Cypress Lounge: A tenant lounge in sinker cypress at Frost Tower, San Antonio
Hospitality (tenant amenity lounge)San Antonio, TexasPublished Updated
The Cypress Lounge is the tenant amenity lounge at Frost Tower, a new glass office tower in San Antonio. Architect Michael G. Imber and Cravotta Interiors designed it together as a living room for the building, built around sinker cypress recovered from Texas riverbeds.
The brief
The building’s developer had commissioned Imber to design his own home. For the tower, he wanted a tenant lounge that felt nothing like a corporate amenity space. Imber called Mark Cravotta. “I don’t really do this kind of thing,” he said, “but if you’ll do it with me, I’ll say yes.” The developer wanted his tenants to feel at home, and the lounge had to draw on San Antonio’s own history to do it.
Scope
A full interior for the lounge: steel and glass entry vestibule, cypress wall paneling, sculptural plaster ceilings, furnishings and art. Woodwork was fabricated by HEWN and built by Mac White.
The design
The sinker cypress defines the room. The logs spent more than a hundred years on the beds of Texas rivers after falling from logging barges. Over decades they absorbed minerals and took on a greenish cast before they were recovered and milled. The wood is structural and atmospheric at once, with a full history in its grain.
The sequence starts at a steel and glass entry vestibule. Inside, the cypress walls and soft sculptural plaster ceilings give the lounge the warmth of a residence. HIVE described the result as a jewel box, executed with precision and delicacy.
Every piece of art was sourced from San Antonio artists.
The woodwork shop HEWN worked through the details with shop drawings and saw the installation through, including later adjustments.
- Collaborators
- Architect: Michael G. Imber, Architects. Builder: Mac White. Woodwork: HEWN. Photography: Ryann Ford.
- Materials and makers
- Sinker cypress paneling fabricated by HEWN. Art by San Antonio artists.
- Press
- HIVE, Spring 2021, “Group Dynamics.” AWI Design Solutions, Fall 2020.