618 Tillery is an adaptive reuse project, converting an industrial warehouse into a creative office campus with a central green corridor and rain garden inspired by the native ravine microhabitats of Central Texas.

618 Tillery brings life to a post-industrial site in East Austin, where a large warehouse footprint was reimaged as a lush indoor/outdoor campus shaded by solar panels, native tree canopy, and a linear raingarden with an elevated runnel feature system and native and adaptive riparian vegetation.

The concept of “reuse” drove the design, as existing underutilized cisterns presented an opportunity for the capture, storage, and conveyance of roof runoff for irrigation and water feature reuse. This “closed loop” system is highlighted by the prominent placement of the cisterns at the building’s front entry, also reflecting the site’s history and industrial character. A linear runnel floats above diverse riparian plantings and under perforated pedestrian bridges, spanning the entire corridor, and connecting the outdoor spaces to is various office tenants.

The landscape architect was engaged from the onset of the project to create a design that seamlessly weaves the landscape and architecture into a single cohesive space for its users. The design is both functionally and aesthetically driven, including the systematic design of the rain garden hydrology and ecology, and the complimentary hardscape materials such as left-over glulam segments that became benches, now mirroring the beams of the architecture. The team worked together to balance the contemporary building with the softness of the central landscape, resulting in a fully integrated space both architectural and natural, and both beneficial for the tenants and the now thriving garden inspired by central Texas ravine microhabitats.