Tag Archives: hatch + ulland owen architects

Tom Hatch, Senior Partner of hatch + ulland owen architects, was recently awarded the 2013 James D. Pfluger Community Service Award. This award is a tremendous accomplishment for Tom, who has designed many community based and affordable housing projects as well as advocated for these types of community projects.

Hatch believes that every person should have a decent place to live and that affordable housing should not be devoid of intelligent design and technology. His work demonstrates that lower rent should not mean a living place that is segregated or of lower quality, but one that is designed for the safety and well-being of the residents as well as the community, and lifts the spirit of those whose lives it touches. He has upheld exemplary design principles, including “building green” since long before such labels existed. He has battled forces of gentrification, public opinion, legislative ignorance, and powerful and well-funded opposing entities all around the state with equal measures of pragmatism and idealism. All his projects—from libraries to independent schools, medical facilities to historic restoration projects, affordable housing developments and even the occasional honky tonk—are engaged, as Hatch is, in the business of building community.

Hatch’s Significant Community projects include:

• Low Income Housing in Austin’s inner city neighborhoods, Texas Panhandle, El Paso and Rio Grande Valley
• Whole Foods Markets in most major US metropolitan areas
• Planned Parenthood Clinics in Austin
• Threadgill’s Restaurants
• Scholz Beer Garden
• Travassa (formerly The Crossings)
• La Vista de Guadalupe
• Jeremiah Program
• Chicon Corridor
• Amistad Farm Worker Housing, Texas Panhandle
• M Station
• Twin Oaks Branch Library
• Lyons Gardens
• Robert Shaw “Echo” Village
• McKinney Roughs
• Glen Oaks Corner
• Amistad Farm Workers Housing
• Blackland Transitional Housing
• Acton School of Business
• Acton Academy
• Pease Mansion | Woodlawn
• 804 Congress Avenue
• Bremond House
• Book People | 6th & Lamar Retail Complex

About the James D. Pfluger Community Service Award

The Award is in memory of James D. Pfluger, FAIA, whose community service extended over a lifetime of commitment resulting in significant community enhancements. Pfluger’s contributions to Austin and the State of Texas through volunteer and professional efforts are broad and include leadership roles in the development of Town Lake in Austin, regional planning for a national church body, education of non-architects and public relations as editor of Texas Architect, a pioneer of local preservation movement through personal restoration and adaptive reuse projects leading to historic zoning ordinances, leadership as Chairman of Austin’s Breckenridge Hospital, leading it through a 4-year construction program that molded it into a major medical center in Austin and the surrounding community.

The Waters at Willow Run Leasing Office Rendering

The Atlantic Housing Foundation is working with h+uo architects to create a new 242-unit apartment complex in North Austin, The Waters at Willow Run. This complex is for residents who earn less than 80% of the median family income (MFI) in Austin. The Waters at Willow Run will also provide scholarships to qualified residents and reward parents with reduced rent if their child and/or children do not miss school.

Perfect for working families, the complex has one, two and three bedroom units with several community amenities:

-Dog park
-Playground
-Swimming pool
-Fitness center
-Community room
-Laundry room
-Social amenities*

Due to the tight site constraints, h+uo strategically placed the three-story buildings in the center of the complex and the two-story buildings along the exterior of the complex: near the entrance next to Burnet Road and near the residential neighborhood. The building placement was designed to be more compatible with the scale of the neighborhood.

While the project has had its challenges, h+uo has enjoyed working with one of their favorite clients and are excited to oversee construction, which is expected to start soon!

About Atlantic Housing Foundation
Atlantic Housing Foundation is committed to helping residents by providing services that foster a sense of community, improve quality of life and promote personal growth and advancement. Atlantic Housing’s community service programs are designed with the following goals in mind:

-Provide decent, safe and sanitary housing for low-income persons and families, elderly, and mentally or physically disabled persons, assist in the social and economic integration of the poor, combat community deterioration, lessen neighborhood tensions, eliminate prejudice and discrimination, and reduce the burden on government through the provision of affordable housing, and
-Provide housing at colleges and universities and offer scholarships to students from low income families to enable these individuals to break the cycle of poverty through higher education.

Since 2005, Atlantic Housing has awarded 95 academic and housing scholarships and provided over $9,300,000 in social services, including but not limited to the following:

-ESL classes
-After school programs
-Academic and housing scholarships
-Credit counseling
-Rent discounts for families with honor roll children and those with perfect attendance
-Learning Centers complete with computers, printers, fax capabilities for children and adult education

Austin Convention Center Acoustics Rendering

The Austin Convention Center hosts events ranging from the Annual Bridal Expo to Austin’s famous South By Southwest music, film and technology events. While the convention center is a popular and esteemed event venue, its acoustics are in need of improvement. h+uo architects was selected by the City of Austin to tackle this issue by developing solutions.

The acoustics revamp is a two-part project. For the first phase, h+uo has designed an upgrade on the 4th level of the building in the service corridors, where noise from service functions has been affecting event functions. The second phase of the project will have much more public face. h+uo architects has designed an acoustic treatment which will be applied to the ceilings of large sections of public corridors fronting Cesar Chavez and Trinity streets. The “lily pad” design takes its form from the pattern that emerges when four-foot circular cut-outs are made around each ceiling fixture.

Visitors to the Austin Convention Center can look forward to an improved sound experience and a new, subtle aesthetic element.

The Blackland Neighborhood is hosting a block party to celebrate its 30 year anniversary of community accomplishments. The celebration will take place on Saturday August 10, 2013 from 4:00pm-7:00pm, open to all. Attendees can expect food, kid activities, and an opportunity to mingle with others in the community. h+uo architects will also be in attendance.

Fannie Mae Stewart Village Rendering

The block party will also celebrate the recent development of the Fannie Mae Stewart Village, which is close to completion. Located on the 1900 block on East 22nd Street, the Fannie Mae Stewart Village includes an 8-unit apartment complex along with a transformed bungalow into a community conservatory. The Blackland Neighborhood has a history of suffering from disinvestment and predatory real estate speculation. This new addition was designed by h+uo architects and is part of an ongoing effort to maintain affordable housing in the neighborhood and in the city of Austin. Blackland Community Development Corporation was formed in 1983, right before it acquired a lot at 1904 East 22nd from an African-American maid, Fannie Mae Stewart.

About Blackland Community Development Corporation

The Blackland Community Development Corporation (BCDC) was incorporated in August 1983 as a non-profit, 501-C-3 corporation in the state of Texas. The boundaries of the Blackland Neighborhood are Comal Street on the west, Chestnut Avenue on the east, MLK Boulevard on the south, and Manor Road on the north.

Blackland CDC has built, maintains and leases 47 units for households earning less than 60 percent of the median income for Austin, most of which have been designed by Tom Hatch and his family of architects. Because affordable rental units are disappearing from the inner city, CDC does not sell units, knowing that in time they would likely sell to higher income families and would only delay gentrification.

The small Swedish Log Cabin residing in Zilker Botanical Gardens has quite the history.  Built in 1838, the cabin was deconstructed, relocated, and rebuilt five separate times throughout Austin. Cabin advocate, Barbara Pate, has strong sentimental attachments to this cabin, the same place where her grandmother was born. Her family history has long been tied to this cabin and Pate wants to see it restored again.

The grade level log was damaged and rotting due to rainwater running off at the base of the cabin. The interior was also in bad shape, as it was often intruded by animals. Pate pushed the city for six years to get involved and make reparations, and finally got her wish in 2011 when the city commissioned the project.

h+uo architects is working with the Austin Parks and Recreation Department to restore the cabin. In order to divert streaming water, a rain water garden is being built, and an accessible path is being created for visitors to use while venturing to see the cabin.

The renovations are in the drawing phase, and the cabin is on its way to becoming a spot visitors can enjoy again!