Waller Creek Design Final Four!!! (San Antonio, Austin: fit in, neighborhoods, university)

[Austinite101]

I don't know if you've heard, but the Waller Creek Conservancy Project final four have released their designs!
CMG and Public Architecture's designs are AMAZING. Please provide input so that they can win the contest to design the new Waller Creek! If you want to see the other three designs, here's the link:The Waller Creek Conservancy Design Competition Final Four

[BevoLJ]

They have all done fabulous work! This will be a great link between UT and Town Lake right though downtown.

I love that they are all so different. It is hard to decide which I like the most. What I like about each the most is easier though.

CMG/Public- Amazing mix a modern urban design with great Texas Hill Country feel. Defiantly the best urban design, and I think does the best job giving a feel for Central Texas and the Hill Country. Although Flato design also gives a Hill Country feel almost as well.

Michael Van/Thomas Phifer- Stunning! Just absolutely beautiful. The best use of nature for the designs. And by far! Amazing, beautiful use of nature, I love the parks they have planned, the idea of preserving history, and providing music and nature in abundance. I don't know what to think of the Confluence idea. It is something new and totally radical to me. The idea of having the large lawn supported by the concrete used in the flood tunnel going out over the new lake @ Waterloo Park is a wild idea. Hard for me to see in my mind.

The Turenscape/Flato design, I love the use it has. It really puts us in the middle of it. It is very beautiful, but I think it has by far the best interaction between us, nature, the water and the design. While it isn't as beautiful as the two above, is is more beautiful than the Workshops IMO. BUT this is one that while not as stunning, I think I would enjoy the most. The pools where the kids can tube, and the walkways and paths that really seem to make it so natural and like you just belong among the nature right in the heart of the city. It is not a design of parks you look at. It is more of a design of parks you through off your flip flops and jump into and splash around!

Workshop- The most Austin design. It isn't nearly as big a change as any of the above ones. I think what I like most about it, is its simplicity. Also that while the others are stunningly beautiful designs, the Workshop design while still very pretty it just sort of feels more like it belongs there. Much more of a natural fit into the mess of Austin blending the wilds of Lady Bird and Waterloo with the harsh urbanity of the downtown that connects them. All while actually feeling like it has always been there. The other design I don't know would have that same feeling of having always been there, that this would.

Edit: Austin is a super active city. We take every last little bit of what we have and always enjoy making use out of it in weird completely unpredictable ways. For that reason, I'm going to have to go with the Turenscape/Lake Flato design. It really seem like something Austinites would enjoy the most with their absurd ADD and endless energy. The weird unpredictable possibilities of what the creative minds of Austinites would do with a park like the Flato design just makes me want it more. Just to see what sort of crazy things we would do with it.

[Austinite101]

I wish we could have all of these parks. One for North, South, East, and West central. Would be quite a sight!

[JoninATX]

Really cool designs... it's hard to choose one.

[ImOnFiya]

Wow! This is one of the hardest City of Austin design decisions that I have had to make [Took me nearly 30 minutes, the designs were so fabulous!] but, in the end, the near-seamless interaction with nature, neighborhoods, and public space by Turenscape + Lake | Flato Architects provides the best overrall benefit to the city as a whole.

[10scoachrick]

Sorry, I couldn't spot the San Antonio High Speed Rail Station in any of the renderings .

[Komeht]

I have a hard time grasping the scope from the limited information provided on the website. Guess I'll have to see the designs in person before passing judgment. My initial thought is that the KSLA team provided the best integration with an urban scape - but it's really hard to tell all the different areas from the limited and blurry photos. Not sure I find swimming holes and inner - tubing realistic in an urban stream (unless that is meant to be some kind of water park in which case - WTF?)

[ImOnFiya]

Originally Posted by Komeht

I have a hard time grasping the scope from the limited information provided on the website. Guess I'll have to see the designs in person before passing judgment. My initial thought is that the KSLA team provided the best integration with an urban scape - but it's really hard to tell all the different areas from the limited and blurry photos. Not sure I find swimming holes and inner - tubing realistic in an urban stream (unless that is meant to be some kind of water park in which case - WTF?)

In looking at the photos and zooming on the fine print of the presentation, the urban streams in the Turenscape + Lake | Flato designs seems like a restorative 'continuation' of natural limestone features present in other local urban creeks near downtown like Barton Creek, Bull Creek, and Shoal Creek. They are a hidden wonder to many, but beloved amongst long-time Austin residents.

[JohninAustin]

Hard to tell from the website the exact details of each project. Why the heck make a website that doesn't let you zoom in to see the details? That being said they all look to have similar concepts. All very natural with minimalistic walkways. I would probably trust the local Lake Flato guys to see a quality implementation of a chosen concept. We have all seen projects that look good on paper but look like bat guano when actually built.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by ImOnFiya

In looking at the photos and zooming on the fine print of the presentation, the urban streams in the Turenscape + Lake | Flato designs seems like a restorative 'continuation' of natural limestone features present in other local urban creeks near downtown like Barton Creek, Bull Creek, and Shoal Creek. They are a hidden wonder to many, but beloved amongst long-time Austin residents.

Right - I've long enjoyed the greenbelt on Barton Creek, the hike and bike trails of shoal Creek and Bull creek myself.

Waller Creek goes through the University, State district, and downtown Austin. The setting is a bit different and I would hope that whatever happens there isn't completely separated from downtown - like some hidden otherworld, but is integrated with it in a way that connects the natural to the urban.

I'm sure there are elements in each of the designs that do exactly that. I'm looking forward to seeing them in person. Unfortunately, whether by design or by accident, the website is horrible.