Palisades West

Austin, Texas

The goal of Palisades West was to capture the essence of Austin’s hill country character. A cliff-like edge exposes the site’s geological formation and inspires the architecture for two curved office buildings. Their relationship to the site is strengthened metaphorically by material choices and textures which speak to the area’s rugged terrain. The contrasting aspects of the client’s corporate identity inspired the faces of each building: one rock-like dense and layered emulates stability; the other open light and reflective expresses a progressive nature. Sliding planar volumes of glazing and striated travertine break up the mass of each building and echo the cliff’s landforms. Horizontal ‘plate shifts’ create cantilevered canopies. Within the sheltered space between buildings terraced gardens fill ‘fault-lines’ with outdoor rooms to physically and visually connect the architecture with the landscape and views beyond.