Outdoor seating area with blue chairs and white tables, surrounded by small trees and greenery, in an urban setting.
Urban outdoor courtyard with trees, plants, benches, string lights, and a colorful mural on the building wall.
An outdoor urban courtyard with trees, string lights, benches, and a colorful mural on a nearby building wall.
Aerial view of an urban outdoor courtyard featuring small round tables with chairs, benches, string lights, trees, and surrounding buildings.
Outdoor patio with small trees, metal chairs, tables, string lights, and landscaped planters next to a red brick building.
Row of white and brown wooden chairs lined up against a brown wooden table, with green plant in the foreground and brick wall background.
Outdoor seating area with a wooden bar counter, modern chairs, small trees, and planters with green plants, against a textured wall with stairs in the background.
Close-up of a memorial wall with engraved names, with a blurred outdoor background featuring trees and lights.
Wooden bench with black metal handles in a garden with green plants and a brick wall background.
Outdoor urban scene with wooden benches and tables, trees, a person walking, a scooter, a parked van, and a building with large glass windows.
An outdoor urban area with young trees, benches, string lights, and a colorful mural on a building wall.
Empty outdoor patio with trees, benches, string lights, and colorful mural on building in the background.
An outdoor seating area with small round tables and chairs, surrounded by trees and landscaped plants, with string lights overhead and a brick wall in the background.

301 congress

  • location: austin, tx

    sector: workplace

    completed: 2022

    client: hpi

    civil engineering: wgi

    gc: strata

    photo: john patterson

  • Anchored by the five-story Daas mural Where the Wildflowers Grow, The Porch at 301 Congress transforms an underutilized service corridor into a vibrant, pedestrian-scaled public space in the heart of downtown Austin. What was once an over-wide alley, used primarily for deliveries, is now a lively and flexible series of outdoor rooms serving both workplace and hospitality functions.

    Oro Design Group, in collaboration with HPI, WGI, and ultimately Strata, guided the project from permitting through construction close-out. Careful site analysis revealed daily patterns of use — service and deliveries clustered in the early morning, leaving large windows of inactivity. This insight shaped the design approach: to create a safe, pedestrian-centric refuge from midday through evening while maintaining the necessary functionality of a service corridor.

    The design establishes three connected mini-plazas: a shaded bosque for informal gatherings, a flexible plaza for food trucks and pop-up events, and an outdoor lounge with modular seating for impromptu groups of varying sizes. Low planters act as protective buffers from vehicles while maintaining clear sightlines throughout the space.

    Lighting was a central design priority, balancing safety with ambiance. A custom light wall connects the three plazas, casting dappled illumination without the harsh glare of security fixtures. Overhead poles and catenary lighting are strategically varied to correspond to the spatial capacity below, ensuring a comfortable, well-lit environment at all hours.

    The result is a modest but impactful urban intervention. Once devoid of occupancy, 301 Congress now provides employees and visitors with a welcoming terrace for lunch, meetings, and casual interaction. By demonstrating how thoughtful landscape architecture can reclaim overlooked spaces, The Porch underscores the power of design to improve daily quality of life in the urban core.

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