Travis Audubon recently met with Katy Zamesnik, Interim Director of the Austin Convention Center (ACCD), and Riley Triggs, Lead Project Manager with the City of Austin’s Capital Delivery Services (CDS), to learn more about the design of Austin’s new expanded convention center. We went into the meeting hoping to encourage stronger bird-friendly features. What we heard was surprisingly good news: many of those features are already part of the project.

The New Austin Convention Center

Construction on the new expanded Austin Convention Center, a project ten years in the making, is well underway. Demolition is nearly complete, excavation is about 83% finished, and construction is scheduled to wrap up at the end of 2028. The new facility is planned to open in time for SXSW 2029.

The expanded Center will increase rentable square footage by nearly 70%, invest about $18 million in public art, reconnect the downtown street grid, and add new green spaces, plazas, and street-level activity for both visitors and residents. The project is expected to generate more than $700 million in annual economic impact and is funded entirely by Hotel Occupancy Tax, not property taxes.

Sustainability at the Center of the Design

Triggs explained that sustainability has been a major consideration from the beginning. The project is pursuing a 4 or 5-star Austin Energy Green Building rating, at least LEED Gold certification, with hopes of achieving LEED Platinum, and an especially ambitious goal: becoming the first net-zero-carbon-certified convention center in the world.

The project is also using low-carbon construction materials. Six of seven concrete mixes will be low-carbon, and those newly tested mixes will now be available for other Central Texas construction projects. The center will also use low-carbon steel and mass timber in place of some conventional steel.

Designing With Birds in Mind

Of particular interest to Travis Audubon is the center’s effort to prevent bird collisions. The project is pursuing a LEED innovation credit for bird-collision deterrence. Designers analyzed likely collision hazards, including exposed glass and transparent corners that birds may perceive as open flight paths. Triggs said the project team also consulted with City staff working on Austin’s proposed bird-friendly building standards and examined best practices elsewhere.

Another welcome surprise: the new convention center will have a substantial green roof. Portions of the area  adjoining Red River, Waterloo Greenway, and the events plaza will actually sit above the convention center’s exhibit hall. Plans call for trees and vegetation coordinated with Waterloo Greenway horticulture experts, creating habitat where little existed around the old convention center. Triggs described the result as “a much better habitat-friendly area than what the original convention center was.”

Not an All-Glass Building

The new convention center also avoids the energy problems associated with heavily glazed buildings. Heavily glazed buildings are harmful to birds because the effect makes the buildings reflective, which looks like open sky or habitat to a bird’s eye. The amount and placement of glass were determined through energy modeling and year-round sun studies. South-facing glass is protected, north and east-facing areas use fins for shading, and the west side – where Austin buildings receive intense afternoon sun – will have very little glazing.

Triggs said the larger goal is to make the convention center “a model for how city facilities ought to be done in the future.” The team hopes its innovations – from bird-friendly design to low-carbon concrete – will demonstrate that ambitious environmental standards can be incorporated into major public projects while remaining within budget.

For Travis Audubon members who have been advocating for bird-friendly buildings throughout Austin, that is encouraging news. Austin’s new convention center could become an important example of how a large civic building can reduce its climate footprint while also making room for the birds and other wildlife that share our city.

If you haven’t already, we invite you to sign our petition to encourage city council to pass a bird-friendly building design ordinance in Austin. Sign today! And you can learn more about the new Convention Center here.

Featured image: Rendering of the updated Convention Center provided by the City of Austin.