Creek Show 2017

No Lifeguard on Duty

by Asakura Robinson

Eric Leshinsky (lead)
Colter Sonneville
Meghan Skornia
Wenjie Zhao

No Lifeguard on Duty is sited at a unique location on WallerCreek where an aging weir allows the creek’s water to pool and where steps along the creek’s edge invite visitors to dip their feet in the cool water. The installation is a response to the site and the broader culture of Austin’s swimming hole culture and long history with neon-based art. Waller Creek is not Barton Springs, nor any of the other treasured naturally-fed swimming holes in the region. And it never will be. WallerCreek is an urban waterway that has its own complex identity, a composite place influenced by both downtown and the larger watershed. No Lifeguard on Duty proposes a pool club for a waterway that will never have one. Here you can relax by the pool serenaded by the lights and sounds of the Red River cultural district. You can mingle with other pool-goers, or you can party till the sun comes up. But just remember, there’s no lifeguard on duty.

Night Garden

by dwg.

Daniel Woodroffe (lead)
Kim Harding
Francisco Rosales
Ethan Primm
Kevin Sullivan

Welcome to Night Garden. Night Gardens are spaces for dreaming. We think that Austin has been dreaming of the Waller Creek Transformation (whether we know it or not). An inhabitable reverie, Night Garden’s surreal atmosphere aims to shift perceptions of the creek towards wonder and excitement for its future. Immerse yourself in 80,000fluorescent survey flags, “planted” at creek’s edge, and listen to the sounds of a thriving urban ecology.

Blind Spot

by Two + Collaborative

Elizabeth Farrell (co-lead)
Clare van Montfrans, Assoc. AIA (co-lead)
Adam Tablemaker (collaborator)

Biking around the city, a cyclist must constantly assume she is invisible, hidden in the driver’s blind spot. Similarly, Austinites pass over Waller Creek on a daily basis without noticing it.Our installation exposes these conditions by inviting people to interact with an assemblage of steel mirrors strategically located in the creek bed. Projected videos taken while biking around Austin add another layer of visual information and help visitors to imagine a different reality for Waller Creek.As visitors walk through the mirrors, they become a part of the art installation, adding their own reflections to the reflections of those around them. Through this immersive, shared experience, we hope to initiate a dialogue about the importance of investing in the urban, people-oriented spaces of Austin.

fotän FABLE

by HA Architecture

Jamie Crawley, AIA (lead)
Brad McCorkle, Assoc AIA
Ryan Campbell, Assoc AIA
Manuel Gonzales, Author
E.P. (Bill) Hamilton III, P.E.
Ricardo Maga-Rojas, Assoc AIA
Sarabi Studio (collaborator)
LEAP Structures (collaborator)
Hossley Lighting (collaborator)

“FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION”
Mies Van Der Rohe “FORM FOLLOWS FICTION…”

HA Architecture photon (fōtän) : a particle representing a quantum of light or other electromagnetic radiation. A photon carries energy proportional to the radiation frequency but has zero rest mass.fable : a story, typically a supernatural one incorporating elements of myth and legend.

Viewers are encouraged to both observe and read fotän FABLE both as an object and as an original work of fiction. The viewer can read the story as well as feel transported to a rendered Architectural reality of atmospheric light. Opting to work collaboratively with Manuel Gonzales an award-winning author on a piece of original fiction linked to the form enhances the overall intervention. fōtän FABLE allows viewers to both have a surface reading of the illuminated steel folie as well as discover a deeper sense of the spirit of this place through the text presented.

Ephemeral Suspension

by PATHOS + Touch To

Brandon Cuffy (co-lead)
Francisca Aroso (co-lead)
Aaron Upshaw

Light and shadow, moist and dry, below and above; these area few of the many dispositions of Waller Creek. The creek is a critical vein through the fabric of Austin, connecting people, places, and wildlife, presenting itself not only as a natural connector, but a social hub as well. With revitalized amenities, landscape, and waterscapes, Waller Creek provides a series of rich experiences connected to the life and culture of the city. The vitality of the promenade along the creek side can be extended further, down into the lower creek level, rendering a new datum of experience in the city. The character of the creek is that of a civic nexus of urban energies, bringing people together around a restored environment. Bringing nutrients from upstream, the creek plays an important role in a large ecosystem of plants and animals. The atmosphere created by the processes of evaporation, rainfall, flow contribute to the microclimate in the vicinity of the creek. It is from these natural processes, that Ephemeral Suspension takes its inspiration, intangible processes caught in midair.

Submerge

by Davey McEathron Architecture + Studio Lumina + Drophouse

Davey McEathron, AIA (lead)
Christina Brown
Eric Dethamphaivan, Assoc. AIA
Christian Klein
Hunter Tipps, Assoc. AIA

Submerge takes the viewer from the path along the creek and places them underwater, where droplets of rain interrupt the delicate plane that separates the aquatic from the terrestrial.It presents an optimism, a vision of a vibrant creek teeming with life and color. Looking up at the delicate rings rippling above, one is suddenly part of the creek, an organism and inhabitant of this fragile ecosystem. Through its ripples,Submerge forces self-reflection and mutual concern for the space we inhabit. The rings of light create a moment that envisions a future where Waller Creek becomes an area of exploration and respite; a site of symbiosis between its historic waters and those who walk among them.