The Travis is Austin’s tallest for-rent apartment tower and one of the ten tallest buildings in the Texas capital. The tower is located at the southern end of Red River Street, where the active grid of downtown meets park trails wandering along the Colorado River. On a highly desirable site, this design creates well over 400 premium riverfront units with appropriate parking and competitive amenities on a relatively small footprint. The contemporary glass tower rises 54 stories to cast a striking silhouette against the skyline, with a shape that preserves sightlines for nearby buildings and maximizes new views for the resident. The new tower is just as impressive to see from ground level and, from this place on the riverfront, the views will never be obstructed.
The base of the structure is an eight-story mid-rise housing parking, amenities, units and the building’s retail corner. The corner plaza reaches out to the adjacent riverwalk trails, and a monumental stair rises, seemingly carved from the concrete plinth, up to meet the two-story glass-clad lobby. A large, beachy amenities deck spreads out over the top of the mid-rise, with uninterrupted views of downtown and the river. The tower’s concrete supports are integrated into the port cochere, plaza and ground levels, clad in contextual materials but never disguised, these facades celebrate the strength of the structure while weaving the building into the downtown Austin fabric. A balance of monumental form and approachable materiality makes the building work as an activated part of the city and a gateway to the river.
