UT plans Tower's 75th anniversary

UT’s Heritage Society hosted a celebration on Monday in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Tower. In the 1930s, UT hired an architect from the University of Pennsylvania named Paul Cret to design and construct a long-term main building on campus. Cret decided he wanted a library to be the focal point of the campus, but due to the Great Depression he had to build the main building in parts. The main building was formerly established on February 27, 1937. Today’s Life Science library was the original library on campus, housing all the books for students and faculty. In 1963, the Undergraduate Library and Academic Center was created followed by the Perry-Castañeda library in 1977 after the number of books and students increased on campus.

There is something so beautiful about skyscrapers. Dating back to the Great Pyramid of Giza, people have been awed and inspired to build structures roughly 80 times their size. With the power of modern engineering, technology and human invention, skyscrapers continue to grow taller and more architecturally aesthetic.
The tallest building in Austin is the Austonian building downtown, which stands 683 feet tall. This residential building spans 56 floors and asides from skyscrapers in Dallas and Houston, it is the tallest all-residential building in the state of Texas.

However, the Austonian looks like considerably smaller than most other skyscrapers in the world. Take for example, the Empire State Building in New York City. It was built in 1931 and stands 1,454 feet tall, making it the tallest building in the world between 1931 and 1972. In the early 1930s, the cost to construct the building was $40,948,900, which would be the equivalent of about $500 million today). Since the 70s, the competition to build taller buildings has increased steadily. The north tower of the World Trade Center passed the Empire State Building in height standing at 1,494 feet tall.

Today, the tallest man-made skyscraper is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which was completed in 2010 and stands at 2,723 feet tall.

The project cost $1.5 billion to complete and contains the world’s highest mosque, the world’s highest nightclub, the world’s highest restaurant and the world’s highest observation desk. What is our infatuation with building taller and taller? How long until the Burj Khalifa’s height is surpassed?

Must see architecture in Austin

Please enjoy this map I've made of architecture you have to see in Austin. There are images and descriptions under each pin!

View Must see architecture in Austin in a larger map

Eastern San Francisco Bay Bridge to be torn down

Could the new Bay Bridge survive an earthquake?

Belo Center for New Media

Belo Center for New Media opening November 1, 2012. UT's new building for the College of Communication cost $54.7 million and covers the span of 120,000 square foot over five stories. It stands opposite the current College of Communication on Dean Keaton St.

Public Interest Design summer program

Applications are open for the 2012 Public Interest Design summer program for UT students. The program is free to apply and includes and eight-week community-oriented design and build program for students to earn college credit. Each week, there will be a lead discussant, who lectures about public interest design and the application of these designs. There will also be an opportunity to participate in a two-week externship in San Francisco with Public Architecture.

For more information, check out the School of Architecture

Austin's apartment occupancy rate

Austin's apartment occupancy rate at 95 percent

Popular home design trends in 2012

What are the growing trends in home styles this year?

Bridges

>This series of photos are pictures I have taken of bridges around Austin, TX. The function and design of them vary — some are for pedestrians, some for cars, some for both. There is beautiful symbolism in bridges that is often overlooked by the bridge’s users. The combined forces of compression, bending and tension create a medium for people to cross from one side of land to another. Bruce Jackson, an American folklorist and writer born in the late 1930s, said it best, “Bridges are perhaps the most invisible form of public architecture.” They go unnoticed, but they are a necessary medium for society to function.

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