2022 HASTINGS Firm Trip to Austin

Each year our entire staff takes a one-day field trip to a vibrant city to review significant architecture and urban design. This year, we traveled to Austin, Texas where our itinerary was packed with great design.

We began our tour at Music Lane Development, a mixed-use retail and creative development located on South Congress Avenue. After sufficiently lingering in the beautiful courtyards and paseos, we made our way to Torchy's for a taco lunch.

From there, the University of Texas welcomed us to the Cockrell School of Engineering and newly completed Gary L. Thompson Energy Engineering School for a tour led by Alex O'Briant, Principal at Ennead. Austin Central Library was next up where library representatives and design team members from Lake Flato toured us around the LEED Platinum, COTE Top Ten Award-winning facility.

From the library, we took a self-guided walking tour which included stops at the U.S. Federal Courthouse (Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects), Comedor (Olson Kundig), and the Contemporary Austin-Jones Center (Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects).

We ended our day at the rooftop of Clive Bar on Rainey Street for happy hour and a surprise celebration of Principal Chuck Gannaway's 60th birthday!