Unconventional ATX: Design for Austin's new convention center released

AUSTIN, Texas - Architects revealed the design for Austin's new convention center at a City Council work session Tuesday morning. 

The $1.6 billion project, known as Unconventional ATX, will be funded through hotel occupancy taxes and convention center revenues. It was designed by LMN/Page, a joint venture. 

First look at the new Austin Convention Center

What we know:

The new convention center will nearly double the size of the current one, from 365,000 square feet to 625,000 square feet.

The architects describe the design as multi-layered, walkable and sustainable, with public plazas and indoor-outdoor connections. 

"A lot of outdoor space, outdoor event space, hangout space that is very much integrated with the program of the convention center," Larry Speck with Page Architects said in the presentation. 

"I think this design is fantastic," Paige Ellis, District 8 Council Member, said. 

"I also am very impressed with how much this design reflects an improvement in our buildings reflecting our community values," Krista Laine, District 6 Council Member said.

Across the street at the Fairmont Hotel, general manager Mike Culver is looking forward to the new convention center. 

"We're excited, because it's also going to provide some more green space and not just the concrete jungle that I think we tend to have now," he said. "I do think having that bigger convention center will allow us to attract many different types of groups, on a larger scale, I think, which will bring a lot more money into the city as a whole. It'll help with occupancy taxes, it'll help with tourism taxes."

The city says they're looking into traffic management for the roughly four-year process, and they've been reaching out to nearby places for feedback. 

"I think traffic is going to be one of those wait-and-see things. They've thought about how to make this as less of an impact as possible with one-way traffic for construction trucks," Culver said.

The other side:

However, some aren't so sure about a brand-new convention center. 

"I think it's just fine the way it is. I've visited here multiple times over the years, and it seems to be big enough, and it's already tight on space here anyways," Joe Hartley, who is visiting from Houston, said. 

There are also concerns about the art in the current one, including the Riffs and Rhythms mosaic created by John Yancey in 1996. 

It was commissioned by the city and accepted into its permanent public art collection. The mosaic is connected to the wall. 

"If an artist has work in a museum, you don't expect the museum to take it, throw it in the dumpster at the end of the workday. You expect there's care, stewardship, and that there's a responsibility there," Yancey said.

The city says they will put together a living history of the pieces. Some artists have taken their pieces down on their own dime. Yancey says the city didn't think the process through. His piece was brought up in the work session.

"Do we have any cost estimate as to what it would take to salvage Dr. Yancey's work or anything else that may not be possible to, at this stage, be reused as part of the process," Marc Duchen, District 10 Council Member, asked staff.

"This new building will have a blend of brand-new art by these artists. It will have a blend of art that was in the previous convention center," Trisha Tatro, director of the Austin Convention Center Department said. 

For specifics, she deferred to the Art in Public Places program. 

What will happen to Yancey's piece is still up in the air. He is consulting with preservationists and attorneys to figure out what to do.

"Artists don't have money to just go around taking the work down. These are monumental works. These aren't taking paintings off the wall. These are highly engineered works that are embedded into the architecture," Yancey said.

He adds he doesn't think there needs to be a new convention center. 

"The convention is beautiful. It's clean. It's functional. The artwork in it is beautiful. It's a wonderful kind of a public art success," he said.

What's next:

The current convention center will close in April and be demolished shortly after. 

The new one is expected to open in 2029.