Seeing Things: Austin’s Miró Rivera Architects create a sense of place with their design for the Circuit of the …

By every measure its astounding that the Circuit of the Americas race track in southeast Travis County the first purpose-build Formula One facility in the United States was built at all, let alone in just 30 months.

That a small forward-thinking Austin architecture firm, Mir Rivera Architects, was tapped to create the facilitys signature buildings is even more unusual. And that the architectural aesthetics of a massive motor sports and entertainment venue was even considered at all even more surprising.

To be sure, in the past decade, Olympic stadiums have emerged as headline-grabbing architectural moments. Think of the elliptical, latticework Birds Nest, the Beijing National Stadium designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and artist Ai Weiwei.

But within the realm of sports facility architecture, race car tracks seldom rank high.

I think its not an exaggeration to say its a miracle, what with all the regulations and permitting processes involved, that the (complex) even got built, said Juan Mir, a principal, along with Miguel Rivera, of the Austin firm which is known for its sophisticated modern aesthetics. Its just about as fast you can possibly build anything in the United States.

Mir credits circuit co-owner Bobby Epstein with being able to make quick decisions about the design, something that kept the project moving forward.

Given the accelerated schedule, the architects had no time to make a real design study of other sports facilities or fair parks.

We knew we wanted to create a sense of place and create something iconic, said Mir. Thats important for a complex as large as this is.

Indeed, the enormous scale of the 600-acre site is daunting. The 3.4 mile track is just but one feature. Theres the 9,000-seat grandstand replete with 29 private suites and a 6,000-square-foot lounge. Theres a 6,500-seat amphitheater and multiple concession and ticketing buildings scattered around.

The architects took the speed and lightness of the performance-driven F1 cars as essential inspiration, creating an architectural language that celebrates function and form. Instead of covering faades, the architects articulated the structural elements like white steel supports and beams, using them as design elements to reflect the mechanically-fixated nature of the motorsport culture.

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Seeing Things: Austin’s Miró Rivera Architects create a sense of place with their design for the Circuit of the ...