SXSW Center: South by Southwest Headquarters
Austin
Award of Merit
Owner: CZ Properties
Lead Design Firm: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects LLP
General Contractor: Harvey-Cleary Builders
Civil Engineer: Jones|Carter
Structural Engineer: Walter P Moore
MEP Engineer: Wylie Consulting Engineers
Architect of Record: Gensler
Landscape Architect: dwg. urban landscape architecture
This $70-million, 13-story tower in downtown Austin serves as the headquarters for festival organizer South by Southwest as well as offices occupied by tenants that have business and production relationships with the company. Complete with rain gardens, an outdoor deck and landscape features, the plaza aims to provide a serene environment. The lobby and ground floor include both indoor and outdoor co-working spaces as well as retail spaces. The building’s curvilinear S shape presented budget challenges. The design and construction teams devised an exterior skin that allows the curving form to be made up of straight facets of curtain wall units with repetitive uniform dimensions.
