Site characteristics and the desire to create an unusual merger of landscape and living drive the design of Waterstone, a collection of 71 condominiums on Lake Travis.  Replacing a subdivision originally planned for low-density, single-family homes, the development inhabits the landscape with minimum intrusiveness while offering the privacy and convenience of single-family homes.  The structures are strung along a single contour to minimize cut and fill and the disruption of plant material. Parking and roads are tightly clustered around the units to maintain the sense of being in a natural environment.  The units face strongly to spectacular views and ideal natural light conditions; large, shaded patios connect inhabitants with the outdoors.  Materials and colors, including local fieldstone, help the buildings merge gracefully with the site and reflect the character of Central Texas.

AMLI’s first urban high-rise is a vital force in downtown Austin’s rapidly developing 2nd Street Retail District. The 18-story, three-star-green building integrates 17 floors of apartments, 35,000 square feet of ground level retail, a spacious amenity deck and 4 1/2 levels of above-ground parking. The building image is contemporary, clean, and responsive to its urban context. Anodized aluminum shingles articulate the different building volumes, and a distinctive staggered window pattern breaks down the scale once again. The garage is draped with a lightweight steel and polycarbonate armature that screens cars from view while diminishing the structure’s mass. The tower is designed to high sustainability standards using optimal massing, extensive sunshading, and an innovative “rainscreen” wall assembly.

Austin City Lofts is an 82-unit, 14-story tower anchoring a new mixed-use district in the southwest quadrant of downtown Austin. Along busy 5th Street, a three-story horizontal stone volume houses the entry lobby, deep stacked porches and a modest retail strip off a shady arcade. Parking for 150 vehicles is tucked behind and below. A generous outdoor living area, including garden, pool and cookout area, lines Shoal Creek, edged by porches and a metal-clad series of units with great views up and down the creek. A long, thin tower rises atop the carefully articulated base, with views looking south to Town Lake and north to the Capitol and the University of Texas. Two-story thru-units command vistas in both directions. The tower is clad in fair-face concrete, metal panels and copper shingles.