The Texas Capitol Mall project is transforming the upper tier of downtown. Once the dust settles on a decade of construction, Austin will have a four block long esplanade lined with live oaks. This new urban green between the University and the Capitol will be a new civic space rarely possible in a city of close to a million people.  It is also the working seat of government with 13,000 state employees officing in four new buildings.



The mall plan did not occur overnight. One could say it has its roots in the founding of Austin in 1839. From Austin’s inception, plans and renderings aspired to elevate old Waterloo into a grand capital city. The program will trace back over these beginnings so that we can learn how the new mall came to be. It’s a surprising story with a twisting plot line.