The Dogrun
a place to share ideas
During the initial Sustainability Workshop for the Austin Central Library the consultant and client team visited the future library site to better understand it. On this visit the team noticed an unused water intake pump-house nearby for the now decommissioned Seaholm Electric Plant. The team has re-imagined it into a very large rainwater and condensate cistern for the Library's irrigation and sanitary conveyance needs. Utilizing this piece of existing infrastructure will reduce cost and save the resources needed to construct a new cistern. With this vault the Library is now on track to not...
Lake|Flato Architects is pleased to announce the start of design and documentation for Alamo Beer Company’s new 25,000 sf microbrewery east of downtown San Antonio. Longtime friends and associates Eugene Simor (Owner and Creator of Alamo Beer) and Greg Papay, FAIA, mark the happy occasion and defend the beer’s “fiercely independent spirit” by trading signatures in front of … the Alamo.
Last week Graham and I made the trek out to Big Bend National Park for our continuing work on the Fossil Discovery Trail . On the way back I stopped in Fort Stockton to take in some of the intriguing architecture and oil infrastructure that is in various states of decay. Nearly every conceivable form of desert related fading, cracking, and crumbling seems to be taking place. For more insight on West Texas check out Corey's post .
Architect and Visiting Professor at UTSA College of Architecture, Javier Sanchez, will present at the CoA's Spring Lecture Series tonight at the UTSA Downtown Campus. His lecture, "Building the City: Architectural Insertions in Mexico City," is based on his work as a founding partner and lead designer of the multidisciplinary Mexico City firm, JSa. According to the CoA's website, as Visiting Professor "Sanchez is leading a studio that examines Colonia Atlampa ("where the water divides" in nahuatl ), one of the last remaining underdeveloped portions in the center of Mexico City, which is near...
As many of you know, Lake|Flato has adopted the 2030 Challenge and joined the AIA 2030 Commitment. We are deeply committed to these programs and oppose any efforts to weaken or repeal the provision in EISA Sec. 433 that requires new and majorly renovated federal buildings to meet incremental targets leading to net-zero energy consumption in 2030. We urge your groups, colleagues, and friends to sign on to this letter in support of federal 2030 targets.
Lakeside Retreat, located in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, earned LEED for Homes Certification today! Sustainable features of the home include healthy alternatives to conventional pest control, efficient framing methods used to reduce wood materials, and an energy reduction of 36% over code. We will post a LEED case study for the project on our website soon with more information on sustainability performance metrics. Please stay tuned!
" Early on I couldn't get Sameer's name quite right. Sameer Rayyan, who I initially thought was Ryan Sameer, worked with me on several developer projects last Fall. Our client, Mark Tolley, would refer to him as my Savent (a person of profound or extensive learning; or learned scholar) - He worked day and night on projects such as the Peanut Factory and Carwash projects. Always pleasant, always willing to take on a difficult task, Sameer willingly and enthusiastically would take on any problem thrown his way. A pretty decent cyclist as well, Sameer peddled his way through a 100 mile day...
Can a bus shelter setting become an engaging public place beyond the purpose of waiting for the bus? UT San Antonio School of Architecture is hosting a 3-day charrette this week posing this question and taking the new Tobin Center for the Performing Arts as the site. Six teams of 2-3 UTSA graduate students will each be paired with a young professional mentor (from Lake|Flato and other local firms) to meet and work over the next three days. The goal of the charrette is to explore elements or programs that can be conceived of as integral parts of place-making through the lens of a bus patron or...
At the office we like to get hands-on with potential building materials for our projects. This desire manifests itself often, ranging from placing samples on the office roof for months to see how they weather in the Texas sun (and sometimes forgetting about them) to ordering lots and lots of samples which later become paperweights and odd pencil holders around the office. This week we tested a potential exterior LED light fixture for the Austin Central Library. For our first test (Test 1) we took the fixture on a fieldtrip to the Fullgoods Warehouse which has a perforated metal scrim with...
Our marketing coordinator, Jessica Vonderau, shared a really cool article with me. The study shows that children who bicycle or walk to school, rather than traveling by car or public transportation, perform measurably better on tasks demanding concentration. Having breakfast and lunch also has an impact on performance, but pales in comparison to having exercised on the commute to school.
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