AUSTIN | Projects & Construction III

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

You can measure sea level elevations with Google Earth. Just pass your cursor over each block. At the bottom right of the screen it'll show you the elevation. There's also a "3D Buildings" check box to the left that lets you to measure building heights. You have to subtract the 3D building elevation from the sea level elevation to get the number.

According to Google Earth, the footprint of the Cambridge Tower is between 572 and 576 feet above sea level. The river elevation is 429 feet above sea level. So the footprint of the Cambridge Tower is between 143 and 147 feet higher than the river is. The Cambridge Tower itself is 181 feet to the mechanical penthouse. So the roof of the building is 324 to 328 feet higher than the river level. That's slightly more than the height of The Monarch.

OH! cool! Thank you !

[KevinFromTexas]

Even my neighborhood is a little over 200 feet higher than downtown is. It's pretty much all downhill for me along South Congress, but the ride back is all uphill.

[texdaniel]

[Urbannizer]

Soil testing going on at the parking across from AMLI on 2nd

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Soil testing going on at the parking across from AMLI on 2nd

Remind me, what's going here?

[KevinFromTexas]

That's the courthouse block, but we haven't heard anything about this moving forward. Voters haven't even voted on the bond package yet. There is a supposed private development that will accompany the courthouse, but again, we haven't heard anything about it moving forward.

[lzppjb]

Oh, is that the courthouse lot?

Edit: Dang, Kev, you're quick!

[NYC_Longhorn]

Awesome... I think a soil sample might indicate a design has already taken shape, or certainly is about to take shape. A soil sample like this probably means a foundation is being designed in order to attempt to support some type of structure. Can't wait to see what is being dreamed up.

[NYC_Longhorn]

also let me save them some time... it's sand sand sand... sandy loam.... water table.... sandy loam... sand and sand

[KevinFromTexas]

19 floors would be pushing 300 feet.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/p...-grows-/ng6Lm/

Updated: 10:02 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014 | Posted: 5:14 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014
Plan for UT System’s downtown Austin offices grows to $133.1 million

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
American-Statesman Staff

The University of Texas System’s once-stalled plan to build a new headquarters in downtown Austin is moving forward — albeit four stories taller and 30 percent more expensive than originally planned, and with some last-minute design issues raised by two regents.

The Board of Regents’ facilities committee on Wednesday approved the expansion to 19 stories and $133.1 million, and the full board is expected to sign off Thursday.

[texdaniel]

[The ATX]

The Travis County bond proposal for the new courthouse is scheduled for a May 2015 vote. So the soil sampling and preliminary planning seem to fall in line with that schedule.

[KevinFromTexas]

UT System Headquarters renderings. Judging from them I'd say it's between 275 and 290 feet tall.

[Kotliz]

[QUOTE=KevinFromTexas;6701305]UT System Headquarters renderings. Judging from them I'd say it's between 275 and 290 feet tall.



Pretty building and I just love the graphic quality of those interrupted stripes. Kind of looks like an updated interpretation of 816 Congress.

But what happened to the building name? Looks like it couldn't quite fit. Made think if this...

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/207658232791844092/

[Sic'EmBears]

Looks very '80s.

[llamaorama]

A better rendering might do it justice. The fact that what we have been provided are bad quality scans really adds to the oldsness. Make it monochrome and you'd think that was out of a newspaper business section circa 1987.

Maybe in real life the glass will be clearer and cladding shinier?

[eburress]

Wow, not a fan! I've been really disappointed by a number of Austin's projects, but this one takes the cake. A better rendering wouldn't hurt, but I don't think it's going to keep this from looking like a bad early 80s office building.

[East7thStreet]

Hopefully this goes through extensive revisions. And we really can't see how this building interacts with the street with these renderings as that will end up being the most important thing anyway.

[gardensoul]

Originally Posted by East7thStreet

Hopefully this goes through extensive revisions. And we really can't see how this building interacts with the street with these renderings as that will end up being the most important thing anyway.

Yes, it is important to remember that this is still quite early in the design / build process, though I swear nothing gets built faster than a UT building (or at least an athletic facility on the UT campus.)

Re: this rendering - overall, it does remind me of a building from the 80's stuck out on Loop 610 in Houston. However, I kind of like the broken-up horizontal bars - they have a contemporary graphic feel, but I find it odd that the UT System would build something so different from the other buildings of their downtown campus. After all, the UT campus itself has a fairly rigorous set of design guidelines.

Having said that, I don't want to see a 16 story building with a red tile roof! I'd like to see them take the direction that this design seems to be heading in a bolder direction. It would be cool if the whole facade was rippled like the southwest corner of the Green Water complex.

[Syndic]

As the signage indicates, it's a University of Texas system building, not a University of Texas at Austin building. That's why it doesn't look like anything on the UT-Austin campus. It's not a part of the campus.