,000 seats, suites, club amenities, loge, dedicated locker rooms, training rooms, and support space for game operations.

| Mar 10, 2011

Steel Joists Clean Up a Car Wash’s Carbon Footprint

Open-web bowstring trusses and steel joists give a Utah car wash architectural interest, reduce its construction costs, and help green a building type with a reputation for being wasteful.

| Mar 10, 2011

How AEC Professionals Are Using Social Media

You like LinkedIn. You’re not too sure about blogs. For many AEC professionals, it’s still wait-and-see when it comes to social media.

| Mar 9, 2011

Hoping to win over a community, Facebook scraps its fortress architecture

Facebook is moving from its tony Palo Alto, Calif., locale to blue-collar Belle Haven, and the social network want to woo residents with community-oriented design.

| Mar 9, 2011

Winners of the 2011 eVolo Skyscraper Competition

Winners of the eVolo 2011 Skyscraper Competition include a high-rise recycling center in New Delhi, India, a dome-like horizontal skyscraper in France that harvests solar energy and collects rainwater, and the Hoover Dam reimagined as an inhabitable skyscraper.

| Mar 9, 2011

Igor Krnajski, SVP with Denihan Hospitality Group, on hotel construction and understanding the industry

Igor Krnajski, SVP for Design and Construction with Denihan Hospitality Group, New York, N.Y., on the state of hotel construction, understanding the hotel operators’ mindset, and where the work is.

| Mar 3, 2011

HDR acquires healthcare design-build firm Cooper Medical

HDR, a global architecture, engineering and consulting firm, acquired Cooper Medical, a firm providing integrated design and construction services for healthcare facilities throughout the U.S. The new alliance, HDR Cooper Medical, will provide a full service design and construction delivery model to healthcare clients.

| Mar 2, 2011

Design professionals grow leery of green promises

Legal claims over sustainability promises vs. performance of certified green buildings are beginning to mount—and so are warnings to A/E/P and environmental consulting firms, according to a ZweigWhite report.

| Mar 2, 2011

Cities of the sky

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Silk Road of the future—from Dubai to Chongqing to Honduras—is taking shape in urban developments based on airport hubs. Welcome to the world of the 'aerotropolis.'

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Urban Planning

Bridging the gap: How early architect involvement can revolutionize a city’s capital improvement plans

Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) typically span three to five years and outline future city projects and their costs. While they set the stage, the design and construction of these projects often extend beyond the CIP window, leading to a disconnect between the initial budget and evolving project scope. This can result in financial shortfalls, forcing cities to cut back on critical project features.



Libraries

Reasons to reinvent the Midcentury academic library

DLR Group's Interior Design Leader Gretchen Holy, Assoc. IIDA, shares the idea that a designer's responsibility to embrace a library’s history, respect its past, and create an environment that will serve student populations for the next 100 years.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021