MUZE is an 18-story student housing high rise in the West Campus neighborhood, two blocks west of the University of Texas’ main campus that features 158 units and 502 beds. This project delivered ahead of schedule and under budget for Fall 2019 occupancy. The building massing, formed by a rectangular tower set upon a low plinth that functions as a parking garage, is organized around a central core with a code compliant, single structure, double exit intertwined stair.
This compact central core required due to the site acreage being less than .3 acres coupled with building height limitations, houses vertical transportation and intertwined egress stairs. This enables the floor plates to achieve 90% efficiency and delivers the maximum amount of net rentable square footage within a strict zoning envelope. Placed atop the tower is an elegant, glass jewel box of amenities that gives way to a rooftop pool and ramping amphitheater that creatively doubles as pool accessibility access and sundeck.
The parking garage is wrapped in an architectural fiberglass bar grating that varies in opacity as it wraps the building, shielding parked vehicles from view. An elegantly detailed composition of regularly spaced large windows is interrupted at the corner by a dynamic parting of the rigidity of the adjacent composition. Further articulation of the façade is achieved through an arrangement of extruded window fins and blue glass, which complements the lobby design.
The result is a sophisticated, efficient building design that provides socially dynamic spaces for the vibrant West Campus neighborhood.
