Project Highlight: Block 185- Google’s Newest Building
If you keep up with the news in Austin and all things downtown, then you’ve probably heard about the new Google office building coming up on Block 185 of Austin’s Seaholm District. The plans for the building were released in April of 2019, and the project is well under way. Its height and curved glass structure creates a sail-like effect and will add a bit of flare and modernity (or Modernitude as Civilitude would call it, maybe that one doesn’t work!) to the Austin skyline. And Civilitude is honored to be a part of it! The tower’s 793,883 square feet will be able to fit about 5,000 people– a huge jump from Google’s current 800 Austin employees. It’s design will include standard tech-company perks: a fitness center and recreation areas, lounges, kitchen and dining areas, conference centers, a bar/tavern, and, surely, more. Its 1,327 parking spaces will be on lower floors, with some of it underground (that’s the civil part, wink wink)!
One of Civilitude’s principal engineers, Jim Schissler, assisted with the 6 story underground parking garage plans and site development permits. The 589 foot building posed some challenges– with Cesar Chavez to the south, Nueces Street to the East, 2nd Street to the South, and Shoal Creek to the West, this plot of land is the most complicated to design for out of all of the redevelopment projects for Austin’s former Thomas C. Green Water Treatment Plant. The planning for the underground stories required extreme attention to detail, as their excavation was performed below the water level of Ladybird Lake. The tower has been under construction for a year and a half, headed by the well-known architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. Yet with only about 6 stories completed, it still has a lot of work to go. Jim’s work on the project is mostly completed, so now we just need to sit back, relax, and watch the results of Civilitude’s (and everyone else’s, of course) hard work come to life! Read more about the building here: https://austin.curbed.com/2019/4/2/18291500/google-building-austin-new-design-pelli