Tacet
Austin Ave Station
2025
Adaptive Reuse, Mixed Use
In-progress
Collaborators: FIRM-AH
2025
Adaptive Reuse, Mixed Use
In-progress
Collaborators: FIRM-AH
This adaptive reuse project transforms a 25-by-160-foot historic building into a vibrant, flexible space while preserving its original character. Embracing the building’s long, narrow footprint, the design retains the existing brick façade and a distinctive wall mural, highlighting the layered history of the site.
The approach to entrances is to carefully open up the street corner of Austin Ave and 7th St. We propose to widen the sidewalk on 7th St and bring on more outdoor seating under a decilate metal awning, activate the retail space.
Historically, 701 Austin Ave has been through many owners and tenants, even the deadly destructive 1953 tornado, but it has not been thoroughly remodeled ever.
Over 100 years, the building was used as department store and retail spaces, which left textures and marks of floor joists, stairs, and paint on the interior elevations of the existing shell. Through site survey, we were able to identify the previous floor heights and adjust based on the new tentative program layout.
Within this preserved shell, a new mass timber frame is carefully inserted, creating a structural rhythm that supports a range of future uses. This timber intervention not only introduces warmth and material contrast but also enables spatial adaptability—allowing the building to evolve with changing needs while celebrating its past.
A new entrance is introduced on the long side of the building, providing possibilities for different tenant layout in the future. The timber insertion is modified to accommodate denser programs and evolving spatial needs, ensuring the building remains active and relevant over time.