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.
Senior Partner, Tom Hatch, is transforming 702 San Antonio Street that is currently occupied by tenants as well as the h+uo office, into boutique hotel, The Murphy Hotel. Named after his beloved canine pet, Murphy, this is a passion project for Hatch.
The Murphy will be a unique, small hotel offering upscale accommodations to local, regional, national and international business travelers and tourists. Just 24 rooms tastefully decorated in simple European style, The Murphy will be downtown Austin’s first small boutique hotel.
Located on 702 San Antonio Street, the hotel will provide scenic views of downtown Austin to be enjoyed over the hotel’s rooftop deck. The Murphy is two blocks from Austin’s lively West 6th Street, and in walking distance to Town Lake, business meetings or dinner and dancing. Guests may also opt for one of the hotel’s bikes or be picked up at the door by a horse-drawn carriage (cars also available).
This new boutique hotel is being designed by h+uo architects and contracted by Bailey Elliott Construction. The Murphy is expected to open its doors to guests in the summer of 2014.
Saturday, November 10th, Barkitecture took over the 2nd St. District as people walked the gallery of dog houses along the street. A project of Animal Lovers of Austin, Inc., Barkitecture brings together the city’s best architects and designers to create one of a kind dog houses. These works of art are then sold via silent auction during the event. Proceeds from the event benefit local dog rescue organizations.
h+uo has entered the competition a few times over the years. This year, the idea behind the design was to take the traditional dog house shape and envelope it with a modern and sustainable exterior. The traditional dog house shape can be seen as the “negative” or inside border of the framing. Salvaged Ipe wood (provided by Franklin Alan) was used for the base and as the securing mechanism for the plastic covering. Ipe, which is a very hard wood, required pre-drilling for all screws. The material used for the roofing/wall material is Polygal (purchased at regal Plastics). This material was a bit of a challenge to work with as its rigid nature made bending the materials around the arc of the framing fairly difficult. With a little team work. we were able to fasten it down. We’re pretty thrilled with the result! Special thanks to Bravo Interior Design for their input on the design!
Also of interest! – This year, our design was featured on houzz.com! Click here to read the full article and to see images of other dog house designs that made a splash at this year’s event.
FROM DESIGN TO THE STREET!