Ethan's View at the Backyard is a community rooted in a sense of place. Situated in Bee Cave, Texas, 15 miles from downtown Austin and in the heart of Texas Hill Country, the project consists of 41 luxury condominium units and 16 freestanding townhouses. This unique residential neighborhood occupies a striking hillside site with commanding views over the protected Balcones Canyonlands Preserve and beyond to the Colorado River.
Role: Project Manager - Lead team through programming, market research, concept design, zoning, construction documentation, pre-construction, and permitting. Also assisted the client with fundraising, sales, and public representation in the City of Bee Cave.
Program: Multi-family Residential
Area: 156,000+ sq ft; 57 units
Cost: 55,600,000 USD
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: International Development Management
Solar Home Adapting for Desert Equilibrium (SHADE) was the Arizona State University entry to the 2013 Solar Decathlon. This home was designed, constructed, and marketed by students over the course of two years. Notable technologies in SHADE are photovoltaics, phase change insulation material, and a hydronic tubing system for cooling and heating.
Role: Assisted team through programming, market research, concept design, construction documentation, and marketing. Also participated in the construction of the house itself.
Program: Single-family Residential
Area: 850 sq ft
Cost: 858,000 USD
Employer: Arizona State University
Client: US Department of Energy
Forza COTA Ventures is a development partnership that brings a variety of luxury multi-family residential projects, executed in multiple phases, to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. As a whole, the project consists of 60 townhouses, two 13 -story midrise towers, and one 16-story midrise tower. In the center of the race track next to turn seven is Forza Elite, a luxury car club which consists of a glass car elevator displaying the vehicles available to drive on track.
Role: Assistant Project Manager - Assisted team through programming, regulatory research, concept design, preliminary zoning, and schematic design. Also assisted the client with marketing and financing.
Program: Multi-family Residential and Commercial Car Club
Area: 626,000+ sq ft; 120 units
Cost: 228,600,000+ USD
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: Forza COTA Ventures
The Backyard Garage-Offices combine style and function in a unique way for the Bee Cave area. By strategically varying floor-to-floor heights, conditioned spaces are inserted into the parking structure. As a result, users are afforded direct access to their office space while also being provided with reduced energy costs. On the exterior, a metal mesh system with integrated vegetation disguises the parking from its surroundings while softening the building.
Role: Assistant Project Manager / Design Lead - Lead team through programming, market research, conceptual design, zoning, construction documentation, pre-construction, and permitting. Assisted client with fundraising, sales, and public representation.
Program: Commercial Office and Parking Garage
Area: Office - 42,000 sq ft / Garage - 302,000 sq ft
Cost: 22,000,000 USD
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: International Development Management
The Backyard Offices are arranged in a series of rectangular bars that have been pulled apart and overlapped in order to create outdoor terraces and shared courtyards. This strategy breaks up the apparent massing of the buildings and provides natural light from two sides of each office space. In order to meet a tight delivery schedule insulated precast panels, in three colors that draw from the natural Hill Country colors, are implemented to speed up building enclosure.
Role: Assistant Project Manager - Assisted team with programming, zoning, conceptual design, and construction documentation. Also, assisted client with fundraising, leasing, and public representation.
Program: Commercial Office and Parking Garage
Area: 60,000 sq ft per building
Cost: 26,000,000 USD
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: International Development Management
The Backyard Distributed Energy Center (DEC) is a cutting-edge tri-generation power facility that satisfies the Backyard campus’ needs for off grid electrical power. The heat from power generation also benefits the campus by converting that energy into heated and chilled water for HVAC needs. A utility loop connects all campus buildings to the DEC microgrid and performance is monitored from a central hub.
Role: Assistant Project Manager - Assisted team with programming, zoning, conceptual design, and schematic design. Also, assisted client with technology feasibility study and campus loop integration.
Program: Industrial - Power Generation
Area: 18,200 sq ft per building
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: International Development Management
The Backyard Data Centers bring server infrastructure to Bee Cave, which is currently an underserved market. Typically not seen and located in industrial areas, this design places the data centers in the middle of the Backyard development. By nestling the building into the steep hillside grade of the site, the buildings become hidden bunkers. Further humanizing the buildings are xeriscaped roof gardens.
Role: Assistant Project Manager - Assisted team with programming, zoning, conceptual design, and schematic design. Also, assisted client with fundraising, leasing, and public representation.
Program: Data Center
Area: 34,000 sq ft per building
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: International Development Management
The Backyard Bridges are the key pieces that will connect the Bee Cave Hike & Bike trail network across Ranch-to-Market Road 620 and State Highway 71. Each asymmetric suspension bridge design is envisioned with a forked mast. Long lead-up spans provide a gentle, accessible slope for pedestrian and bikers. Then, each main span crosses the highways by 120 feet without supports to comply with TxDOT regulations.
Role: Assisted team with regulatory compliance, conceptual design, and budgeting. Also, assisted client with public representation.
Program: Pedestrian Bridge
Length: 700 ft total length / 120 ft clear span
Cost: 3,000,000 USD per bridge
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: International Development Management
The Terrace Offices consist of five Class-A offices adjacent to the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. The building facades echo the surrounding rock formations using a stair-stepped precast concrete panel. Each building was carefully located in order to preserve existing views out to the canyons and create generous courtyards in between the buildings. These plazas are meant to be shared gathering spaces that have built-in amphitheaters for outdoor meetings and performances.
Role: Assistant Project Manager - Assisted team with programming, zoning, conceptual design, and schematic design. Also, assisted client with fundraising, leasing, and public representation.
Program: Commercial Office and Underground Parking Garage
Area: Office - 240,000 sq ft / Garage - 883 spaces
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: International Development Management
The Warbonnet Residence is a home designed for two brothers in Lago Vista, Texas. Due to the steep hillside, the garage was placed on the flattest portion of the site. A raised deck then connects the two 600 sq ft homes; one for each brother. Each residence sits over 20 feet off the ground with amazing views to Lake Travis.
Role: Project Designer - Worked with client from conceptual design through bidding. Included zoning, code analysis, documentation, and cost estimating.
Program: Single-family Residential
Area: 1200 sq ft / 400 sq ft garage
Cost: 375,000 USD
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: Private
The Harbor View Residence consisted of several design concepts for a large luxury residence in West Lake Hills, Texas. The building was situated in such a way to have striking views of the Austin skyline no matter which scheme was selected. The client had needs for a large spaces to house collector cars as well as people for parties and charity events.
Role: Project Designer - Worked with client on multiple conceptual designs for the property. Included zoning, code analysis, documentation, and rendering.
Program: Single-family Residential
Area: 4000-8000 sq ft
Employer: Bercy Chen Studio
Client: Private
