IA Interior Architects used local artisan influences when designing the HEB Digital and Favor Delivery Eastside Tech Hub in Austin, Texas.

Located on East Sixth Street, the renovated warehouse was once home to Austin’s first recycling center. Now it is 81,000 square feet (circle it about six times and you’ll complete a mile) of Texas-sized innovation, transformed just for H-E-B Digital and Favor Delivery. For the new home of both brands, IA delivered a thoughtfully curated design infused with local art and materials, and all-things Texas.

To preserve fluidity and connectedness, IA utilized an existing promenade, known as the “greenhouse,” with exposed metal beams and clerestory windows to unite the two companies at the walkway’s center; the result is a natural-light filled gathering area in the heart of the space. Visitors and staff enter a reception vestibule that features a wood-planked ceiling made from locally-sourced hickory and pecan with a reception desk framed in native limestone and crystals encased in bull wire as homage to a gabion wall. The reception area flows into the sun-filled promenade with two communal areas on either side: to the east, a bar where employees mingle and enjoy local “Beer Fridays;” to the west, a triangular monumental gathering stair, designed to mimic the rugged terrain and landscape of west Texas, used for company-wide meetings and events.

Dubbed the Eastside Tech Hub, the building will be shared by H-E-B Digital’s Austin-based Partners and Favor. From Marfa to the Gulf Coast, the office interior celebrates the unique textures, tastes, treasures, and makers that make up the diverse and vast state of Texas. H-E-B, Favor, and IA were diligent in commissioning Texas-based materials and artists to add personality and flavor to the space. From the locally-sourced hickory and pecan of the wood-planked vestibule ceiling to the reception desk framed in native limestone with bull wire encased crystals that reference a gabion wall, each element alludes to the companies’ Texas roots. Custom pieces included a 50-foot mural by Austin-based artist Will Bryant and two hand-woven screens, hanging on the east and west sides of the facility, by local fiber artist Ellen Bruxvoort.

An arch resembling a Texas Quonset hut, outlined in local D’Hanis brick, leads to the wellness area. Recalling a Texas canyon, the area features a 20-foot bouldering wall and offers fitness classes, bike parking and a tune-up station, showers, and parents’ room. IA expanded the second-floor mezzanine to hold additional work stations and an impressive board room encased in glass that overlooks the first-floor bar and living room. The board room, appropriately named “Kerrville,” is the exact square footage of the original H-E-B store in Kerrville, Texas. The boardroom is a modern interpretation of the original two-story structure with four front facing columns and vertical siding done with aluminum fins.

Design: IA Interior Architects
Design Team: Stephanie Long, Manuel Navarro, Holly Holstrom, Vikki Benefiel, Brittany Caruso, Laura Nagala, Robin Chaney, Lisa LeGrand, Bill Gray
Contractor: Harvey Cleary Construction
Photography: Peter Molick

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