News

Format: 2025-03
Format: 2025-03
No results found.

AIAAUSTIN.jpg

AIA Austin Design Excellence Conference

August 2021

We're thrilled to be participating in severla panels during this year's AIA Austin Design Excellence Conference! To register, click here. Please join us for the following sessions: 

 

Hotel Magdalena: Legacy of Site, Mass Timber, and Culture – Thursday 8/19 | 1:15-2:25

Panelists: Sophia Razzaque (Lake|Flato), Melina Phillips (Lake|Flato), Chrisine Skaglund (Ten Eyck) & Erik Warkentin (StructureCraft)

Hotel Magdalena opened in the Fall of 2020 as the largest ground up property operated by Bunkhouse. It is also the first mass timber hotel in North America. Join us for a panel discussion from Lake|Flato Architects, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, and StructureCraft Builders to learn about the transformation of the site of the old Terrace Motor Hotel into Hotel Magdalena in the Heart of Austin’s South Congress District. The design, which was heavily influenced by Lake Flato’s ethos of aligning building performance goals with connecting to the outdoors, has also allowed this hotel to open during the pandemic.

 

The Holdsworth Center: A Sustainable Leadership Campus for Texas Public Education – Thursday 8/19 | 2:25-3:35

Panelists: Justin Garrison (Lake|Flato), Chris Krajcer (Lake|Flato), JP Casillas (Ten Eyck), Pauline Dow (Holdsworth)

The Holdsworth Center’s Campus on Lake Austin is a first-of-its kind facility for Texas’ public school districts designed to grow the skill, ingenuity and effectiveness of the professionals who educate the state’s 5.5 million students. It was built as a gift for hardworking educators who deserve world-class professional development opportunities that rival what CEOs and business executives experience. This session will consider how the mission of The Holdsworth Center grew to support an integrated approach to campus design that inspires environmental and communal thriving. In addition to sharing the history of the project’s realization, panelists will discuss how the campus planning, architectural and landscape design, and construction strategies came together to create a sustainable campus for transformative learning.

 

Integrating Research into Architectural Practice – Friday 8/20 | 10:40-12:15

Lake|Flato Panel: Ashley Grzywa, Anne Herndon, Kate Sector, Sam Rusek

Leveraging existing research, investigating new ideas, conducting post-occupancy evaluation and sharing lessons learned allows us to improve the design and performance of the built environment and promote occupant and environmental health. This course will offer tools for developing research strategies appropriate for your firm and workflow. Panelists will introduce a variety of research and partnership models by presenting examples that include postoccupancy evaluation of energy performance, literature reviews of existing urban greenway research and thermal comfort technology prototyping, among others. The session will discuss both process and application of findings to future projects, highlighting the importance of using research to inform professional practice.

 

Lessons from Post-Occupancy Energy Evaluation – Friday 8/20 | 1:15-2:25

Lake|Flato Panel: Kate Sector, Gus Starkey, Sam Rusek, Sunnie Diaz

Buildings operational energy makes up about 40% of the U.S.’s total energy usage and CO2 emissions. Post-occupancy energy monitoring and data collection is necessary for evaluating measurable energy performance, improving our designs, and creating future measurable goals to reduce our energy use and subsequent environmental impacts. Lake|Flato started its energy monitoring program in 2014. Since then, we have monitored 16 commercial and residential projects of a variety of scales. Lake|Flato has committed to sharing its progress through the 2030 commitment, which has the goal of achieving across the board net-zero operational energy portfolio by the year 2030. Through this process, we have learned a lot about our buildings, and building owners have saved thousands of dollars in energy costs. In this session we will introduce our energy monitoring process and major lessons learned regarding various energy categories such as HVAC, lighting, plug loads, and more. The session will follow with a panel of three case studies led by designers who will share their individual experience and lessons learned for a deeper dive into the post-occupancy evaluation process.

AIA Austin.jpg

Hotel Magdalena & The Witte Recognized with AIA Austin Design Awards

May 2021

We are honored two of our projects, Hotel Magdalena and The New Witte Museum, were recognized by AIA Austin with 2021 Design Awards! The AIA Austin Design Awards program recognizes outstanding architectural projects completed by AIA Austin members. This year's esteemed jurors included Lance Hosey, FAIA (Design Principal and Chief Impact Officer with HMC Architects); Jonathan Moody, AIA (President/CEO of Moody Nolan); Philip Ryan, AIA (founder and principal of StudioModh); and Ashley Schafer (Professor at the Knowlton School.) 

 

Jury Comment videos: 

 

 

To immerse yourself in a virtual tour of Hotel Magdalena, click here. Congratulations to all who were recognized - see the 2021 list of award recipients here! 

NMSA- TxA.jpg

New Mexico School for the Arts Recognized with 2021 TxA Design Award

May 2021

We are honored the New Mexico School for the Arts was recognized with a 2021 Design Award from the Texas Society of Architects. After reviewing 177 entries, jurors Brad Cloepfil, AIA, of Allied Works in Portland; Mimi Hoang, AIA, of nARCHITECTS, in Brooklyn; Bryan Lee of Colloqate in New Orleans; and Christiana Moss, FAIA, of Studio Ma in Phoenix recognized 15 projects. 

 

​Located at the intersection of Santa Fe’s historic core and the bohemian Railyard District, the New Mexico School for the Arts' new home embraces the character of its eclectic context and the buildings’ rich histories. The project’s most daunting challenge – to repurpose over a dozen different buildings built across 140 years into effective and inspirational arts and academic spaces – proved to be its most stimulating. The result is a reimagined campus for the nation’s only public boarding school for talented arts students that embraces the character of its varied context.

 

Congratulations to all who were recognized this year! To see the full list of honorees, click here. 

NOVEMBER6.jpg

Lake|Flato publishes new book: Nature | Place | Craft | Restraint

November 2020

We are thrilled to announce the release of our new book, Nature | Place | Craft | Restraint, published by the University of Texas Press.

 

Nature | Place | Craft | Restraint features some of our large-scale pursuits: arresting, airy and sustainable public buildings. Featuring more than three hundred stunning color photographs, the book explores sixteen projects from across the United States. The  images—of  Mississippi’s ecologically resilient Marine Education Center, the Witte Museum and Confluence Park projects in San Antonio, and the daylit Austin Central Library among other spaces—are grouped by themes reflecting our firm's ethos: nature, place, craft and restraint. 

 

Today, architecture is a delicate dance in a time of immense envrionmental and cultural challenges. Lake|Flato faces the gravity of these challenges head on. They design honestly, openly, and without fear. -David Miller

 

Architects Kengo Kuma, David Miller FAIA, Warren T. Byrd Jr. FASLA, Stefanos Polyzoides, Vivian Loftness FAIA, and Lance Hosey FAIA provide guest commentary, delving into the works and themes and connecting them to Lake|Flato’s larger mission of creating a meaningful architecture that connects people with the natural environment and fosters culture and community.

 

Nature | Place | Craft | Restraint is available now through the University of Texas Press, Amazon, and select local bookstores.

 

NOVEMBER.jpg

Four Lake|Flato projects receive 2020 Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award

November 2020

We are honored four of our projects— the Marine Education Center, Aegean Pool House, Confluence Park and Ishawooa Mesa Ranch,— have been recognized with 2020 American Architecture Awards. Organized by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, together with the European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press, the American Architecture Awards recognize significant architecture designed by American architects.


These awards celebrate our passion for connecting our clients and communities to the natural environment and unique landscapes. From the mountains of Wyoming, to the Mississippi Coast, to two diverse regions of Texas, each project reinforces our belief that architecture should thoughtfully connect people to place. To see all 2020 American Architecture Award recipients, click here.

NOVEMBER2.jpg

AIA San Antonio People + Place Awards

October 2020

We are honored Aegean Pool House, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Center for Conservation and the New Mexico School for the Arts were recognized with AIA San Antonio People + Place Awards. Congratulations to all who were recognized this year! See the full list of recipients here. 

NOVEMBER5.jpg

The Soto, Texas’ first mass timber office building is now complete

September 2020

The 6-story mixed use development, with its mass timber structural system, is the first of its kind in Texas. The Soto focuses on sustainability-minded building practices and materials. To read about the completion of The Soto in the San Antonio Business Journal, click here. 

NOVEMBER3.jpg

Hotel Magdalena in Austin's Music Lane district is officially open

September 2020

Located in the heart of Austin's South Congress District next to the new Music Lane development, Hotel Magdalena, the latest hotel for Bunkhouse Group, is the first mass-timber boutique hotel constructed in North America. Hotel Magdalena's five-building complex was designed around the site's existing Live Oak heritage trees, which became the focal points for outdoor gathering spaces and private suite gardens.

 

Read about Hotel Magdalena in The New York Times Style Magazine, Texas Monthly, Forbes and Condé Nast Traveler.

NOVEMBER4.jpg

Houston Chronicle: Texas architects help Houston couple build modern farmhouse in Washington County

September 2020

“The firm is really rooted in finding the architecture within the landscape, melding those two together...Our first reaction is always to the site, appreciating the land and trying to identify what’s unique about the property.”

 

Our Washington County Ranch project was featured in The Houston Chronicle. To see the full story & photo gallery, click here.

workwell.jpg

WORKWELL Coalition: Navigating healthy, sustainable workplace renewals

July 2020

Lake|Flato is honored to partner with industry-leading peers who share our mission to create workplaces focused on the health and wellbeing of occupants. The WORKWELL Coalition is an integrated team offering turnkey multidisciplinary expertise to reshape and re-imagine high-performance workspaces and bring your staff back to work safely during this new normal.

 

The WORKWELL Coalition, consisting of architecture, interior design, strategic planning, engineering and construction firms, has assembled a menu of services and a roadmap to navigate healthy and sustainable workplace re-entry in response to COVID-19. The Coalition consists of Lake|Flato Architects, AEI Affiliated Engineers, Dialog, EcoAmmo, Entro, PLASTARC, stok and Zetlin & De Chiara.  

 

For decades, Lake|Flato has approached each client and project as an opportunity to create more vibrant and collaborative spaces that improve the health and well-being of our clients. The WORKWELL Coalition is an extension of this mission and is uniquely positioned to respond to the specific workplace requirements of each client. Our approach to human centered environments and biophilic design enables us to positively affect both human and ecological well-being as we thoughtfully reimagine workplaces for the utmost health and safety of their occupants.

 

Safe and effective return to work strategies should consider a multitude of multi-disciplinary factors ranging from individual behavioral training, workspace configurations and telework, and building systems performance. These policies and systems must be coordinated to address the needs of the future workplace. The WORKWELL Coalition offers a menu of services and a clearly defined process to navigate healthy and sustainable workplace re-entry in response to the unique culture of each organization.

 

The WORKWELL Coalition is an outgrowth of The Global Design Alliance (GDA), an international network of AEC Industry thought leaders with experience collaborating on projects ranging from design and construction to diversity and inclusion initiatives. With a shared set of values and a history of collaboration, the WORKWELL Coalition is poised to address the challenges facing corporations, institutions and nonprofits across North America.

 

For more information, please email marketing [at] lakeflato.com.