Project Details
- Project Name
- Austin Central Library
- Architect
- Shepley Bulfinch
- Client/Owner
- City of Austin
- Project Types
- Education
- Project Scope
- Interiors
- Size
- 198,000 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2017
- Shared by
- Hanley Wood
- Certifications & Designations
- Seeking LEED Platinum
- Project Status
- Built
- Cost
- $90,000,000
Expanded Coverage of the 2020 COTE Top 10 Awards appeared in the October 2020 issue of ARCHITECT.
Style and substance meet in this LEED Platinum community resource that offers egalitarian access to live, learn, and play in a healthy and daylit environment.
How did you got involved with the project and as a team?
Sidney R. Bowen III, AIA, managing principal, Shepley Bulfinch: The secret sauce was that we were a team of a Texas designer and a library expert who had worked on similar programs. I think the city council saw the wisdom of connecting the Texas vernacular that Lake|Flato represents with the city. It was a thoroughly Texas thing.
What were the driving design goals for this project?
David Lake, FAIA, partner, Lake|Flato: The overarching desire was to represent the future of libraries and their ability to build a body of knowledge and to create a community destination through the sharing of it. We also wanted to make the cityscape more active. We have three entrances and a restaurant, bookstore, gallery, and events space animating the street level. You’re always being encouraged to move up through this vertical living room, outdoors to porches, and up to a rooftop butterfly garden. As you move through the building, there are destinations throughout.
Jonathan Smith, AIA, associate partner, Lake|Flato: The library is on the shore of Lady Bird Lake in the Seaholm EcoDistrict. Most folks who can take advantage of that site are in a luxury 70-story condo tower, not normal members of the public. So trying to make great public space that takes advantage of the breeze off the lake and views toward downtown was key.
You wanted to meet 2030 targets for energy reduction, but the library exceeded those and your own predicted EUI. How did you achieve that?
Heather Holdridge, Assoc. AIA, director of design performance, Lake|Flato: We started with an integrated design workshop with the design and construction team and owners, users, and community members. It was about setting the vision, and out of it came the aspirations to be the best daylit library in North America and to serve as a model for water conservation. Those goals—and being rigorous about tracking them—resulted in a LEED Platinum rating, rather than the other way around.
What is the biggest lesson learned from this project?
Steve Raike, AIA, partner, Lake|Flato: To see it embraced by the city is a testament to collaboration and the buy-in that we had at every level, particularly on the city’s part. That’s been incredibly rewarding.
Jim Chambers, AIA, vice president, Shepley Bulfinch: The importance of not losing sight of our goals and expectations was incredibly valuable to learn. In a 10-year project, you can lose steam, but the team didn’t let anything go. We see the value in how much the public loves the building.
Metrics Snapshot:
ENERGY
Mandatory Metrics
Predicted consumed EUI (Site EUI): 51 kBtu/sf/yr
Identify which simulation tool was used: Trane Trace
Predicted net EUI: 46.8 kBtu/sf/yr
Predicted net carbon emissions: 13.8 lbs/sf/yr
Predicted percent reduction from national average EUI for building type: 55
Baseline generator: AIA 2030 Commitment DDx
Predicted lighting power density: 0.62 W/sf
Encouraged Metrics
Actual consumed EUI: 49.8 kBtu/sf/yr
Actual net EUI: 45.1 kBtu/sf/yr
Actual net carbon emissions: 10.5 lbs/sf/yr
Actual predicted percent reduction from national average EUI for building type: 56.6
For a full list of metrics, visit aia.org.
PROJECT CREDITS
Project: Austin Central Library
Location: Austin, Texas
Client/Owner: City of Austin
Architect: Lake|Flato Architects + Shepley Bulfinch Joint Venture. Lake|Flato team: David Lake, FAIA; Jonathan Smith, AIA; Steve Raike, AIA; Daniel Lazarine; Margaret Sledge, AIA; Gus Starkey; Adrianna Swindle, AIA; John Taylor Schaffhauser, AIA, John Byrd, AIA. Shepley Bulfinch: Sidney Bowen AIA; Jim Chambers, AIA; Joseph Rondinelli; Mark Finneral, AIA; Lynn Peterman, AIA, Eric Haggstrom, AIA
Architect of Record: Lake|Flato Architects + Shepley Bulfinch Joint Venture.
Interior Designer: Shepley Bulfinch
Structural Engineer: Datum Engineers, P.E. Structural Consultants
Mechanical Engineer: Jose I. Guerra, Inc.
Electrical Engineer: Jose I. Guerra, Inc.
Plumbing Engineer: Encotech Engineering Consultants
Civil Engineer: Urban Design Group
General Contractor: Hensel Phelps
Landscape Architect: Coleman & Associates
Lighting Designer: Daylighting: Integrated Design Lab; Artificial Lighting: Clanton & Associates
Cost Estimator: EudaCorp
Acoustic Consultant: Dickensheets Design Associates
ADA Consultant: Accessology
LEED Consultant: Holos Collaborative
Security Consultant: Kroll Security Group
Environmental: Baer Engineering and Environmental Consulting, Inc.
Furniture Procurement: WestEast Design Group
Food Service Consultant: Cosper & Associates Inc.
Permitting: Austin Permitting
Fire Protection: Jensen Hughes
Building Enclosure: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Wayfinding: FD2S
Sustainability: Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems
Photovoltaic: Integral Group
Energy: Supersymmetry USA
Water: Biohabitats
Electrical Service: Harutunian Engineering
Parking: Datum Gojer Engineers
Public Art: Celia Muñoz
Traffic: HVJ Associates
Size in Square Feet: 200,000 SF
Cost: $90,000,000
Materials and Sources
Acoustical System: Gordon (Fixed Sound Absorptive Panels), Fellert Acoustical Ceilings (acoustical plaster system), Atlas Sound (speakers), AMX by Harman (conference room devices), Crestron Electronics (conference room devices)
Adhesives/Coatings/Sealants: MasterSeal (sealer)
Appliances: Kone (elevators)
Concrete: Sika (Epoxy bonding grouting adhesive), CMC Steel Texas (rebar), Meadow Burke (chairs), W.R. Meadows (expansion joints)
Furniture: Herman Miller (chairs), Hatch Workshop (custom tables), Knoll, Biblomodel (round shelving), Rad Furniture (custom tables)
Glass: Bendheim (mirrors), Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope (glass in curtainwall), Jockimo (glass floor), FireLite (fire glass), Kawneer (curtainwall)
HVAC: Trane (fan boxes, controls), Big Ass Fans (fans)
Insulation: Owens Corning, Grace (Waterproofing/air + vapor barriers)
Masonry/Stone: Nature (Stone Masonry)
Metal: Kovach(exterior metal panels, Custom Waterjet Panels), Lorin Industries (Aluminum Anodizing), Southwest Metalsmiths (Interior metal panels), Efficient-Tec International (Metal Railings), Art Metal Products (lockers)
Millwork: MGC (wood millwork), US Lumber Brokers (Ipe wood decking), Bison Deck (exterior wood deck), 3form (children's wall panels. Teen ceiling panels)
Photovoltaics/Other Renewables: Encelium (emergy management system), Supreme (PV panels), SolarWorld (PV Panels), Apparent (PV microinverters)
Plumbing/Water System: Scranton Products (toilet partitions), Dirtt (demountable partitions), Elkay (water fountains), Bemis Manufacturing Co.(toilet seats), Sloan (toilet faucets),
Roofing: Fabral (metal roofing), Carlisle Co.(TPO Roofing)
Site/ Landscape Products: Hanover Architectural Products (unit pavers), Macon Concrete Products (parking bumpers), Hunter Industries (landscape irrigation controls), Continental Cut Stone (landscape stone)
Project Description
This project is a winner of a 2020 AIA COTE Top Ten Award.
From the AIA:
Located in downtown Austin, Texas, and overlooking Shoal Creek and Lady Bird Lake, the new Austin Central Library is a building shaped by light and designed to respond to the context of its place. Before design began, the project team set aspirational sustainability and design metrics for the project. Two primary sustainability goals for the library were determined: It would be the most daylit library in the country, and it would serve as a water conservation model for buildings in the region.
The heart of the building is the six-story atrium, which provides daylight for more than 80 percent of regularly occupied spaces. The client envisioned an iconic, civic hub where locals could connect with their community by pursuing a variety of interests. The facility is based on flexible, blended spaces, including indoor collections and reading rooms, outdoor reading porches, maker spaces, outdoor dining, a technology center, café, bookstore, 350-seat event center, art gallery, demonstration kitchen, and 200-car parking garage. Integrated artworks, interspersed throughout the library, enhance this technology-focused environment by showcasing local and national artists. The unique rooftop pollinator garden and reading porches draw visitors to connect with nature. The library is a technology-rich innovation hub that promotes scholarly inquiry and cultural intelligence. Serving as the new western portal to downtown, the library establishes a major civic presence and community gathering space in the heart of Austin.
FROM LAKE | FLATO:
The new $120 million Austin Central Library establishes a culturally-sensitive, major civic presence and community gathering space in the heart of downtown, overlooking Shoal Creek and Lady Bird Lake. As the western portal to downtown and terminus to Second Street, Austin’s new central library takes advantage of the city’s investment in revitalizing west downtown and Shoal Creek. Considered the most day-lit public library in the nation, the 198,000 sq. ft. building is defined by a light-filled, six-story atrium wrapped by collections and event space. Distinctive elements include a series of reading porches that overlook the water and a 350-seat special events center that supports the city’s engaging culture and arts scene. The hyper-flexible Library serves as a model for sustainable resource use, library efficiency, and operational elegance while promoting visceral connections to collections, history, culture, and place. Currently finishing up construction, the project is scheduled to be complete in 2017.
A Lake|Flato - Shepley Bulfinch joint venture.
FROM THE AIA:
A technologically rich hub for innovation and cultural intelligence, the Austin Central Library has created a framework for lifelong learning that bolsters a more resilient community. Arguably the most daylit library in the nation, the nearly 200,000-square-foot building is defined by a light-soaked, six-story atrium surrounded by the book collections and event space. On track for LEED Platinum certification, the building respects the library system’s desire to be good stewards of water resources in an area of Texas that regularly experiences drought and is subjected to water restrictions. A 373,000-gallon cistern captures roof rainwater and HVAC condensate, which provides water in the restrooms as well as irrigation for the landscape and vegetated roof.
