Austin, Texas: Agave/Nine Sixty Nine - conventional subdivision, unconventional houses

[Dan]

I was so disappointed when the company when worked for, Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, transferred me to their laboratory in Austin, Texas. What did I do to deserve this? Not only would I be surrounded by stupid, fat and ignorant Americans for the next several years, but also stupid, ignorant and fat Texas cowboys who execute people for fun.

Anyhow, searching for a place to live, I finally found a neighborhood with houses just like those in a typical neighborhood back home in Europe! I don't know why there's not more places like this, but I guess it's because you uncultured Americans don't appreciate good design. Granted, in Europe I could walk a hundred meters to the tram, where here I have to walk two kilometers from my cul-de-sac just to get to a nachbarschaftsläde, but such is the angst of everyday life.

I took these photos on a bleak, rainy day. Bleak like my soul, because I am forced to live in such an uncivilized place. There are only three avant garde performance artists living on my block. I have to drive 30 kilometers to an Ikea. You stupid Americans.

[Seabishop]

Some of the houses look kinda' neat individually (in a weird way). But the picture of the whole street looks scary. Maybe its the lack of trees. Is it a high-priced development?

Is this a LEED development or is it just designed to look cool?

[Planit]

My first response was 'Wow, this is Texas?' Then I remebered, oh it's Austin. Pretty funky and interesting houses (and I could pick out the same house with different facades on a few). Landscaping will help with the streetscape. What is the price range & sq. ft.?

[hilldweller]

A new twist on suburbia for sure. You do get the sense that there's a little "my corrugated metal box is weirder than yours" going on..

Horrible grading job, and the landscaping looks like crap. Standard "python" street probably chosen to add to the industrial feel, no?

[DetroitPlanner]

I like how most of the cars appear to be european econoboxes... how appropriate.

Keep building stuff like that and they will have an Ikea only 5 km away!

Is this the development on the old airport?

Nice powerlines in pic six!

[The One]

You CAN'T show us these pictures, then not provide any information about how much they are being sold for, floor areas, lots sizes (can see that on most), who the builder is.....and the like

Having said that, I'd like to nominate this post for the Cyburbia best post with photo's and introduction for 2009-2010 season

[Dan]

You infantile monolingual Americans, your McDonalds and Wal-Mart and fat people on electric carts at Wal-Mart and big cars and George Bush and no appreciation of real football and no sense of fashion or design and your idiotic questions. Why do you ask questions about where I live, when you believe the universe is only 5,000 years old without giving it the least bit of doubt? The only good thing you Americans contributed to the world in the past ten years is Google, and that can be used to find out more about the development.

http://www.ninesixtynine.com

Yes, it's green, but you still have to consume a cubic hectare of benzin a month if you live there so you can get to work. Forty hours a week ... how uncivilized. Back in Europe, we have 20 hour work weeks and eight weeks of paid vacation every year. Anyhow, why must you Americans consume so much of the world's precious resources? Now go back to your churches and pray to that sky wizard of yours or George Bush or whoever to heal your soft American brain. Blödes Arschloch!

[The One]

Glurp.....I just blew Mt. Dew all over my keyboard and monitor








I haven't had a Mt. Dew in at least SIX MONTHS!

[DetroitPlanner]

Originally posted by Dan

You infantile monolingual Americans, your McDonalds and Wal-Mart and fat people on electric carts at Wal-Mart and big cars and George Bush and no appreciation of real football and no sense of fashion or design and your idiotic questions.

How dare you imply this! I know lots of people who speak different languages including arabic, french and mexican!

So these were designed by the best modern architects? We're in trouble. I'm sure Graves is shaking in his cowboy boots.

[Suburb Repairman]

This neighborhood has a fascinating history. It was originally platted for development in the mid-1980s... just before the S&L scandal and the oil bust. These two events virtually destroyed the Texas economy and developments backed by oil money came to a screeching halt. This neighborhood was one of them. There were a few sections of conventional 1980s suburban-style homes built, which you can see on the other side of the creek. The neighborhood was abandoned until the early 2000s, when a group of architects got together to discuss opportunities to exercise some creativity in the real world. Agave was born out of that--it's like a giant foamboard model for architects. They inherited your basic blah sprawl subdivision, and used it as a giant canvas to see how altering architectural design could turn it into a unique, thriving neighborhood.

To the LEED question: I believe all of the homes are rated through Austin's greenbuilding program (a LEED predecessor).

Detroit Planner: this is out near 183/Ed Bluestein on Martin Luther King as it approaches Decker Lane. It is about three miles from the airport redevelopment.

[Maister]

Und zey hold their zigarettes wrong.




Holy crap! That's in TEXAS? I never would have guessed that (except maybe the pics showing the power lines)

[Dan]

Most of these stupid Americans no longer smoke, and when they do, it's these watered-down mass-market brands Marlboro? Camel? Those are like the Budweiser Lights of tabac. Like everybody else in Europe, I roll my own, and use the strongest Turkish tabac. You wasteful Americans throw millions of tonnes of cigaretten packaging into landfills every year! Shame on you!

[rcgplanner]

Very cool twist on a traditional suburban subdivision. Prices are a bit on the steep side, 198k to 320k.

http://ninesixtynine.com/969-price-sheet.pdf

[Rygor]

Interesting design, but I would only live there if they built a house for me that was black, only because there is no color that is darker.

Touch my monkey! LOVE HIM!

[steel]

I see they are not enforcing the subdivision paint color restrictions.

[mendelman]

I say "why not?" The buildings look cool, but it's really just lipstick on a pig. You still have the standard suburban land design.

I hope the houses actually incorporate some green techs otherwise I maintain my "lipstick/pig" metaphor.

[RichmondJake]

Is that the granny unit in the front yard? They could have done a better job of matching the paint color. Close, but no cigar.

[PennPlanner]

These houses remind me of some of the oldest houses built in Columbia, MD. As a radical new planned community, the first neighborhoods featured 1960s contemporary houses along side traditional split levels and colonials.

Now that it's 40+ years later, they have not aged very well. Not only do they look dated, that type of modernist style is actually surprisingly inflexible to changing societal needs.

I'm sure that the conventional McMansion subdivision will hold its value better than these modern houses at Argrave.

For a much better designed community, check out Prospect in Longmont, Colorado.
http://www.prospectnewtown.com/

[Dan]

Originally posted by PennPlanner

These houses remind me of some of the oldest houses built in Columbia, MD. As a radical new planned community, the first neighborhoods featured 1960s contemporary houses along side traditional split levels and colonials.

Are you thinking of shed-style houses? Shed houses weren't exactly on the cutting edge of 1960s/1970s modernism. It was an architectural style that was indigenous to the Pacific Northwest, but there were some shed-style houses built in the northeastern suburbs of Buffalo during the 1970s. One planned community in suburban Amherst, Audubon New Town, is known for having a large concentration of sheds; the subdivision feels more like suburban Portland or Seattle than Buffalo.









The shed-style houses look dated, but they aged surprisingly well, especially considering that most are surfaced in stained wood.

[boilerplater]

I still think they look cool. Yeah, they went low-budget on the landscaping and didn't put much thought into the grading. It looks like they just planted in the native soils, which are probably bad, and didn't add any soil amendments or topsoil. A lot of the lawns have large dead areas. A lot of the plants are cheap, ragged specimens too. Its an unfortunate aspect of our system that people have to worry so much about resale value rather than getting a house they really like or is suited to their personality. Its one of the reasons our housing stock is so undifferentiated.

[SoyLaBonBon]

Originally posted by DetroitPlanner

How dare you imply this! I know lots of people who speak different languages including arabic, french and mexican!

So these were designed by the best modern architects? We're in trouble. I'm sure Graves is shaking in his cowboy boots.

Mexican isn't a language. At least . . . not the last time I checked.

[Tresmo]

Originally posted by SoyLaBonBon

Mexican isn't a language. At least . . . not the last time I checked.

I believe DP was making a joke.

[dandy_warhol]

These houses remind me of some of the Make It Right homes, Brad Pitt's baby in the Lower 9th Ward of NOLA.

[DetroitPlanner]

Originally posted by Tresmo

I believe DP was making a joke.

Yes 'tis true, I was speaking sarcasticly and playing on the general ignorance of the American (U.S.A.) people and referring to Dan's monolingual term. I've heard this used in conversation from time to time and was floored by it.