Aspen Heights West Campus
Austin, Texas
Aspen West Campus is an off-campus student housing apartment tower located in the West Campus neighborhood immediately adjacent to the University of Texas at Austin campus. The site is approximately ½ acre, located at Rio Grande St. and 21st St. The project program consists of 166 apartments and 466 bedrooms, leasing, fitness, club room, pool deck on the 6th level, service space and five levels of below grade parking.
The building envelope is composed of primarily storefront and stucco at the ground level, and metal panels, operable aluminum windows and simulated stucco at the upper levels. The metal panels are color coated steel sheets, installed with lapped and hemmed joints over continuous insulation. To rationalize the various vertical setback zoning requirements, the primary design concept seeks to unify the varied resulting floor plates into a singular form. A “running bond” pattern of the façade materials is utilized to resolve the unit plan layouts and window locations that change at each level that the building footprint shrinks.