Texas A&M Jury on Sea, Spirituality, & Sustainability
Eric MacInerney and Ben Heimsath were guest lecturers and guest jurors at Texas A&M at the end of April. First, they gave a presentation to professor Anat Geva’s seminar class on history and the design of sacred architecture. Eric presented background information on temples in the Hindu tradition and explained the firm’s process in working with the Austin Hindu Temple. The Temple is currently under construction and will be dedicated this summer.
Ben and Eric then joined the jury for the joint studio of both the architecture and the construction sciences departments. Entitled, “Sea, Spirituality, and Sustainability,” student teams were asked to develop a design, construction program, and final presentation for a hypothetical spiritual center on a coastal site.
The jurors spent several hours evaluating both written proposals and the team’s verbal presentations. Overall, the work and enthusiasm of each team was applauded by the jurors. The special challenges of the multi-discipline studio made for some interesting exchanges considering both design and construction issues.
The all-faiths program, both the practical and aesthetic, presented additional challenges. The design solutions ranged from bold, but impractical spaces to well-considered multi-functional rooms. In nearly all the solutions, the students revealed personal expressions of spirituality and place, forgoing references to specific tradition or denomination.
Many thanks to the students, the group of guest jurors, and especially professors Anat Geva and Jim Smith for a most interesting event.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Historic Preservation
The preservation project at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Austin is nearly complete. This week, the scaffolding will come down! With months of intensive work, a range of issues were addressed, including badly needed restoration of the historic church steeple. See our blogpost on the progress of the cupola restoration and the challenge of removing a massive hive of bees!
Texas Architect Feature - A Visit With Clovis Heimsath, FAIA
The folks at Texas Architect Magazine spent some quality time with Clovis and Maryann Heimsath recently. They interviewed and photographed at the office and at their home in Fayetteville, Texas. The feature in the current issue is delightful and really gives the reader a sense of their very special world.
Many thanks to Texas Architect's new editor, Catherine Gavin, who made this link to the January 2013 issue available.
Clovis also shares his thoughts on the revolution in Architectural 3D design in a recent blogpost.
Fayetteville, Texas Honors Maryann & Clovis Heimsath
What a great celebration in Fayetteville, Texas! Maryann and Clovis Heimsath were the Grand Marshals of the annual Lickskillet Day parade. The town honored them as winners of Preservation Texas' prestigious award in recognition for life-time efforts in support of historic preservation. The Clara Driscoll Award, named for the preservationist who saved the Alamo, was conferred on Clovis and Maryann this summer for achievements in historic preservation.
The couple were early advocates for the restoration and preservation of historic Texas structures. Their breakthrough publication, Pioneer Texas Buildings, published in the 1960's, inspired a generation of preservationists in Texas and the Southwest. The family's work as advocates for Houston's inner city was acknowledged. Clovis and Maryann's love for Fayetteville, Texas, and their many decades as proprietors of the Country Place Hotel continue to set high standards for the preservation of communities and landmarks.
Over 1,000 Tour Purple Heron Residence on AIA Homes Tour!
This year's Austin AIA Homes Tour exceeded all expectations! Eric MacInerney's Purple Heron Residence was toured by over one-thousand visitors. The design is a contemporary update of a traditional craftsman-style home. It features many traditional art-and-crafts details with an open floorplan designed for contemporary living.
The home also features many innovative green building technologies, including a roof-top solar panel array. Austin Energy awarded the project its highest 5-Star Green Building rating. During the tour, the windows were open and the house remained cool the entire time without any air-conditioning!
The two-day event featured 13 homes from AIA member architects. The annual event is a major fundraiser for the Ausitn AIA Chapter. According to event organizers, this year raised the most money ever!
The MacInerney's cat, Brazilia, entertained visitors as they toured her home.
Adapting House Design to Local Environment
On one of our current houses we have gone beyond the traditional vented crawl space. In hot humid climates, typical crawl space venting brings warm humid outisde air into the cooler spaces under the house. This causes condensation and thus a more moist environment.. For this home, we designed a conditioned, sealed, crawl space with controlled air circulation. Listen to local green builder Matt Risinger talk about this ingenious approach...
The Purple Heron House was on Austin AIA's 2012 Homes Tour. Here's a link to the Austin AIA webpage with a wrap-up of this and past year's tours.
We've assembled responses to the most frequently asked questions about Residential Green Buidling. Download your answers here. 
News 8 Austin Covers Dedication of
First Baptist Church, Dripping Springs
A fire set by arson destroyed the sanctuary three years ago. But on Sunday, the church dedicated a newly-constructed sanctuary that had never looked better. Now a new aisle, new pews and new windows adorn the building built from the ground up. Members paid for it themselves.
The church has been around since 1901. "You love coming into Dripping Springs, coming over the hill and seeing the steeple," former member Pam Owens said of the new building. "You love hearing the bell." "My parents grew up in this church, my grandparents went to this church, so it's been our church home forever," church member Charlie Haydon said. "I just felt the call I had to do what I could."
News 8 Video...
A picture says a thousand words...
Animated Walk Through of the proposed circulation upgrade Master Plan for Hillcrest Baptist Church in Austin, Texas.
Eric did an amazing job on this. Congratulations! As we presented this video, one congregation member did want us to remind everyone that we won't actually be putting tables on real grass in the atriums. I assured him we'd share this note.
Video created by Heimsath Architects.
Historic Restoration
Outstanding Construction
Award for Historic Restoration at University United Methodist Church in Austin, TX. Sandy Stone, Project Manager, reports that after winning both local and state awards the UUMC project has now gone onto national competition.