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So far in 2025…

Writer’s Retreat wins HBA Max Award for Custom Home/Project Design, 2025!

Bookshelf's surrounding the central window of a white room.

St. Julian of Norwich Parish Hall wins Outstanding Construction Award, Associated General Contractors’, 2024!

We are excited to announce the elevation of Navvab Taylor, AIA, RID, LEED AP BD+C to Associate Principal and Lauren Gamboa to Associate. Navvab exhibits design excellence and employs strong communication and project management skills to build and maintain rewarding client relationships. She is a champion for sustainable design and will serve as the firm’s Sustainability Leader, working collaboratively with clients to develop environmentally responsible solutions and ensuring the firm’s practices align with rigorous standards. Lauren demonstrates skillful management of the marketing department and a remarkable ability to execute with precision, creativity, and efficiency. Her expertise and attention to detail has driven successful campaigns and streamlined the firm’s marketing processes. We value the leadership and knowledge of these team members and are thrilled to spotlight their advancement!

Texas Facilities Commission, Groundbreaking for a new Archival and Records Storage Facility

Looking Back at 2024…

AIA Austin WiA Profiles 2024 featuring our Associate Navvab Taylor!

Hogg Memorial Auditorium achieves LEED Platinum Certification!

View along curved rows of seats in an auditorium, facing a series of windows.

AISD Sánchez Elementary School wins TxA Design Award 2024!

straight on view of stairway that also functions as a social gathering space in elementary school, books are displayed on the levels and children and teachers are in the foreground

Comedor wins AIA Austin Design Award of Merit 2024!

People seated at bar and high tables of a nice restaurant.

River Ranch County Park wins a Texas Travel Award  and gets featured in Parks and Recreation Business Magazine! Have you been there yet?

Outdoor pavilion in a field of wildflowers.

 

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Urban Roof Deck

scroll View Project Description
Highlighted photo from Urban Roof Deck
  • People socializing on a downtown rooftop deck.
  • An urban roof deck.
  • People socializing on a downtown rooftop deck.
  • People socializing on a downtown rooftop deck at duck.

Project Details

With ample space to work, the McGarrah Jessee branding agency needed a space to play. An unused area of their building’s rooftop, nestled among skyscrapers, seemed just the place. The roof is divided into three zones – lawn, cantilevered shade canopy threaded through the existing building’s structure, and sculpture terrace – accommodating a range of uses, from swank SXSW events to quiet employee recharging.  The playful helipad theme sprung from the serendipitous discovery of the “Volkscopter” at a rural auto body shop, and perfectly captures the agency’s freewheeling spirit and penchant for the unexpected.

Leveraging these themes, the architecture employs unconventional, durable materials in inventive ways.  A mulched rubber tire drainage bed lines the perimeter, industrial fiberglass decking supports the helipad, and galvanized C-shaped steel studs do double duty as the canopy roof, sitting at the precise angle to shade users from the southern sun and shed rain to an adjacent roof.

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