Faculty Studio Spotlight: Allison Gaskins and 3 Fold Design

Teaching at UTSOA since 2008, Gaskins has led core design studios to students in the Architecture and Interior Design programs at the Undergraduate and Graduate levels. She earned Bachelor of Science in Civil and Structural Engineering from Duke University and a Masters of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin, working at KieranTimberlake Associates in Philadelphia, and, in Austin, at CottamHargrave Architecture + Construction (now Jay Hargrave Architecture) and DunnamTita Architecture + Interiors (now Page). Gaskins joined 3 Fold Design Studio in the fall of 2015, merging her independent practice to form a new endeavor with partner Page Gandy. Led collaboratively by Gandy and Gaskins, 3 Fold Design Studio “examines the intersection of thoughtful and client-specific design strategies with the belief that design begins in the home, at the scale of the individual.”  The practice has been recognized with many American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Texas Legacy of Design awards and ASID Austin Chapter Design Excellence awards.  

3 Fold is best known for cheery residential interior spaces filled with color and texture. Unafraid of bold hues and statement surfaces, their approach embraces a visual language shaped by warmth of personality for each client. The designs are both practical and playful, emphasizing an ethos shaped by a belief that home should be a happy place. The studio is celebrated for excellence in custom solutions, winning a 2023 Austin Home award specifically for the millwork in a loft within their Lawndale home project for a set of twin competitive gymnasts. The client wanted a space that only the twins could access, crafting a special moment just for the children to enjoy through a uniquely engaging structural design that encourages the twins’ athletic growth.   

Their interior design and architectural work extends beyond living spaces, too, the successes of which can be seen in the recently completed restaurant Black Gold in Austin’s Crestview neighborhood. The designers worked directly with the pitmaster Mems Davila to transform a former auto shop into a full-service Texas barbeque restaurant—pit and all. The space ambitiously incorporates the smokers into the interior of the restaurant, and what seemed to be an impossible permitting gauntlet was expertly translated into an elegant design solution. Beyond the technical feat of the pit design, 3 Fold transformed the old porte-cochères into a bright and bountiful dining area with 7-foot windows and soaring ceilings. 

We sat down with Allison Gaskins to dive into her approach and get a sense of her day-to-day practice as an interior designer in Austin: 

Describe your practice in two sentences. 

My practice, 3 Fold Design Studio, is primarily a residential design firm with a focus on developing functional, thoughtful, and client-specific solutions. We bring our appreciation for all design genres to each project, grounding our process in actively listening to our clients, balanced with our materials and construction experience in order to deliver color, pattern and texture-filled spaces. 

Which project defines your practice’s ethos? 

We recently had one of our projects, “Stonewall Residence” featured on the Tribeza homes tour. We provided the architectural and interior design for the project. We had fun featuring the story behind how we solved a spatial and structural problem with what we affectionately dubbed “Wine Jail.”

How does teaching inform your work and vice versa? 

Design should be ambitious; I also believe it should be not only buildable, but livable.  The word “appropriateness” comes up frequently in all of my classes and my projects. Fundamentally, if we are designing for how people live and using materials thoughtfully and responsibly, we can deliver design to the world in a more sustainable manner. Building something that will last is the goal here, and that is the foundation to “Good Design." I reference  Stewart Brand’s “How Buildings Learn” quite a bit in thinking about the lifetimes our built work will and should endure. 

What words of wisdom do you have for the students entering the field? 

Ask lots of questions, listen thoughtfully to the answers, and always try your best be cognizant of your own biases and assumptions. What we should do every day is practice, not perfection. 

Any in-progress work that you’d like to share? 

Does working on the Interior Design Accreditation count?! Ha. I have quite a few projects on the board now, including a simple rendering of a millwork piece for a bibliophile client of mine. It’s a small project, but we have been having lots of fun sifting through and measuring books, and tracking the sunlight to craft reading nooks throughout the house. 

Which place(s) in Austin hold the most meaning for you? 

There are a number of places for me, but one that immediately comes to mind is a tiny bit of forest behind our old house in Deep Eddy. It backed up to Johnson Creek and in the springtime morning after a rain, just when the rain lilies bloom, I could easily be convinced I was in a magical fairy-forest. These fleeting moments of nature-induced quiet are what sets Austin apart from other cities. 

What have you been reading lately? 

I always have a few books going, both in print and in audiobook format.  I just listened to “American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins and have restarted Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land.” I find his voice both inspirational and reassuring, so I prefer his audiobooks. In print, I currently have Colin Thubron’s “Shadow of the Silk Road” and Niall Williams’ “This is Happiness.” Its title is a little self-help-esque, but it is a lovely piece of writing that highlights the lost beauty of slowness and simplicity through the story of the last village in Ireland to receive electricity. It’s a bit of a “coming of age” story, told in reverse.

What music is on while you work?

I have a solid rotation of Wilco, Houndmouth, Head and the Heart, Avett Brothers, Black Pumas and Death Cab on constantly…but also, I would be remiss to not mention how much the soundtrack to Hamilton is played around here. 

Images courtesy of 3 Fold Design Studio.