Seaholm Intake Design Competition
 

They put the Seaholm Intake Design Contest posters up today at City Hall. Sorry for the poor resolution, but you can get an idea of where they are going with the designs. Some of them are pretty creative. Definitely making it a gathering spot and pulling in the elements of the lake and the trail.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99539751@N05/

Those are really cool! Some of them are stupid and seemingly oblivious. White water rapids? Really? SMH. But I bet you this one wins: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9953975...n/photostream/

What I love is how many people actually saw the potential of that building to speak in a modern way.! Hope! There is Hope! ;-)

The design documents are also on the City's website.

http://austintexas.gov/department/seaholmintake
ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS-Data/P...aholmfinalist/

The four most likely are probably these:

Gensler (Luis):
ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS-Data/P...ler%20Luis.pdf

Gensler (George):
ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS-Data/P...r%20George.pdf

Surroundings:
ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS-Data/P...rroundings.pdf

Gumbully:
ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS-Data/P...20GUMBULLY.pdf

My personal favorite is Gensler (George) because it includes a pool that is NOT part of the lake itself.

I agree. I like the Gensler one because of the farmer's market and boardwalk.

I like the one with the brewery because I like beer. :)

Though I'm not sure of how feasible it is (state laws covering breweries always being odd, even with the fixes they did this session). Would the brewery actually be publicly owned? Or private and have them lease space?

Not to get totally off-topic (but I am), recently went to Denver and hit some local breweries and brought back the most amazing beers from Tommyknockers a hour outside of Denver. It's a green-chile ale and it is delicious.

Green chile beer? That's an interesting one.

I'm not really a fan of any of those you mentioned. A swimming pool? To me, it doesn't seem like the right place for a swimming pool. It seems tacky and too kid-oriented. Something else should go there. It should be a low-key public space, mostly for runners and bikers, not a place that's a huge attraction in and of itself. Runners and bikers would find that annoying and this should largely be a place for them. But it also shouldn't just remain a concrete hull of a building with no life.

I like this one because it has lockers/storage for runners, bikers, and kayakers, the trail goes right through the facility, it has public restrooms, an indoor and outdoor stage for performances, and a restaurant upstairs. It's not as fancy as the Gensler ones, but to me, it seems like the one that's most integrated into Austin's culture. The others seem detached from it; like they don't truly understand its surroundings. I hope it wins.

I think the intake facility deserves its own thread at this point. Kevin, would you separate out the recent posts?

http://www.kvue.com/news/Top-10-idea...217683871.html
Gallery link

http://www.kvue.com/news/Top-10-idea...?gallery=y&c=y

I just realized KSE Studio used the Maman spider sculpture in one of their renderings. My ex-gf is from Ottawa, where the spider now resides (or at least did a couple years ago). She hated that thing. So did seemingly everyone else.

KUT has some cool pictures of possible intake designs for Seaholm. http://kutnews.org/post/slideshow-10...ake-structures

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...Luis.09_AM.jpg

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...ully.33_AM.jpg

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...udio.10_AM.jpg

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...orge.44_AM.jpg

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net..._MLA.40_AM.jpg

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...ings.44_AM.jpg

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...M_CS.03_AM.jpg

All pictures are from KUT http://kutnews.org/post/slideshow-10...ake-structures

I like the two Gensler concepts the best. I actually think a wading pool on the hike and bike would be a pretty amazing thing to have. But I would make sure there are some showers nearby for runners to quickly rinse off before diving in.

I like pics 5 and 6. Conservative, and condusive to the trail, park theme. The others seem a bit extravagant.

I like this one the best.

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS-Data/P...146%205250.pdf

Photo from the KUT article

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net...5250.15_AM.jpg

It has an open plan event hall that can be flexible, plus it would have a district chiller plant that would create cold water for Austin Energy's district cooling system. (All these new buildings planned for the area have to be cooled.)

Hikers & bikers could either use the boardwalk along the water's edge or stay on the existing trail between the front of the building and Cesar Chavez. It's got the balcony that would be open to the public. Restrooms and a refreshment kiosk would be in front of the building and there's a circular drive that would be used as a transit stop.

If they wanted to get really fancy, they could have the waterfall floodlit at night - maybe with changing colors like the fountain at Butler Park. I think it would look awesome at night reflected on the lake.

It's not nearly as ornate as some of the other plans, but it's pretty and it's practical (i.e. the chiller plant.)

I have to admit though, that I do like the plans that show the floating stage out in the lake. Maybe they could incorporate that into the above plans and the audience could sit on those limestone steps.

Ugh, no life to it at all. A monument filled with greenwashing jargon. It's ok but gives no real reason to be there and no connection to the city. Looks like something that was used in a 1970s version of future cities.

Some of my favorite elements from different designs:

* Roof access for views
* Revitalized park/lawn area surrounding building
* Strong pedestrian link to Seaholm proper - bridge or protected crosswalk
* Sweeping trail/boardwalk route along South side of building
* Splash pads
* Floating stage
* Interior (water level) breezeway w/ Cafe
* Restaurant above

I actually like the formality of the Enviro Col and Gensler George submissions.

I like the waterfall. The rendering does have a brutalism-esque design. I really like the idea of stairsteps that dip into the water. The sound of the waterfall would mask the street noise from Cesar Chavez, and the movement would be a nice touch to an often still "lake".