Oasis Texas Masonry

By Scott Ginder

Masonry is a material with endless possibilities and therefore endless possibilities of expression. In Vernacular architecture, it captures the qualities, craftsmanship and regional characteristics. It’s very nature is that it is heavy and therefore does not travel well and because of this, it defines the architecture of a region by the bricks and stone on hand. Lueders and Dhanis Texas are great examples of this. It is also a material that is most often laid by hand with pieces that are ergonomically possible. It is therefore, one material that can capture the characteristics and qualities of the masons who laid it. Louis Hayn and his crew of Lookinggood Masonry were able to express these qualities at Oasis Texas that are only achievable with care and effort and team collaboration. Oasis Texas is a restaurant, retail and office destination on the located on Lake Travis. Oasis Texas garnered a Golden Trowel award from the Central Texas Masonry Contractor’s Association for the masonry.

The project intentionally uses many distinctly different types of masonry and patterns to define areas of the project completely different than the next. The origins of each masonry type have a different story that explains how it became part of the project. One wall became known as “the Marfa stone” simply because the origin of the idea came from an indigenous building seen in Marfa Texas. It was such an odd and beautiful pattern that it just needed to be included in Oasis Texas.

Example of "Victorian" and "Marfa" stone beyond.

Another stone type was called the “downtown stone” because it was based on the limestone that is typical of any building built on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin in the Victorian era and the technique that was used to lay it. During the project, we were fortunate to secure a reclaimed brick from San Marcos. Bob Schultz of the ownership and development team sourced the brick through a contact. The brick was aptly named, the "San Marcos" brick and blended well with the “downtown stone”. 

Example of "Downtown" stone.

Example of "Downtown" stone and "San Marcos" brick.

Example of "Downtown" stone.

“Drystack” was justly named. “Drystack” is a technique favored by Bob and was selected for a prominent location in the project by the curb drop off. “Turtlebacks” is such a unique dome shaped stone with tiny fossils and because of the subtleties inherent in the stone it needed to be in a location where users could see, feel and appreciate the qualities of the stone and was therefore chosen for the location next to the spiral staircase.

"Dry stack" Masonry

The “Victorian” brick is a blend of six different reclaimed brick types that were salvaged and then laid with corbels and sawtooth brick patterns. “D’hanis” is laid with terra-cotta seconds blocks from D’hanis Texas. The wall was painted and then scraped for a weathered look.

"D'hanis" and "Victorian" masonry types Scott Ginder is Project Architect for Oasis Texas and a Senior Associate at Dick Clark Architecture