Hot Mama's Cafe

It's my understanding that the Pedernales Lofts were one of the first upscale condo projects in East Austin where now you can't throw a stick without hitting one.  The upside is that this trend has really increased the density of the housing close to downtown which has a lot of sustainability positives in terms of amount of greenfield land disturbed for housing per capita, reduced car usage, etc.  Of course this gentrification has its downsides as well, especially with a lack of affordable units in the new developments.  The increased costs end up displacing the original residents of the neighborhoods, many of whom are minorities.  So you end up with less economic and cultural diversity.

Anyhow, the site I wanted to write about is a coffee shop (or espresso bar if you want to get fancy) right next to the Pedernales Lofts called Hot Mama's Cafe.  Both the landscape for the lofts and the coffee shop were created by D Crain back when they were still part of Big Red Sun.

View Into the Courtyard from the Street Sidewalk

The star of this outdoor courtyard landscape is weathered steel.  Sure there's some basalt and permeable concrete paving as well as some bamboo, but it's the steel where all the creative detailing went into.  Working from the outside in, the fence between the Pedernales Lofts and the courtyard take two forms.  This first are solid steel panels that are staggered on the horizontal plane so there are gaps where light can slip between them.  On the courtyard side there are cast concrete and steel benches with a couple of planters, and on the outside facing the lofts are planters with various succulents. The overlapping steel panels are cantilevered out from the middle core of planters/benches with a gap at the bottom that helps more light get through under the fence wall and make them feel a little less visually heavy.

Cast Concrete and Steel Benches at Steel Panel Fence

Another View of the Coffee Side of the Steel Panels

Outside Face of the Steel Panels

The second type of fence is corrugated, perforated steel.  This is taller at about 8 feet, and it occurs at one corner and then at a gate that connects into the courtyard for the lofts.  The waviness of the corrugated metal gives some interesting texture to the perforation.  It almost makes it seem more 3-D.  The gate door knob and lock area is framed out in weathered steel and then standard hardware has been used.

Corrugated, Perforated Steel Fence with Gate

Gate

Hardware

Other steel details on the site include edging around the permeable concrete paving pads and then flat steel fill panels between the street sidewalk and the interior concrete pads.  A large concave steel light fixture hangs down from the main tree in the courtyard.  Flip  this upside down and you have something very similar to the steel planters that Big Red Sun used as one of their signature landscape elements on other projects.

Steel Edging and Flat Panel Filler

Light Fixture