The ARRIVE Austin hotel comprises eighty-three rooms situated within a five-story, L-shaped tower and adjoining two-story podium which houses two restaurants, three bars, a coffee shop, leasable street-side retail space and parking. The brief from the owners was to question established hotel tropes—the grand entry, the hotel restaurant, and the always-empty lobby. Rather, they asked for a dynamic hotel that eschewed brand and established a subtly powerful focal point that knits into the rapidly developing Plaza Saltillo neighborhood, located just east of downtown Austin.
Grappling with context, history, and appropriateness, the design looked to the building and material typologies of the surrounding 1920s-era warehouses, as well as the masonry and concrete construction found at Huston Tillotson University (a historically Black university that overlooks the property). The resulting design prioritizes a high-quality building that honors its location and serves as a redirection for the cheaper design strategies to the west.