Case Study
ART & ARCHITECTURE: Colorado Tower
Colorado Tower, with its location on a prominent corner in downtown Austin, presented a unique opportunity for art and architecture to come together to affirm the new urban spirit emerging in the city’s western district.
For an established neighborhood of small shops, cafes and entertainment venues, design of the street level and lobby had to enhance the existing context.
A series of architectural elements come together to set the stage for a glass art installation by Ken Von Roenn. One lobby wall recesses and curves to widen the sidewalk and ease circulation around the building’s corner. The setback spans over 14’ to further expand the pedestrian zone and create a streetscape plaza for café seating for spill out from retail space.
A wide, continuous wood-clad canopy extends over the sidewalk to create a sheltered zone and mediate the transition from street to interior spaces. Its underside is clad in warm wood that defines the building’s street level zone and extends the lobby’s ceiling plane from inside to outside. Beneath the canopy, material choices and architectural elements shape a human-scaled pedestrian zone. The canopy and terra cotta sunscreens shade floor-to-ceiling glass walls supported by structural glass fins.
On the interior, the continuous wood ceiling and stone floor frame the glass art installation. The glass wall—a civic art installation that further enhances the pedestrian experience—is comprised of an overlapping pattern of cool toned, textured glass that creates a fluid like, motion within the lobby. At night the glow of the glass wall permeates the lobby and creates a luminous presence at the public corner. Up-lights allow the warmth of wood elements to cast a glow into the space and create an aura of warmth in contrast with the cool cast glass wall.
Cool and reflective during the day and glowing at night, the art wall defines the building’s public space and invites views from the outside through the lobby space. Paired with a signature wooden basket-like lighting ceiling fixture, the art wall offers an artistic presence to the street. A protected exterior seating area is also complimented by an adjacent seating area inside the lobby
