h+uo BLOG

Groundbreaking at The Chicon

December 16, 2015

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The Chicon mixed-use project achieved a major milestone late last month when neighbors and community members gathered for a groundbreaking celebration in east Austin.

 

In the making for the past three years, h+uo architects is proud to be helping usher this important neighborhood revitalization project into reality.

 

The Chicon is the brainchild of the Chestnut Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation (CNRC). CNRC resident members sum up the mission of this community-initiated project:

 

“With a mix of affordable and market rate homes, along with commercial spaces to foster economic growth, The Chicon is more than just a condominium development – it’s a manifestation of the legacy, culture and future growth of east Austin. One of the only affordable mixed-use condominium projects in such close proximity to downtown Austin, The Chicon aims to fit into and support the area instead of changing it, through positive, sustainable growth”

 

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In Phase 1, two of the three buildings, The Joyce Building and the Gibbs Building, will be built at the intersection of 13th and Chicon St. in east Austin. Phase 1 is expected to be completed in December of 2016.

 

To learn more about this exciting project, visit thechicon.com.

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A Learning Center That Goes Beyond The Books

Posted in Uncategorized by Kristie
November 24, 2015

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Our work on the Lakeline Learning Center is pushing hatch +ulland owen architects to the cutting edge of sustainable, green design.

 

As just the third Living Building Challenge project set to receive full certification in the State of Texas, this unique education facility is designed to meet exceptionally high green standards.

 

The Living Building Challenge, overseen by the International Living Future Institute challenges all designers to “define the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today and act to rapidly diminish the gap between current limits and the end-game positive solutions.”

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Foundation Communities asked h+uo architects to help design an ambitious building that meets the Living Building Challenge’s seven performance categories called Petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity, and Beauty.  This meant that in addition to the space being beautiful and supportive of the human spirit, the building would also need to collect its own water, gather its own energy, and process its own waste.

 

The program of the Lakeline Learning Center is also ambitious. While most apartment complexes provide their residents with a central clubhouse featuring fitness equipment or a pool, Foundation Communities, a local non-profit specializing in affordable housing, offers its residents a central building focused entirely on education and community uplift. At the Learning Center, school age children receive after-school and summer learning opportunities, while adults are offered financial education, tax preparation assistance, and even Zumba fitness classes.

 

Working on this project has given our team the opportunity to examine the holistic operations of a building and their direct relationship to the natural world. Also, we have never before peered so deeply into the chemical makeup of the building materials used in our work. The lessons learned are already spilling over into our approach to other projects.

 

Project Manager Kristina Olivent explained, “The Lakeline Learning Center has been a great learning experience for our office and an ambitious model for our architectural thinking and process moving forward.”

 

To learn more about Foundation Communities visit them at: foundcom.org

To learn more about ILFI visit them at: living-future.org

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Affordable Housing – A Green Home for Everyone

Posted in Uncategorized by Kristie
November 15, 2015

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Tom Hatch, the founding partner of h+uo architects, spoke recently at the Austin Energy Green Building (AEGB) event, “Affordable Housing – A Green Home for Everyone”.   The seminar featured the current landscape of affordable housing in Austin, case studies of AEGB rated affordable multi-family and mixed-use projects and the collaborative process of building green on a budget.

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Micro-Homes Making A Macro Change

Posted in Uncategorized by Kristie
October 2, 2015

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A recent AIA Austin (the Austin Chapter of the American Institute of Architects) design competition led our Project Manager, David Carroll, AIA, to a winning project entry.

 

 

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David, and his partner on the project, Gerard D’Arcy from Sixthriver Architects, have been assisting with the latest Mobile Loaves and Fishes project called “Community First! Village.”  The new development will help house a large number of citizens of the Austin homeless community. Carroll and D’Arcy have been spending the past year designing and now building the structure on a plot of property near the Expo Center.  Once the shelter he helped design began taking shape, it was so well received the organizers decided to make it a chapel instead of a dwelling so they entire community could experience the unique structure.

 

 

Along with this and other micro-homes making up this community, there will be tents and trailers for those in need to rent out as they build their way back to financial stability. The community is fit with kitchens and restrooms, gardens and dog parks, a bus stop and health clinic.

 

 

“I’ve worked on several homeless shelters and affordable housing projects,” says David of his architectural career. “I’ve witnessed people wanting a sense of independence…” an independence he thinks this affordable community can make a reality.

 

 

To learn more about the project and ways you can help, visit Mobile Loaves and Fishes website here: http://mlf.org/community-first/

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h+uo at AIA Austin 2015 Summer Conference

Posted in Uncategorized by Kristie
August 28, 2015
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Our Project Manager, Kristina Olivent, Associate AIA, recently had the honor of speaking at the AIA Austin 2015 Summer Conference.  She discussed Public Interest Design and the importance of community engagement, while highlighting local examples from DesignVoice. Here is a Q&A straight from the source:
1. What was your involvement with the AIA Austin 2015 Summer Conference?
The conference was for architects who wished to expand their education and earn Continuing Education Credits needed to maintain their architectural licenses.  I presented as a member of DesignVoice, which is a committee within AIA Austin.
We gave a 60-minute presentation called “Design WITH the Community:  Why this Matters & Tools for Implementation,” to an audience of 50+ people.  During the talk we presented examples of architectural projects from around the world as well as here in Austin, which positively impacted cultural, social, and economic problems in their communities.  This type of architecture is called Public Interest Design.
2. What does it mean to design with the community?
Designing with (instead of for) the community means that community stakeholders are involved early in the design process through every stage of the process to ensure the final result truly contributes to the broader public good.  This usually means that designers go through a more interactive design process than is typical.  The process requires listening to the community, asking questions of experts, conducting in-depth community needs analysis, and mapping the resources already available within the community.  After the project is built, it is then important to take post-occupancy metrics to verify that the project is really accomplishing the measurable good it set out to.
3. What was a take away you hope attendees learned?
I hope attendees learned that there is a different model for architecture practice available to us, called Public Interest Design, and it is ripe with opportunities to use design to improve people’s lives and our community.
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