SXSW Unveils New Downtown Austin Headquarters

AUSTIN, TX — Music is a unifying force, Ziggy Marley is credited as having once said. But until recently, SXSW — the annual conglomerate of film, interactive media and music festivals/conferences staged in Austin each March — was all over the map, housed among a handful of downtown office buildings.

Not anymore. Officials on Tuesday hosted members of the media — including Patch — on a tour of their brand-new digs in the heart of downtown Austin. Dubbed the SXSW Center, the offices are housed at 1400 Lavaca St.

Some 42,000 square feet of space largely encompassing the 11th and 12th floors are all SXSW, and the expansive rooftop deck serving as the 13th floor that yields a lounging area where staffers can relax while taking in stunning views of the state Capitol and city skyline. All told, SXSW founder Roland Swenson said, spent some $70 million in creating the new space.

"This road started with us looking for a central office space where we could combine our employees from three different buildings downtown," Swenson said. "After a long search, it became obvious we would have to build build the office...to get it right."

SXSW co-founder Roland Swenson addresses members of the media during building tour. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Upon entering the building, one is lured by the aroma of freshly made coffee at the SouthBites store open to the public that also serves pastries. The new Southbites location just had its grand opening on Monday.

Related story: Southbites Café And Coffee Bar Schedules Grand Opening

By year's end, Swenson said, the building will house fellow tenants WeWork, a New York City-based firm providing shared work spaces for technology startup subculture communities, and services for entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups, small businesses and large enterprises; private equity firm Parthenon Capital Partners; and the law firm of Butler Snow LLP.

But even at lobby level, it's clear who's the anchor tenant. Walls across the ground floor are adorned with the famous arrow that denotes SXSW venues during the spring festival, hinting at their tenancy higher up in the building.

The wall opposite the entrance of 1400 Lavaca next to the elevators wordlessly intimates the building's anchor tenant. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Among the aesthetic considerations was space that would help spark the imagination, Swenson added: "We wanted a building that would inspire creativity, with space where we could cultivate a community."

With that key element as part of their charge, staff at global design and architecture firm Gensler designed the interior that is less linear and angular than it is swooping and flowing. But that was strictly an assessment of one with an untrained busy eye oohing and ahhing at the elegant soft tones of an interior punctuated with bursts of color — montages of artists performing as SXSW on the walls, a brightly colored mural by Austin-New York artist Sophie Roach fronting the 11th floor as one exits the elevator.

Bright and joyful mural by Sophie Roach serves as welcoming sight in exiting the 11th floor elevators. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

But in cornering Gensler's Jose Ortega for some insight, that raw reaction isn't too far off the mark. On hand to help answer reporters' questions, Ortega pointed at the shape of the furniture that evokes the sensation of music and how the layout follows the silhouette of the building.

The wooden floors yields a gentle juxtaposition that helps focus the eye upward to the artwork on the walls. "That was part of the intention from the beginning," he said. "To include this particular part of the SXSW story, and make it a focal point throughout the building."

SXSW's musical legacy is well represented at a floor entrance point as seen here. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

It works. It's a welcoming, open space that's easy on the eyes. SXSW staffers are all settled in, but the space was sparse during the tour that started at 11 a.m. as most were off doing field work by attending various music festivals and conferences in other parts of the country, said Frank Shaefer, head of facilities for SXSW.

More artwork invokes the SXSW musical tradition, as seen in this interactive montage that allows office workers to manipulate the art with other pictures in a nearby box. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Box at left enables SXSW Center workers to pay impromptu homage to their favorite artists by replacing the tiles to their liking. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

The few workers still in town seemed relaxed in such immaculate surroundings working at their computers. A young staffer was spotted in the ample kitchen area incorporated into the design for food preparation.

There weren't many workers at the SXSW Center during the media tour, but those who were in the offices seemed at ease with their new work environment. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Another pair of young women sat on comfortable, cushioned chairs on the roof deck while on break, chatting while taking in the air up there on a sunny summer day marked by gentle breezes that hadn't yet visited the city this week.

Panoramic views of downtown Austin, including of the Capitol, are part of the appeal of the 13th floor roof deck. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

One reporter on the tour asked if there would be volleyball played up there — there's certainly enough space — before Shaefer quickly disabused her of the very notion of such innately dangerous activity so very high up on the roof of an office tower.

The roof deck at the SXSW Center, 1400 Lavaca St. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.

Yet there is one planned activity on that big roof deck that will yield what is arguably the coolest aspect of the new space: Rooftop concerts. You read that correctly, and it's worth repeating: Bands will be able to perform rooftop concerts at the top of 1400 Lavaca smack dab in the middle of the central business district. Visions of The Beatles' final public performance atop the building of the band's multimedia company Apple Corps overlooking the London office and fashion district immediately came to mind.

It's a testament to Shaefer's commitment to his key role in creating the new SXSW space that he fought hard to make rooftop concerts a reality in the not-too-distant future. When people ask him what the hardest part of the build-out process, he invokes the ready-to-go elevated musical venue without hesitation. Unforgiving city codes dictated every minute detail of the 13th floor before permitting could be secured to play there in the future, he noted.

"There's so much minutiae," he said from the high perch. "There's just so much sausage making, and one of them was how wide the stairwells were to make sure they were wide enough so we could have enough people on the roof. Somebody put a post in the wrong place, and it torpedoed the whole roof. It took it from a four foot wide stairwell to a three foot."

A substantive workaround helped ensure that all aspects were code compliant, he said. So, no, there won't be any high-altitude volleyball up there nearly 180 feet from ground level. But by God, there will be music.

At the media tour, SXSW provided a brochure with fun facts about their new space. Here are some highlights:

Project overview

• Client: SXSW
• Design architect: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
• Interior architect/AOR: Gensler
• Structural engineer: Walter P. Moore
• Mechanical engineer: Wylie Consulting
• General contractor: Harvey-Cleary Builders
• Building size: 145,000 square feet
• SXSW interior size: 42,000 square feet
• Completed: June 2019

Key features

• Open concept desks respond to seasonal staffing shifts by offering maximum flexibility, letting the organization scale up or down quickly.
• Rounded furniture matches the music wave pattern of the building's architecture and creates a workspace that feels fun and whimsical rather than stiff and corporate.
• Greater collaboration is encouraged with offices along the perimeter and desks swirling through the center, as teams can expand in any direction without losing close proximity for group work.
• Sound levels are controlled using panel screens on work stations, cushion backing on the carpet and K-13 on teh exposed ceilings., a spray-applied insulation with one of the highest noise reduction coefficients available.
• Closed offices are strategically placed to maintain open outdoor views along the south wall toward the Capitol building for staff in the main area.
• Storage nooks and conference rooms outfitted with Skyfold partitions incorporate flexibility at a variety of scales.
• Central amenities include a pantry and kitchen near the central stairs to draw staff to common destination points for spontaneous interactions.
• Hospitality-focused design features create a mature, refined aesthetic with an industrial exposed ceiling, timeless wood details and a neutral material and color palette that creates a sense of lightness and expansiveness.
• Custom elements include a striking circular reception desk that appears to be floating, a wall of stretched fabric, a curved wall with a built-in bench and planter, warm woods and a white terrazzo inter-connecting stair leading to four conference rooms. The resulting space balances both cozy and modern design for a canvas that allows SXSWto showcase their culture, mission and personality.