Lake | Flato Architects

The Soto Office Building

The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

THE SOTO OFFICE BUILDING

Lake|Flato Architects + BOKA Powell

CATEGORY
Office Buildings

CODE CONSULTANT
Garabedian Associates

BUILDING ENVELOPE CONSULTANT
Building Exterior Solutions

SPECIFICATIONS CONSULTANT
Specifications Consulting

AREA
11000 m²

YEAR
2020

LOCATION
San Antonio, United States

PHOTOGRAPHS
Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

ARCHITECT OF RECORD
Boka Powell

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Byrne Construction Services

CIVIL ENGINEER
Pape-Dawson

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Hocker

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
StructureCraft, Danysh and Associates

MANUFACTURERS
Hasslacher Norica Timber, Structurecraft, Arriscraft, Gaf, Guardian Glass, Huber Engineered, Mbci, Oldcastle Apg,

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER
Raba Kistner Consultants

LIGHTING CONSULTANT
Scott Oldner Lighting

PRODUCTS USED IN THIS PROJECT
Engineer-Build Delivery Model

DESIGN ARCHITECTS
Lake|Flato Architects

PROJECT TEAM
Chris Barnes, Eric Van Hyfte, Sania Shifferd, Mike Smith, Miren Urena, Leonardo Caballero, Danielle Smyth

The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

Text description provided by architect.

BOKA Powell, in partnership with Hixon Properties and Lake Flato Architects, is proud to present The Soto—Texas’ first mass-timber office building.

The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

Mass timber is a model for sustainable design and construction that has proven its strength in Europe, Canada, and Australia, and more recently, the United States.

The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

This elegant structure anchors the Cavender Neighborhood, an exciting new mixed-use project in the up-and-coming Broadway corridor of San Antonio. The entire development focuses on efficiency, sustainability, flexibility, and innovation.

The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

Soto is the Spanish (Castillian) word for a “grove of trees” or “small forest,” especially one near a river, or a place of dappled sunlight and lush greenery.

Soto is a name, a place, and an acknowledgment of this building’s origin. Not only is timber construction beautiful, but it is also exceptionally sustainable.

The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

Concrete and steel buildings have large carbon footprints, whereas The Soto’s timber structure is carbon negative. As young-growth trees are harvested for the building’s construction, the carbon dioxide absorbed into the wood is captured.

New trees are then planted, and the cycle of carbon-banking is repeated. This LEED-certified structure is comprised of five stories of DLT (dowel-laminated timber) timber over one story of concrete.

The Soto Office Building
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

Exposed floor and roof decks create a richness found only from natural products and welcoming timber columns, beams, and ceilings bring a calming charm and warmth to the workspace. The result is an environment and aesthetic that is distinctly differentiated from any other office space in the market.

One of the distinguishing features of The Soto is its full-depth brick facade, making it one of the first North American projects to combine mass timber with masonry.

The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

Benefits of Mass Timber* • Lower cost: mass timber construction is more cost-effective than alternative forms of construction for mid-and high-rise buildings.

• Energy efficiency: building with mass timber is less energy-intensive than building with steel and concrete. • Faster construction: by using prefabricated wood panels, mass timber construction is often faster than building with steel and concrete.

The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

• Displaces steel and concrete: by reducing demand for steel and cement, mass timber construction reduces emissions from those hard-to-abate sectors.

• Disaster resistance: engineered mass timber products are fire-resistant, and mass timber buildings can handle earthquakes better than traditional high-rise construction.

The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker
The Soto Office Building
© Erika Brown Edwards, Travis W. Baker

• *SOURCE: American University Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy Carbon Removal Fact Sheet on Mass Timber Construction.


The Soto Office Building
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The Soto Office Building
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The Soto Office Building
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The Soto Office Building
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The Soto Office Building
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The Soto Office Building
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Lake | Flato Architects
T +1 210 2273335
Lake | Flato Architects
311 3rd St, San Antonio, TX 78205, United States