One of Austin’s four original downtown squares, Brush Square underwent a master planning process to recreate the underused park into a vibrant public space.
The Plan offered recommendations for Brush Square’s implementation strategies by outlining sources for construction and operations funding, along with potential partnership for maintenance, operations, and programming.
The project team created two groups, Planning Partners and a Technical Advisory Group, to guide planning processes and share technical expertise throughout the project.
Brush Square is situated at a busy downtown location. This Master Plan is a vital step toward realizing the importance of downtown planning for public spaces used by residents, workers, visitors, children, and people of all ages, abilities, and identities.
There is renewed interest in creating vibrant public spaces as downtown Austin’s residential population continues to grow and with the increased capacity and efforts of the Downtown Austin Alliance.
Efforts to revitalize the Brush Square into a signature open space came on the heels of a successful renovation to Republic Square. The Brush Square project gained traction because of priorities for public safety concerns.
Asakura Robinson worked with the City of Austin to engage downtown residents, workers, tourists, commuters, and other stakeholders to create a master plan vision and implementation strategy to guide future improvements to Brush Square.
Based on community and stakeholder feedback, Asakura Robinson developed a set of design principles that focused on celebrating the Square’s historic stature, improving the park experience, promoting connectivity, creating a “front porch” for visitors, ensuring a high quality pedestrian experience, and enhancing urban ecology.
The City of Austin adopted the Master Plan on March 28, 2019. The most immediate priority for Phase 1 improvements is increasing safety. The City already has funding to install additional lighting around the Square and the surrounding streets. Other focus areas for Phase 1 development include increasing tree coverage, repositioning parking spaces, and adding a water feature. The City also anticipates Phase 2 developments that will focus on history and culture and improvements to park infrastructure.
Following the completion of this master plan, Asakura Robinson was selected to be the Prime Consultant for the implementation of the plan. Final design is underway for the square.
View the final plan here
