A five-level architectural precast array just outside downtown Austin, Texas earned Buildings: Best Façade Only Parking Structure recognition in the 2025 PCI Design Awards. San Antonio architect Gomez Vazquez International and Austin engineer MJ Structures challenged teams at the Gate Precast operation in Hillsboro, Texas to craft 69 panels affording the 7001 Burnet Road parking structure an exterior motif reinterpreting mid-20th century screen block. A CNC machine enabled the producer to fabricate a bed where triangular opening molds could be fixed in the same location for each mix placement—resulting in more efficient and cost-effective casting cycles.
The panels project a cascade of rays or shadows onto the parking area floors and walls, creating unusual and unexpected interactions with light. General Contractor Austin Commercial enlisted PCI-Certified C&A Erectors of West Monroe, La. to install the precast elements over a 12-day schedule. The garage is part of a three-building Colina West Real Estate development, alongside a five-story office and two-story pavilion.
The main 2025 PCI Design Awards showcase appears this month here.