Four UT design students hope to turn a downtown Austin eyesore into a two-story-tall tribute to the ever-evolving city.
The students will design massive coverings to help conceal the partially-completed Intel building, located at the corner of Fifth and San Antonio streets. Intel stopped construction on the building last January because of financial concerns.
The fabric coverings will be draped over two sides of the building until Intel decides whether to complete construction.
"Intel was getting some pressure from downtown Austin to do something about the building," said Carolyn Moore, a design junior involved in the project.
She said the design specifics will be kept secret because the students "want to surprise Austin."
The idea for the project came from the Creative Public Relations on Downtown Construction committee of the Downtown Austin Alliance. The committee brought together Fred Shannon, Intel's external affairs manager, and Dan Olsen, the director of the UT design program.
"The Downtown Austin Alliance approached us and suggested that we get together with [the students] and discuss a possible collaborative effort for the building during this interim period," Shannon said.
About the same time Intel was contacting Olsen for students, Moore, Katie Phillips, Ian Searcy and Ray Thompson, all design juniors, approached Olsen in search of an summer design project. Olsen offered them the Intel project.
"We sort of stumbled upon it," Phillips said.
Moore said a project of such magnitude looks good on a resume but the real value comes from learning how to collaborate on a project.
"The real value of this experience has been in how to work with each other and working in the professional realm," she said. "Like so many times we are given hypothetical situations in the classroom, but this is the real deal."
The project, entitled "Take Time," should be completed in the next few months, Shannon said. The fabric panels will stretch from the fourth and fifth stories on the east and west side. The design will address the changes the city is experiencing and "encourage Austinites to reflect on their day," Searcy said.
The panels will be rotated at an undetermined date.
"We will rotate some of the images to give the people downtown the opportunity to view the image that is currently on the west side and an opportunity to show the people on the west side the image on the east side," Shannon said.
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