The Ellipse

Nestled by the tranquil shores of the Colorado River in the heart of Austin, Ellipse proposes a visionary expansion to the esteemed Dougherty Art Center. As the vibrant artist community of central Austin burgeons and the frequency of seasonal flooding increases due to climate change, the inadequacies of the existing metal-framed Butler structure of the DAC have become apparent. 

In the proposed design—Ellipse—our goal was to create an art gallery that properly responds to environmental constraints, respects the present language of the DAC, and actively engages with its greater context. To this end, an elevated metal building with an overall elongated form that is intercepted by various elliptical concrete cores is created. 

The proposed design begins with two arms that extend into the existing building, enabling easy transport of artwork from the DAC studios into the new gallery space. While the levitating metal box extends the structural grid of the existing, novel elliptical forms borrowed from meandering pathways in the adjacent Butler Metro Park are introduced to break up the spatial organization of the box and serve as the primary vertical load-bearing members. As a result, the gallery space remains vastly open while spatial variations are enabled by curved walls, and accents of openings further connect each space to the outdoor context in different manners.