LCRA Redbud Center

LCRA Redbud Center Entry Sign

The LCRA Redbud Center is home to the Lower Colorado River Authority's (LCRA) emergency response facility as well as The Wilkerson Center.  The Wilkerson Center and its grounds are a hub for education about the water and infrastructure that LCRA manages.  The center sits right on Ladybird Lake (aka the dammed up Colorado River) near downtown Austin.  Completed in 2008, the center's architects were Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek Architects and Overland Partners, with landscape architecture by  J. Robert Anderson.

The most conspicuous sustainability element are the large rain tanks up front.  There's one right up by the street that has an aqueduct from the building that fills the tank.  This front tank holds 11,600 gallons of water, and the three tanks by the building each hold 6,500 gallons.  So you have a combined system capacity of 31,100 gallons.

Rainwater Collection Tanks and Aqueduct

What I didn't notice on my previous visists to the center for seminars was that there's a lot of stormwater management going on in the parking lot and the back.  Curb cuts in the parking lot guide water to a series of bioretention ponds on the side of the building.  These eventually feed into a a large detention pond which eventually releases water into the Colorado River.

Curb Cuts

Steel Plate Pedestrian Bridge

Bioretention Ponds

Detention Pond View from Pergola

When you go into the main entry of The Wilkerson Center you are surrounded by water features.  The entry walk runs parallel to a recirculating, naturalistic limestone boulder water channel.  Just past the main door to the building you get a view of a series of the interpretive water feature that models the six lakes and dams of the lower Colorado River.  The day I was there it seemed like the features were not running at their normal water levels, which I couldn't tell was because of maintenance issues or drought reasons.

Naturalistic Limestone Water Feature

Interpretive Water Feature

To access the entire interpretive feature you navigate a lot of ramps and stairs.  The guardrails for these are all galvanized steel posts with stainless, tension cables.  A lot of the round posts had mortar patching after the post was inserted.  Some of the other posts have a base plate that is bolted to the concrete, and I found that look to be cleaner.

Cable Guardrails

Close-Up of Cable Connection

Close-Up of Post Base

 There are several metal grating footbridges that cross water of the intepretive feature, and this same metal is used in the main walk to the overlook as well.

Metal Grating Footbridge

Close-Up of Grate Connection to Walk

Interpretive signage is mainly in the form of pre-cast panels that were inserted into leave-outs from the flatwork pours.  These panels give some details on how to turn the large faucet heads to affect the water flow.  On my day there these faucets were padlocked shut so I couldn't play around.

Interpretive Signage at Water Feature

There's an amphitheater space down below the water feature with some cast-in-place, curved concrete seating.  Nearby seating takes the form of a stone veneer bench with a cut stone cap.

Cast Concrete Seating

Concrete Steps Intersect with Limestone Boulders

Stone Veneer Seatwall with Cap

 A metal grating walkway takes you over the detention pond and out to an overlook with a view of the Tom Miller Dam.  The same guardrails repeat from the stairs as well as the same metal grating form elsewhere.  Panels of the grating have been spot-welded in the field which has left parts discolored and you can feel the bumpiness of the welds while walking.  It would have been great if they maybe welded underneath the walk or added some other support so the welding wouldn't have been necessary.  Concrete bands between the metal panels provide more interpretive information.

Metal Grating Walk with Interpretive Concrete Bands

Spot-welding Visible on Grating

Tom Miller Dam