Lake Austin Boat Dock

Constrained by the City of Austin’s imposition of a strict requirement that all new dock construction be limited to the original boathouse footprint, the owner turned to Franke : Franke to design a boat dock that would include two boat slips with lifts and a jet ski lift at the lake level, and a large partially covered lounge and “outdoor dining room” area on the second level. We focused on the owner’s desire to create an inviting social gathering space that would be unique and modern among the many traditional boathouses along Lake Austin.

Cypress bench seating with protected storage beneath and ventilated corner storage was designed to anchor and provide a studied scale relationship to the tall upper floor. Further restrained use of cypress on the upper level as the roof overhangs, ceiling and handrail, along with closet doors and shade scrims on both the upper and lake level provide a warm contrast to the dark steel frame structure and corrugated architectural metal siding. Rolling cypress doors on a continuous track slide open to access the storage and mechanical areas of the dock. The opening between storage closets on the lake level along with the stair landing above create the perfect alcove to provide convenient access to the docking niche for a single jet ski.

The owner’s desire to have some shade on the upper deck, without fully covering or enclosing it, was achieved by careful study and modeling of the roof plane’s orientation to determine its optimal placement for shade potential throughout the year. Those studies lead to the purposefully dynamic skewed of the roof over the limited building footprint.