East 11th Street is the “Main Street” of a very diverse neighborhood in east Austin, with a vibrant mix of small, locally-owned businesses, shops, and restaurants. Our site at the corner of 11th and Navasota anchors the eastern end of the pedestrian-oriented commercial strip, and overlooks the park-like Texas State Cemetery where the street character and scale shifts to a residential neighborhood.

The building’s form is drawn from this transitional corner condition: the ground floor is clad in brick and is scaled to the low-slung historical building of the restaurant next door, housing two local retail shops which address the widened pedestrian sidewalk. The upper floor, clad in box-rib metal siding, is situated to take in views of the cemetery to the east for the upstairs office tenants.

A trellised terrace on the northwest corner of the building softens the scale of the building with plants and gives a hint of the activity happening upstairs. The terrace is open for use by all of the building’s tenants, and is a nice spot to have lunch or host an outdoor meeting, connecting with the street life below and the city skyline beyond. The character of the exterior and interior of the building is purposefully austere, with the steel structure and humble materials of the building left exposed in keeping with the rough-and-tumble vibe of east Austin.