Representatives of the Fairmont Austin, hotel currently under construction at Red River Street and East Cesar Chavez Street, revealed renderings of what’s in the works Friday.
According to Fairmont representatives, the 37-story hotel is designed to reference and incorporate Palm Park, adjacent to the northeast side of the future hotel. The Waller Creek Conservancy is in the process of restoring the part as part of its larger plan to restore the creek and connect a string of parks alongside it.
The hotel’s interior designer, Warren Sheets of San Francisco’s Warren Sheets Design, has focused on the park as an organizing theme for the building, noting that it also underlines the importance Austinites place on the outdoors.
The hotel’s entrance will be flanked by two oak trees, which sounds visually dramatic, and will have a topiary garden in the lobby.
Popular and well-regarded local landscape architecture firm dwg will design the Fairmont’s outdoor areas to emphasize elements of Palm Park and Waller Creek in a sustainable fashion—collecting AC condensation from the hotel, for instance, for reuse in the gardens.
The building will also feature the Red River Canopy, an elevated walkway over Waller Creek connecting it to the Austin Convention Center, directly across Red River Street.
The bridge will provide an overhead view of Palm Park and of the creek. It will have also have a stairwell and ramp to the park and three new miles of hike and bike trail.
The Fairmont’s projected opening is summer 2017.