City releases final designs for new Dougherty Arts Center – Sightlines

The architects responsible for designing the new Dougherty Arts Center unveiled final plans at an April 25 meeting hosted by the City of Austin’s Department of Parks and Recreation.

The new 45,000-square-foot, two-story, brick-clad arts center will house a community art school with artist studios; a 150-seat proscenium theatre; a smaller black box theatre; rehearsal studios; desks; and a 5,000 square foot main gallery. The construction budget is $20 million.

It is a great improvement over the existing installation. Currently, the Dougherty Arts Center (DAC) is a 1940s building on Barton Springs Road deemed beyond repair in 2010, its site prone to flooding.

Austin voters approved $28.5 million in bonds in 2018 for the new art center. And in 2019, City Council approved moving the DAC to a city park on the south shore of Lady Bird Lake. Known as Butler Shores Park, the site is also home to the Zach Theater and the headquarters of the Department of Parks and Recreation, a mid-century modern structure eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Council approved development of the DAC site in 2021. At that time, in a decision led by council member Ann Kitchen, council included the directive to establish Riverside Drive as the main entrance and exit to the new DAC, not the narrower Toomey Road that borders the park on its southern flank.

Plans for the new building call for a 137-space underground public car park to be shared between the new DAC and the Zach Theatre. It also requires a drop-off loop on the south side that allows art school students to enter and exit the building away from the parking garage entrance on the north side of the building.

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The first floor of the new building is clad in pale brick, a tribute, said project lead designer Rick Archer of Overland Partners Architecture, to the site that once housed the Butler Brick Company. A perforated metal screen envelops the second floor. While the site’s zoning allows for a building height of 96 feet, the architects said they chose to limit the building to 48 feet to keep it in line with the canopy of trees, many of which are heritage oaks.

The building is accessible from all four sides, with each facade having a different quality. The glass walls offer a generous view of the park.

“It’s a place for art,” Archer said. “It’s a place where the park interacts with the art and where we interact with the park. It is a place that welcomes you, but veils itself from being fully understood until it opens up to the public when you enter.

Archer pointed out that the light-filled building is designed for “art everywhere” with plenty of indoor and outdoor spots suitable for displaying artwork. Likewise, the design provides multiple spaces for people to gather informally, whether it is an indoor living room or the courtyards formed by the shape of the building. A two-story space in the center of the building called Hive functions as a creative space, a lobby, and a gathering space. An air bridge extends above and connects the second floor areas.

Construction is expected to begin in 2023 and be completed by the end of 2024.

As it has since the city decided to build the new DAC on Butler Shores, much of the meeting’s public comment focused on parking capacity and traffic flow. The congested Lamar Boulevard/Barton Springs Drive area is the main access point to Butler Shores. And Toomey Road and the stretch of Riverside Drive along Butler Shores Park are narrow two-lane roads.

City staff asked the public to the project website to leave another comment. The site also includes links to a video of the presentation and the full set of presentation images.