General Building
ENR 2025 Top 500 Sourcebook: Convention Center Revamp Begins in Austin
The $1.6B project aims to be world's first zero-carbon facility of its kind.
The new convention center will also feature better links between outdoor and indoor spaces.
Rendering courtesy of Austin Convention Center Department and LMN/Page
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ENR 2025 Top 500 Sourcebook (PDF)
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A joint venture of Page and LMN is designing the $1.6-billion redevelopment of the Austin Convention Center in Texas, with a joint venture of JE Dunn and Turner Construction as construction manager. Demolition for the 1.4-million-sq-ft project is underway. The convention center is slated to reopen in late 2028.
The vertically-oriented design breaks down the footprint into six segments, aiming to reestablish urban thoroughfares. The project features a series of blocks designed to improve pedestrian and vehicular connectivity. Exhibit halls and loading docks will be relocated below grade to restore the city grid and create outdoor event spaces.
“The vertical convention center will open the city grid, enhance pedestrian connections and take advantage of Austin’s indoor-outdoor culture,” says Leonardo da Costa, principal at LMN.
An east-west “paseo” will link downtown to Waller Creek and Waterloo Greenway. The project will expand rentable space from 365,000 sq ft to 620,000 sq ft, including 70,000 sq ft of outdoor areas such as open-air terraces and public plazas with indoor-outdoor connections. The convention center project aims to be the world’s first zero-carbon convention center, targeting International Living Futures Institute Zero Carbon certification with an all-electric kitchen and HVAC system. The design also incorporates salvaged materials, mass timber roof structures and low-carbon concrete and steel.
$96.7
Approximate median annual salary for U.S. architects in 2024 in thousands of dollars
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Third Street will reopen for multimodal traffic and Second Street will become a pedestrian-friendly corridor. The new convention center will showcase work by ten local artists.
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