The 1,035-foot-tall Wilson Tower, set to begin construction this year, will be the tallest residential building in the US outside of New York City. 

The 1,035-foot-tall Wilson Tower, set to begin construction this year, will be the tallest residential building in the US outside of New York City. 

Photographer: Courtesy of HKS
Design

The Supertalls Are Coming to Austin

A tech manufacturing and housing boom is bringing a pair of Texas-sized skyscrapers to the Lone Star State’s capital. 

The city of Austin is building up, and its once-modest skyline is getting weird.

Due in 2026 is a mixed-use high-rise called Waterline, designed by the New York firm Kohn Pedersen Fox. At 1,022 feet, the building qualifies as a “supertall,” one of just a handful of these spectacular skyscrapers in the US outside Chicago or New York City. When it’s finished, the project will rank as the tallest building in Texas. Designed like a stack of several different buildings, Waterline will stand out on a skyline that’s growing up faster than almost any other nationwide.

But it won’t stand alone. Groundbreaking is due this year on an even-taller supertall, the Wilson Tower. Wrapped in a dusky golden brise-soleil running the length of the building, the Wilson Tower will rise to 1,035 feet, looming like a giant harmonica over the live music capital of the world and setting a record both for the state and for any US residential high-rise outside New York City.