Remnants of the Old Airport

This afternoon, Timothy and I went on a walk through what remains of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. The former entrance was on the southern edge of the airport, off Manor Road across from E.M. Franklin Ave. The entry road, with directional signage and canopy waiting structures, extends up to the control tower and former site of the terminal. Beyond, all remnants of airport structures and runways have been obliterated in the desolate, lunar landscape of Phase II, where utility work and new roadways are being prepared. Eventually all but the tower will be removed for new construction.





Although the master plan calls for the retention of the 1961 control tower, it has deteriorated considerably since the airport closed. Plans for its reuse are up in the air, likely to be decided during a later phase of construction. The small building footprint and numerous levels will make adaptation difficult. Although the tower does have an elevator for accessibility, fire code would require a second stair for certain uses, which would be impossible within the structure. However, the master plan does have promising suggestions for use of the ground floor:

Additions or modifications that detract from the tower’s original form are discouraged. While adaptive reuse of the tower for other activities is desirable, modern-day life-safety and exiting requirements may prevent it from being used as a public assembly building or viewing tower. Opportunities should be explored for retrofitting the ground floor of the building as a small interpretive center; the first two floors of the tower were originally within the terminal building, and
as a result will need to be enclosed and clad in a complementary manner. Interpretive elements and displays that recall the history of aviation at Mueller and in Austin are encouraged at the base of the tower. (Mueller Design Book, Nov. 2004, p. 101)

To go off on a tangent, I like to imagine the vastly different form the Mueller redevelopment might have taken, if its design had been left up to an idealistic architecture student, not a developer. Comically misleading signage would remain, runways would become roads, new houses and commercial buildings would intermingle with renovated terminals and hangars, and the whole site would have a layered effect where its history and evolution would be clearly legible. At least Catellus is making an effort to retain some of the most important structures and incorporate them into the development.

Monday!

Upon returning from our Christmas trip to see my family in Abilene, we were relieved to find out that our foundation had not been poured in our absence. According to our friendly builder Stan, who we saw at the construction site today, the pour is scheduled for 7 AM Monday morning. It will take 7 concrete trucks, each containing approximately 10 cubic yards of concrete! After the concrete has cured for at least a week but less than a month, they will pull the cables - hence the term "post-tension."

Hey, We're Famous!

Or, more accurately, our soon-to-be-neighbors (and Mueller) are in the New York Times!

Happy Holidays!

Looking over across Phase II, the old airport tower has a lighted "Noel" sign. Happy holidays!

PTSD: Post Tension Slab Deduction.

It looks like we'll be out of town for the big pour. Stupid Christmas. It's only been nine days since they started. I think there may be one more inspection right before the pour and then the framing starts. We might have walls before the new year. Woo Hoo!

Construction Progress Photos

From this past Saturday until the house is complete, Timothy and I plan to take the same two photos every day to show the progress of construction. In order to get the shot framed properly, we used another Willie further along as a model, and then discretely marked the same position for the tripod in front of our house. The marking is so discrete, in fact, you can't see anything if it's not midday.

For the time being, the photos will largely consist of the houses behind us and sky, but you'll be able to watch the transformation...



from this...



to this!



Yes, that's right, we've got plumbing! Or sewer pipes, at least. Construction is also progressing on the other houses in our block, but ours is by far the furthest along.



A few blocks away, they've started the row houses on Zach Scott, a major street with bike lanes that connects to Airport Blvd.

Good Things Come to Those Who Whine

While Elizabeth was on vacation in Houston, I was left to attend to the beginning stage of construction, namely placement of the form work for our foundation.



The layout of our floor plan is such that the backyard is pushed into the northeast corner of the lot, so to maximize our lot size upgrade from 37'x90' to 44'x90' our foundation needs to be off-center favoring the west side, thus giving our backyard an extra 7' in width.

Last Wednesday, while I was on my way to visit my sister, I thought I'd swing by and view the empty lot one more time before the start of the construction on Friday. Much to my surprise they started early! The batter boards were already in place. And much to my dismay the foundation was centered on the lot, adding 3' to the already unusable side yard to the west of the house.

A phone call to Stan, our builder, led me to confirm a fear that the developer, Catellus, who dictates the overall look of the development, wouldn't want the house to deviate from the original plan. But Stan managed to talk them into letting him move the foundation. Much to my vindication.

An Inconvenient Move

My parents and their two little dogs came down to Austin for a visit the weekend before Thanksgiving. We had a great time, and showed them around the rapidly progressing construction at Mueller, where my talented photographer father tried out the new camera he'd just bought.



Unfortunately, almost as soon as they'd left, we started having major electrical problems. We'd been renting this adorable 1950s, asbestos-clad house from a couple of old women with little interest in maintenance. Despite its small size and deteriorating state, it had a lot of charm - an abundance of windows, hardwood floors, original cabinets and countertops. It also had the original wiring.

After a small electrical fire, two visits by an electrician, ongoing shorts and an exploding light bulb, we realized the problem was not going to be fixed, or at least not easily. We'd lost multiple electronic devices with the first big surge, and, more importantly, were worried the house would burn down if we turned the power back on. Both times the electrician came out, he gave the house a clean bill of health, and during the second visit, he checked wiring in the attic. If the problem wasn't there, it had to be in the walls, and the landladies made abundantly clear they had no interest in rewiring the house.

We had no choice but to move. We really appreciate the help of family and friends, who put us up over Thanksgiving and the week thereafter while we waited for December 1 to come around. Our new apartment is up north, with a 20-30 minute commute fighting traffic on Mo-Pac in the mornings. It's a nice place (with working electricity!) at a reasonable price, but I'm sure the quasi-suburban lifestyle will make us that much more grateful we're buying a place so close to downtown. We're certainly relieved to be buying a new house, and to know we'll never have to rent again.