Project | ESB-MACC Phase 2

The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (ESB-MACC) has a privileged site overlooking Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin, Texas. In 1998, Mexican architect Teodoro González de León (1926-2016) envisioned the facility as a two-story semicircular building surrounding a central public plaza, or zócalo, shaded by geometric screens. However, only a rectangular paved area and a portion of the semicircle were completed in the first phase (2007-2010), with the remainder of the footprint marked by an aspirational outline on the ground. In 2018, the Austin City Council commissioned an updated vision plan for ESB-MACC that provided recommendations for Phase 2 and Phase 3 expansions. And in 2020, the City selected the joint venture of Miró Rivera Architects and Tatiana Bilbao Estudio to realize Phase 2.

As a cultural center serving the entire city, the mission of the ESB-MACC is “the preservation, creation, presentation, and promotion of the cultural arts of Mexican Americans and Latino cultures.” Through a series of meetings with different stakeholders and users of the ESB-MACC, the design team learned how the community views the building itself as a statement of resilience and visibility for the Mexican American populace, which has declined as a share of the overall population in recent years. The design team’s dialogue with the community was key to redefining priorities and opening the discussion of how the architecture could reflect identity and culture. Check out the final design here.