UT Austin Harry Ransom Center
Austin, TX
This humanities research library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin is one of the world’s finest cultural archives. A 40,000-square-foot renovation transformed the once fortress-like facility into spaces filled with light and open to the outdoors. The design created new exhibit spaces, a 125-seat theater, meeting rooms, and research areas, set within the building’s existing framework. The ground floor public spaces, formerly hidden behind a windowless façade, are now visible through glass walls etched with images and text from the museum’s collection. At night, these glowing windows serve as a beacon for the campus.
Photography: Paul Hester
Thank you again for making the Ransom Center building a living, vital place and a thing of beauty, which, to echo Keats, will be a joy forever.
Director, UT Austin Harry Ransom Center
evening-exterior.jpg
![](https://lakeflato.com/sites/default/files/styles/scaled_original/public/project-media/evening-exterior.jpg?itok=JPyzpX-K)
Interior1.jpg
![](https://lakeflato.com/sites/default/files/styles/scaled_original/public/project-media/Interior1_0.jpg?itok=jZDgEH6b)
Interior2.jpg
![](https://lakeflato.com/sites/default/files/styles/scaled_original/public/project-media/Interior2.jpg?itok=LTIzWPyU)
Interior3.jpg
![](https://lakeflato.com/sites/default/files/styles/scaled_original/public/project-media/Interior3.jpg?itok=YJ4YotyM)
99022_N35_medium.jpg
![](https://lakeflato.com/sites/default/files/styles/scaled_original/public/project-media/99022_N35_medium.jpg?itok=TldoFxWh)
glass-detail.jpg
![](https://lakeflato.com/sites/default/files/styles/scaled_original/public/project-media/glass-detail.jpg?itok=4119uh21)
99022_N14_medium.jpg
![](https://lakeflato.com/sites/default/files/styles/scaled_original/public/project-media/99022_N14_medium.jpg?itok=cUUIaQNT)
Awards
2004
AIA San Antonio Design Award
2004
Austin Business Journal Design Award
2003
Austin Builders Council\Commercial Real Estate Award
Publications
2011 - Texas Highways (Apr)
2008 - segdDesign (No. 19)
2004 - American Libraries (Apr)