Architecture

We construct ideas worth making. We bring optimism, pragmatism, and research strategy to every project. The results are provoking spaces, objects, and exhibitions that win national awards; and return clients because we raise the bar for what is possible. Our design culture of makers, architects, editors, and experimenters leverage our ability to pivot with the flow of connected ideas as they surface. We are curious, we find value, we believe the architecture we make together delivers unexpected impact. Identified as Architect Magazine’s ‘Next Progressives’, UltraBarrio is noteworthy for design excellence in uniting architecture and urban design. As recipients of the prestigious Architect’s Newspaper ‘Best of Design’ Award for our work on the Southwest Civic Core Campus, our work seeks to coax out and celebrate the specificities of the context that we work within.

  • Greener Gulfton Shade Structures

    As part of the Greener Gulfton initiative, UltraBarrio is developing a series of low impact structures that direct water to host nature, bridging the gap of shade equity where natural intervention can’t easily reach.

  • Southwest Civic Core Campus

    The collective goal is to build on recent planning efforts and put community members at the center of decision-making processes for building a stronger and resilient future.

  • Architecture of Bees Exhibit

    An immersive educational visual arts exhibition that brings together designers, architects, naturalists, and beekeepers.

  • Transit Center Redesign: Architectural Scenarios

    UltraBarrio is developing urban, active, and architectural opportunities. The goal is to transform transit place to enhance comfort and safety for desired experiences.

  • Ironworks - 711 Milby

    The interior environment of the main lobby is staged to create an engaging space for working professionals inside the historic Ironworks.

    [POST COMING SOON]

  • Segundo Retail and Coffee Shop

    Two shipping containers are modified to create a retail and coffee shop. Together they create an engaging social space.

  • Transit Environment Programming Catalog: Architectural Guidance

    The Catalog emphasizes shared topics and opportunities throughout the document toward sites that blend ecology, safety, and equality with place making.

  • Gulfton Placemaking: Roaming Cart-Ographies

    As part of a feasibility study that will determine potentials for new affordable housing alongside renovation of existing multi-family units, UltraBarrio has been hard at work on a project that celebrates Gulfton’s dense urban patchwork.

  • Heron House

    Outdoor and indoor blend in strong visual connections between the interior layout and the exterior landscape. Orienting views out towards the meandering bayou washes the home’s common rooms in a gentle northern light.

  • Near Northside

    Marcus Martinez says ‘Representation has historically made a declaration to the imaginative and provoking edges of architecture — it tells a story.’ - Texas Architect Magazine May/June 2019

  • Parking Futures

    Parking Futures imagines fluid and innovative evolutions for the urban parking garage typology. The work provides a way forward for parking garage construction.

  • Townhomes - An Urban Model

    The design of the townhomes is approached from an urban design perspective.

  • Sargent's Wharf - Affordable Housing

    Urban Rooms, shared programs run by and for the community, offer a series of experiences to the new waterfront.

  • Cycle District - Erie Blvd.

    The Cycle District offers a mix of experiences for urbanites and wildlife alike. Erie Boulevard is home to a variety of retail amenities and restaurants that will benefit from clear pedestrian and bicyclist access while also incentivizing residents to make use of the trails, and connectivity between adjacent communities

  • Segundo Coffee Lab Branding and Identity

    We see the design of space down to the details of character and identity.