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Required reading

Jude Galligan | December 17, 2008 |

How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand
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.

Filed Under: buildings, city council, life, urban planning

Lake/Flato will design new Central Library in Downtown Austin

Jude Galligan | December 12, 2008 |

Site of Downtown Austins new Central Libary
Site of Downtown Austin's new Central Libary

Lake Flato has been awarded the design contract for Downtown Austin’s new Central Library.  They’ve got $90MM to work with to build 250,000 square feet by 2013.

Below is an estimated timeline for the new Central Library project:

  • May 2009 ~ Citizen/Stakeholder input meetings –Co-sponsored by Library Commission and Library Foundation June 2009 ~ Design phase begins
  • Spring 2011 ~ Design development completed
  • Winter 2011 ~ Construction begins
  • Fall 2013 ~ Construction complete
  • Spring/Summer 2014-Grand Opening

The site sits partially within a capitol view corridor, so the future building can only be mid-rise and will likely only by three stories.  In that regard I like this choice of location.  Still, I think this is a poor choice of location in terms of accessibility.  I’ve seen plenty of proposed transit maps for ‘future’ Austin, and not a single one shows rail stopping near the library.  The people that would benefit the most from this new Central Library are, in my opinion, going to benefit the most from mass transit that can get them to the library!   It was an easy choice for the City because they own the land; however, the city could have used condemnation to select a better site that would be more accessible.  I expect the building will be beautiful.  I just hope it gets used.

Jude Galligan

Filed Under: austin transit, buildings, city council, downtown austin, life, Real Estate, urban planning

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