Austin Trip – Austin Central Library Talk & Tour

Austin Central Library – Library Design Talk and Full Tour

I returned to the Austin Central Library for another “Talk Green to Me” seminar about the sustainable design and features of the library, only this time I brought my grandma who wanted to see the new library and and city hall.

The seminar we attended was called, “A Deep Green Building Within a Green Neighborhood: presented by Lucia Athens, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Austin; Jonathan Smith, Associate Partner at Lake|Flato Architects; and Kathy Zarsky, the LEED Consultant for the new Austin Central Library.” — Austin Public Library Webpage

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Austin Trip – Several Sustainable Stops

Sustainable Stops: (1) Agave Community, (2) Chestnut Plaza, and (3) Chestnut Commons Community

After my scheduled stops, I drove around east Austin and came across a couple of other note-worthy sites. The first was a modern housing community development called, Agave, which consisted of eclectic, pastel colored houses of various shapes and sizes in this planned community!

Below is the Agave housing development sign at the bottom of the hill as you drive up into the community!

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Austin Trip – Green Gate Farm & Village Farm

Green Gate Farm and Village Farm Tiny House Community

After my time at Community First! Village that morning, I went less than a few miles down the road to Green Gate Farm, across the street from an up-and-coming tiny house community, Village Farm. I had no idea about the Village Farm tiny house community, so that was a nice surprise I stumbled across! Unfortunately, I didn’t read the entire website for Green Gate Farm, only the tour page, which hadn’t been updated to reflect the tour connection to the farm stand seasonal hours.

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Austin Trip – Community First Village

Community First! Village Tour

I came across Community First! Village a couple of years ago while researching online, so I was really looking forward to visiting it in person! Knowing that this planned community for the chronically homeless sprouted from Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a christian-based mobile food service for the homeless, was very inspiring – so I made sure this was a pillar stop on my trip. And yet again, I had my mind and expectations blown sky high!

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Austin Trip – Horn Winery

Horn Winery and Tasting Room Visit

Since I was in the Austin area for some time, I made it a point to visit my former fraternity brother, Brandon Bownds – who has a love for making all sorts of alcohol, even when I lived with him in college – at the winery he now manages, Horn Winery and Tasting Room in Hye, Texas!

While I was aware central Texas is a big producer of wine and craft beer, it was really the drive over to Horn Winery that put this vast volume into context as I drove past dozens of wineries!

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Austin Tour – CMPBS

Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems Site

I was really looking forward to visiting the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS) after I met Pliny Fisk III a couple of years ago at the CMPBS booth during EarthX Expo 2017 in Dallas, Texas!

“The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, established in 1975, is a non-profit education, research, and demonstration organization specializing in life cycle planning and design. We undertake projects based on their potential contribution to site, regional and global sustainability and human health, and actively pursue collaborations with associate organizations, businesses and professional firms.

Projects emphasize regional contexts as bases for responsible resource use relative to materials, energy, water, waste, food, and meaningful employment. Our expertise is accessible through green planning and design services, conference presentations, public lectures, and published papers.” — CMPBS Webpage

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