life

Emergence of Austin's Urban Family?

Jude Galligan | January 5, 2009 |

Last month a baby was born in my building! No kidding. Mom and Dad decided to employ a mid-wife and birth the baby in their condo.

This morning Chris Bradford over at Austin Contrarian posted an interesting map showing where “families” lived in the year 2000. Downtown Austin, not surprisingly, showed very few. Downtown Austin in 2000 was a much different place. We didn’t have a supermarket. We didn’t have Frost Tower. We didn’t have the Convention Center. We didn’t have much of what makes Downtown a special place. If you wanted anything more than a two bedroom home you could look at the Towers of Town Lake or Cambridge Towers – take your pick!

I know several families living in Downtown Austin. In fact, the Mayor’s family lives in a Downtown Austin condo. The U.S. Government conducts its census every 10 years and I cant wait to see the 2010 numbers.

Texas Archive of the Moving Image

Jude Galligan | December 29, 2008 |

I spent a good portion of this past weekend browsing the skyscraperpage forums. I have been hooked ever since I discovered this website. Members of this forum are actively photographing and discussing development progress in Austin. Many of them have serious photography chops, too. One of the best reasons for tuning in to the discussion is for the ‘golden nuggets’ that people find on the inter-tubes and share with the other members. One example is the “Texas Archive of the Moving Image” – a repository for old films about Texas.

The history of Austin is something I am fascinated with, so you can imagine how excited I was when I learned about these videos. Here is a link to an old video of Barton Springs and Lamar Blvd. Search around the website and post your favorites in the comments section.

21c gets glowing review by NPR

Jude Galligan | December 23, 2008 |

by jude galligan

Austin’s 21c museum residences and hotel may be on hold for now, but this morning NPR gave a glowing review of the original concept in Louisville, Kentucky. The NPR story incorrectly states that the Austin 21c is under construction; however, Marriott’s decision to not build 1,000 hotel rooms should reflect favorably on 21c’s pro-formas. 21c was originally planned for development at the Whitley paper building on 3rd and San Jacinto, however, plans changed to locate the building(s) at Red River and Cesar Chavez, along Waller Creek.

link to article
link to NPR audio

Austin Fog

Jude Galligan | December 18, 2008 |

This morning Austin is covered in a thick blanket of fog. This is the best fog I’ve seen in years, and a quick search through Google images queues up some picturesque photos that comes with a fog like this. (link)

/it’s a slow news week.
//and, I didn’t want to jump on this bandwagon.

Required reading

Jude Galligan | December 17, 2008 |

How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand

Last year I purged my book shelves by giving away hundreds of books that I’ve collected over the years. I kept a dozen, or so, that were too significant to give up. Since it’s been a slow news week for Downtown Austin, I thought I would use this time to recommend a couple of books that you can read over the holidays. After reading these books it will come as no surprise why hundreds of thousands of people across the country are retreating back to the cities after 50 years of suburban growth.

“How Buildings Learn” by Stewart Brand
This book is interesting to me, not only because it has lots of pictures of old architecture, rather because Stewart Brand attempts to follow how the greatest buildings change use over the course time.

“The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs
Long considered the urban planner’s bible, this book should be required reading for our elected officials (City Council and staff, County Commissioners, CAMPO board)

Extra credit
I encourage you to check out another book by Stewart Brand “The Clock of The Long Now“. This book is about many things including how civilizations evolve, how the digital age changes the way we archive and access our collective knowledge, and more. Throughout the book is a story about the design of a 10,000 clock that will be installed in the side of a mountain. Great read.