UltraBarrio

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UltraBarrio UltraBarrio is an urban design and architecture practice. www.UltraBarrio.com Established out of MIT with a focus on Architecture and Urbanism.

We bring design intensity to the challenges of our urbanizing environment by focusing on the future of transit, urban mobility, technology, and place making. Our central goal is to shape cities to be more civic, sustainable, and generationally connected by design.

Long spans capture spaces for gathering. Open edges make intentional connections at a park scale. The facade maximizes a...
09/30/2026

Long spans capture spaces for gathering. Open edges make intentional connections at a park scale. The facade maximizes air circulation to make spaces worth inhabiting. Bypass routes make the top deck and ground level car-free as activity spaces. 
 
Cast with color, the building accomplishes civic ambitions because it leans into the conventions of the parking garage. The vehicle, however, is considered as one occupant among nature, people, and events.

UltraBarrio rendering: Agustín Piña

We’re not designing a bus shelter. We’re prototyping a new standard for how waiting environments perform in hot, humid S...
08/31/2026

We’re not designing a bus shelter. We’re prototyping a new standard for how waiting environments perform in hot, humid Sun Belt cities, asking how a series of interventions can shape the larger public realm experience.

We started by observing everyday adaptations: sitting, standing, seeking shade behind a leasing sign, waving down a bus with a phone light, even waiting behind a fire hydrant to find a patch of shade. These improvised behaviors revealed how people are already designing their own environmental responses.

We bridged these observations with environmental analytics to develop performance metrics that consider orientation, structure, landscape, shade, light, air, and thermal comfort as interconnected elements, transforming a transit space into a cooler, more comfortable, and welcoming respite for everyone.

Now, we’re translating our research and design into full-scale shelter prototypes, working with Renfrow+Co to fabricate and test ideas in real-world conditions.

More to come.

As we continue sharing elements of our 2026 AIA Houston Design Award-winning project, Common Grounds: Civic Core Pavilio...
07/17/2026

As we continue sharing elements of our 2026 AIA Houston Design Award-winning project, Common Grounds: Civic Core Pavilion, we’re highlighting the spaces that support health, family, and everyday community life.

The pavilion brings together a Women and Infants Clinic, a Teaching Kitchen, Flexible Classroom, Meeting Rooms, and a Family Event Space within a single civic destination. Rather than separating essential services, these programs are connected to encourage learning, wellness, and social support across generations.

Strongest civic spaces are those that bring people together while responding to the everyday needs of the communities they serve. Common Grounds envisions architecture and landscape as a continuous platform for health, learning, and lasting social connection.

The American Institute of Architects, Houston SWA

07/02/2026

For implementation-focused public realm design, this engagement “arcade” goes to sidewalks and parks to meet people where they are. Grounded in our focus in the tactility of city-making, the structure is Inspired by the diverse mix of densities, public spaces, and everyday experiences within the study area. Project: Saint George Place Livable Centers Lionheart Places, LLC Houston-Galveston Area Council

For implementation-focused public realm design, this engagement “arcade” goes to sidewalks and parks to meet people wher...
07/02/2026

For implementation-focused public realm design, this engagement “arcade” goes to sidewalks and parks to meet people where they are. Grounded in our focus in the tactility of city-making, the structure is Inspired by the diverse mix of densities, public spaces, and everyday experiences within the study area. - Project: Saint George Place Livable Centers Lionheart Places, LLC Houston-Galveston Area Council

As we continue to share elements of our 2026 AIA Houston Design Award-winning project, Common Grounds: Civic Core Pavili...
06/26/2026

As we continue to share elements of our 2026 AIA Houston Design Award-winning project, Common Grounds: Civic Core Pavilion, we’re highlighting its Library and Outdoor Reading Rooms. 

While the library interior is in a forthcoming phase, the building should express the life of the library from the outset, and register as a social hub through its outward expression to the community and park. The library envelope expands in to a series of outdoor reading rooms that extend learning, gathering, and discovery, Nested within the tree canopy, these shaded spaces support quiet reflection, informal study, and community programming while strengthening the library’s connection to the landscape.
 
As some of our most democratic public spaces, libraries strengthen social connections and expand access to knowledge. Looking ahead, we are excited by opportunities to design environments that respond to community needs while fostering curiosity, belonging, and lifelong learning.

The American Institute of Architects, Houston

We are excited to share that UltraBarrio has been awarded a prestigious 2026 AIA Houston Design Award in the ‘On the Boa...
06/10/2026

We are excited to share that UltraBarrio has been awarded a prestigious 2026 AIA Houston Design Award in the ‘On the Boards’ category for our project ‘Common Grounds: Civic Core Pavilion’.

Located in Southwest Houston, the Pavilion creates a community-centered campus that unites existing civic nodes and services through shared public grounds and collective interests. This recognition reflects the collective vision of our client, community partners, consultants, and stakeholders whose values continue to shape the project.

Thank you to and the award jury for recognizing the potential of civic architecture to strengthen community life.
 
Georg Rafailidis, Co-Founder
Associate Professor,

Blair Payson, Principal/Owner

Kyle Miller, Associate Dean
 

Southwest Civic Core Pavilion

CLIENT: TIRZ20 and City of Houston

CLIENT’S PROJECT MANAGER:
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER:
MEP ENGINEER: E&C Engineers and Consultants, Inc.
CIVIL ENGINEER Walter P. Moore
LANDSCAPE:
ENVELOPE CONSULTANT:

Based on stakeholder feedback, a neighborhood with essential public services requires a cohesive identity and connection...
06/02/2026

Based on stakeholder feedback, a neighborhood with essential public services requires a cohesive identity and connection among its civic resources. The new community building anchors a newly realized campus, with internal programming and interconnected pathways extending into the park network, and linking users to existing and new services and resources.

Southwest Civic Core Pavilion

05/01/2026

Slowness:

Teams from , , , and TIRZ 1 conducted a series of site visits of St. George Place: by foot, bike, and bus, to document neighborhood dynamics, attending to patterns of use and conditions over time. Moving across modes allowed for a layered reading of the environment, registering shifts in building typologies, street hierarchies, density gradients, and programmatic use at multiple scales.

We then translated these observations into a series of “day-in-the-life” scenarios, as speculative narratives that trace how different users encounter, navigate, and shape the neighborhood over the course of a typical day.

Interim City: Recreate, Record, RecoverA 10 year demolition, excavation and expansion of infrastructure, that includes t...
04/29/2026

Interim City: Recreate, Record, Recover

A 10 year demolition, excavation and expansion of infrastructure, that includes the construction of temporary concrete flyovers, requires an enhanced definition of what territories are available for rescripting. Interventions are all the more urgent when public access is still needed, where legibility of neighborhood edges risk erosion, and when safe passage for all remains necessary. As a response, this tactical set of structures are countermeasures that reserve the capacity for access and produce activity that results in a more informed permanent recovery.

Address

2339 Commerce Street
Houston, TX
77002

Telephone

+17133645223

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