On Tuesday April 19, we were treated to tours of the City of Austin’s City Hall and administration centre, and held discussions with staff about the many facets of Council's operations and wide ranging sustainability initiatives.

The scale and range of the Councils activities in mind boggling!  Its 13,000 employees serving a population of around 800,000.

The Council launched the Office of Sustainability in Sept. 2010, with Lucia Athens appointed as the Chief Sustainability Officer. Lucia, and Melissa Martinez, within the Office of Sustainability Office have generously provided a comprehensive program for our two weeks at Austin.

The Austin City Hall which was built in 2004 to highest sustainability standards at a cost of $57 million, was certified by the U.S. Green Building Council with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold in July 2006.

Features of the building include energy efficiency, double glazed windows, photovoltaics providing part of the buildings power needs, LED and compact fluoro lighting,  solar design optimising natural ventilation, use of

 

Austin City Hall - spot the right angles!

 

Living art wall hanging at Austin City Hall. Beware, don't touch!

local and recycled materials, native plants and trees, efficient water and energy appliances, and water efficient landscaping.

 

Vulture robots keep patrol and deal with undesirables!

Even the carpet in the building is made from recycled plastics!

The outstanding architectural design of this building has quirky features.  For example copper "clouds” in the council chamber, bearing a resemblance to bat wings hang from the ceiling,  and unlike most buildings, Austin City Hall has few 90-degree angles.

Contained within the building is some really weird and creative art.  Upon touching one piece, I found that it was actually alive!  I came away missing a finger but otherwise intact.