UT Austin Medical School Plan Unveiled

[pscajunguy]

Originally Posted by Tech House

No, they clearly state that the tank itself is just going to be painted tan or beige or something and it's much too tall to fit inside that much smaller building that will be part of the overall cooling system. It will look like a vertical version of the Erwin center. They should have built it right in the middle of the Erwin, that might actually look kind of interesting. I hope it gets repeatedly tagged with creative graffiti, but that would probably be treated like a terrorist attack by the UT gendarmerie. Too bad we can't grow super-tall trees such as in the Pacific NW. Surrounding it with cedar elms would just look sad. It would be super cool if they could grow plants all over it, like the wall of plants inside Whole Foods downtown above the escalator. Dreaming, just dreaming.

I LOVE the medical school, everything non-cylindrical about it, especially how quickly it's going up. It's like it's being built by Singapore. It makes me feel very sympathetic to calls for [limited and smart] deregulation, and it's good to hear news that the planning dept. is embarking on a long term project to streamline and consolidate building and permitting processes.

The Brackenridge concept sounds fantastic. I'd guess that the marketplace will be more likely to serve the workers and students in the area rather than catering to grocery shoppers, as there will be far more people there in the daytime than residents in that vicinity. We'll see, the market will decide what the market offers. There will be tacos, that much is certain.

That whole area is going to be something pretty special, and in a way I'm glad that the hideous tower will be on the NE fringe of it so that it doesn't break up the flow of everything else that's being developed.

It's revenge at the University of Texas by an ex-Aggie, ex-governor and his appointed UT regent lackeys.

[drummer]

Well, as much as I'm a Longhorn fan, I hope they don't decide to paint it burnt orange and stick a white Longhorn on it.

Seriously, though - it seems like there something more aesthetically pleasing that can be done. It is a needed piece of equipment sure, but come on y'all. Doesn't UT have a fairly respected architecture department?

[hereinaustin]

Originally Posted by Tech House

No, they clearly state that the tank itself is just going to be painted tan or beige or something and it's much too tall to fit inside that much smaller building that will be part of the overall cooling system. It will look like a vertical version of the Erwin center.

Sorry guys, I was wrong. Looks like the picture of the building posted will be for the chilling station adjacent to the tank. It won't be enclosed. You can see the massing on page 22.

http://www.utexas.edu/campusplanning...ct20130509.pdf

[Tech House]

Originally Posted by drummer

Well, as much as I'm a Longhorn fan, I hope they don't decide to paint it burnt orange and stick a white Longhorn on it.

At first I gasped at the thought, but then wondered if maybe they should just go ahead and make it as ugly as possible so that it's, you know, "iconic."

[Syndic]

Originally Posted by Tech House

At first I gasped at the thought, but then wondered if maybe they should just go ahead and make it as ugly as possible so that it's, you know, "iconic."

Ha, that'll do it.

I must say that all of this campus/medical school construction is really striking at the moment. I drove by it today and the scope of it felt really overwhelming.

[drummer]

Honestly though, I wouldn't be surprised if they treated it as a water tower in suburban neighborhoods - stick the city logo on it and move on, only it'd be the UT logo. Given that we can't do anything about the ugly cylinder, they could at least make it more on the tasteful side...

[KevinFromTexas]

Ugh. I'd rather keep the Erwin Center than to have a featureless water tank become a feature of our skyline.

[Syndic]

To me, this tragedy tank project is a product of a myopic, insulated UT mindset; people who see the city from inside the campus looking out, or from the south and/or west looking North. To them, what's the big deal? They can barely even see the thing. It's on the far eastern edge of campus toward godawful I-35 (which they never drive on). But to North Austin people (i.e. most goddamn Austinites) this thing is an abomination that boggles the mind. After all of this hand-wringing about protecting views of the capitol building from I-35, they build this? Really!? This!?!?

It really pisses me off, more than they probably expected it to piss anyone off. If they paint a longhorn logo on it, it might look better but holy fuck, the people who planned this were ignorant as hell.

[sammyk]

Where else could they put it?

Not being a smartass, just asking.

[the Genral]

I took this picture of an oil tank storage farm off Rundout Creek in Kingston N.Y. last September. Yeah, the artwork is fading and funky, but everyone on the boat liked it compared to the other unpainted tanks on site. I would rather see something like this on the tank rather than a UT symbal that would just give UT another unnecessary tag. I would prefer a commissioned artist who could paint the tank to represent the whole COA...if they do paint the darn thing.

[Syndic]

Originally Posted by sammyk

Where else could they put it?

Not being a smartass, just asking.

How about nowhere? Find a different way to cool the buildings.

[drummer]

I like the idea of a big mural - something timeless. That'd be pretty cool.

[Tech House]

Yes, a mural or other type of interesting design could make it quite an interesting feature, one that would help take people's minds off of the traffic jam they're stuck in on 35. The problem is that UT takes itself far too seriously to allow anything creative or whimsical in the design of any of its properties. They will make it as sterile and utilitarian as possible, and they don't GAF about our opinions.

[Tech House]

Well, today I drove south on the upper deck of 35 for the third time since the water tower appeared, and I have to confess that with all this griping on the forum (especially my own), I had somehow managed to blow the thing up to about twice its actual height and 5 times its ugliness. Even from that elevated vantage point, trees already block the bottom half of it. Many new trees along Red River north of MLK will help break up the monolithic nature of the thing.

All in all, I think I'd like to drop most of my objections, although it would be nice to have an unobstructed view of the Dell med complex and all that lies beyond it.

[KevinFromTexas]

[KevinFromTexas]

Here's a few construction photos and views from the cranes.

http://sites.utexas.edu/ihopedellmed...ext-big-thing/

[The ATX]

Here a few photos taken Thursday from a photo album on their Facebook page.




https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...6358042&type=3

[jbssfelix]

The pace they are building at is absolutely bonkers!

[Jdawgboy]

It really is amazing to see such a large transformation happen at once. Austin has been lucky to see the kind of large scale multi-block construction projects that we have.

[KevinFromTexas]

It's kind of weird, you know? It's like you're in a place you know that is totally familiar to you, and then you take one turn and BAM - it's totally different. It's like finding a door to another dimension. haha