307 Second Street, Austin, Texas hotel and condominiums

Some small ideas have huge implications when scaled appropriately. Animate began with a focus at street level, working to comfortably nestle the many overlapping demands of a high-rise as it transitions into the streetscape and urban fabric.

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The first story was to provide an outdoor, open-air stair, greeting visitors to the Convention Center...

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... and bring them up to a Texas-sized veranda.

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Adjacent to the hotel entrance, this will be a great spot for Austin's outdoor music scene.

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Adjacent to the hotel entrance, this will be a great spot for Austin's outdoor music scene.

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Around the corner, in keeping with a luxurious residential lobby...

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... we created a strong and welcoming oasis for urban life.

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Now standing back looking at the larger project, the site, and the client's building program, the design became a necessarily stacked form:

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Not in Portland, Chicago, or Shanghai, the project had to incorporate a Texas flavor, and bring these blue ceilings into the 21st century living:

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More than that, Austin has it's own kind of character, and while complex, this Austin flavor needed some nuance:

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So suspending stairs and outdoor spaces emerged as the seductive draw, up and into the building– as in this view of the Hotel Event Spaces, with an exclusive stair connecting the Fitness Center and Spa:

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And, on the opposite side, a suspended breakout space from the fifteenth-story conference center highlights the hotel's amenities to neighboring pool decks below.

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Arriving on the fourteenth story, this time on the north facade, the hotel's grand lobby opens with a city view.

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Up on the seventeenth story, the hotel's pool deck includes views of Austin's "lake" from the poolside bar.

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Unknown stories continue up to the 38th floor, behind the hotel's elegant curtainwall.

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Residential stories begin at the fortieth story amenity level with an extravagant poolside overlook.

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Comfortably oversized Texas balconies, semi-randomly arranged on the south facade, with harsh sunlight attenuation, provide resources for people to create stories in the future.

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Above the sixty-fifth-story penthouse, the building resolves into a sublime skyline contribution.

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A view from the "lake," watching the bats at sunset... only in Austin, Texas:

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We design places that people enjoy using.