Architecture: Handel Architects
Interior design: Kelly Wearstler
Furnishings: Kelly Wearstler furniture line, custom-made furnishings designed by Kelly Wearstler, vintage items
Photo credits: The Ingalls
In the 2nd Street District, Downtown, a zone of rapid cultural and creative growth in Austin, the Proper Hotel & Residences enables guests to delve into the character of the city, connected to roots but with an eye on the future.
The innovative 32-story building containing 244 rooms and 99 exclusive residences, designed by Handel Architects, reflects an aware, respectful approach that includes LEED® Gold certification to minimize environmental impact and maximize sustainability. This rigorous environmental standard extends from water recycling systems to the limitation of use of volatile organic compounds (low-VOC paints), energy efficiency of LED light sources, and deployment of insulating panels for energy savings and the blocking of UV rays.
For the interiors, the decorator Kelly Wearstler has set out to recover the identity and tradition of the site through painstaking attention to detail, in over three years of research producing an overview of local crafts. The sophisticated aesthetic effect is evident in the staircase, decorated with 60 vintage patchwork rugs, or in the pendulum clock in wood and ceramic in the lobby, and the series of teapots, trolleys and furnishings with inlays by the ceramist Rick Van Dyke.
Nothing has been left to chance in the selection of the materials, such as travertine from local quarries for the pool platform, elm wood, antique finishes for the mirrors. All the way to the original textile fibers used by the artist Magda Sayeg. The McGuire Moorman Hospitality team, an award-winning restaurant management firm with a roster of 14 venues, completes the mission of welcome of Austin Proper Hotel & Residences, providing about 900 square meters of space, indoors and outdoors, for events and meetings. To make Austin a hospitable ‘home away from home.’
