design dialogues

Austin x Design: Gary Hustwit's lastest design-centric doc, Urbanized, explorescities and their inhabitants

Last night, as part of the month-long Austin x Design series, the Drafthouse hosted filmmaker Gary Hustwit and documentary, Urbanized, in association with SXSW, AIGA Austin, IDSA Austin and AIA Austin.

In a surreal moment, as Hustwit was making his introductory remarks at the 7 pm showing, he also broke the news about the death of Steve Jobs. Audible gasps signaled that many of us had yet to learn of the sad loss. An avid social media user (@gary_hustwit), he referenced the fact that the Twitterverse was on fire about the news (possibly presuming that we hadn’t yet heard because of the phones-off protocol). But on a more somber note, he acknowledged the impact that Steve Jobs had had on his own creative pursuits, thanking him for essentially inspiring him to produce a series of films dedicated to design’s impact on humanity at every scale.

While his first film, Helvetica, was about the influence of an iconic typeface on communication, his second, Objectified zoomed out and looked at product and industrial design. As Hustwit’s third and newest design-centric film, Urbanized was created as an homage to cities and the people who occupy them. Watching the documentary was somewhat akin to taking an architectural history course—but consolidated into an enjoyably informative 85-minute narrative.

Both academic and accessible in its discussion of current issues facing the world’s growing urban populations, the film’s case study format led viewers on a fast-paced tour of major global cities from Bogotá to Copenhagen. Touching on numerous angles of today’s urban design dialogue—from sustainability to sanitation and public transit—the documentary features critiques and commentary from architects, planners, citizens and thought-leaders. Urban design is presented as a (mostly) well-intentioned solution to these puzzling problems.

When asked what his favorite city was during the post-screening Q+A, Hustwit gave an appropriately vague response, at once acknowledging his love of Austin (although it was his first non-SXSW experience) and genuinely adding that he finds something to appreciate about every place he visits.

Even though the 2.5-year project led him through the highs and lows of urban development (think Mumbai slums) he remains hopeful for the future of cities, citing increased citizen involvement as the saving grace. Admittedly done with the design documentaries—creating the idea of a trilogy helped give him a "necessary stopping point"—he left the door open to pursue possible narrative or fiction-based projects.

According to the Urbanized website, the film will eventually also air via special television broadcasts, and will be released in digital formats and on DVD.

unspecified

Tea House, New Home

Chinese tea house displaced on I-35 settles into Austin yoga studio

Photo by Brianna Caleri

West China Tea House is pouring cups at Flow Yoga Westgate.

West China Tea House, a tea importer and a community hub for tea drinkers, had operated along the I-35 corridor for 12 years before being displaced by the highway expansion project in 2024. It plans to reopen in Hyde Park at 1715 East 7th St., but the timeline has been delayed. Until then, while the tea house navigates some permitting delays, it's found a cozy, welcoming temporary home at Flow Yoga Westgate.

As yogis stream in and out of classes, the often-quiet space is simmering with new life and quiet conversation. Two arc-shaped service tables face each other on opposite ends of the room, which suddenly filled at the turn of the new year with room dividers, decorative shelving, retail items, and a checkout station. There are still some plush seats for yoga students to lounge in, but the surroundings have almost completely transformed.

West China Tea House Austin Half of the tea room sits empty on a cold, rainy day in the middle of yoga class.Photo by Brianna Caleri

Getting Austin into tea
In addition to helping the tea house stay open this arrangement helps visitors to the yoga studio (or Central Market, or Austin Bouldering Project, which all share the parking lot with other businesses) get familiar with a persistent tea service — what West China Tea House owner So-han Fan calls the rolling service style.

For this casual service, Fan or another tea house workers sits behind the counter and steeps small pots of rotating teas. For $6 per pot, guests can sit down whenever and join in, waiting their turn to choose the next pot or ask for another recommendation. They can stay as long as they want, and the whole table talks about anything that comes up: the tea, great Chinese restaurants, the previous yoga class. On January 1, the conversation turned to donuts. (Consensus favored Round Rock Donuts and The Salty.)

West China Tea House Austin A tea pet gets the spent leaves.Photo by Brianna Caleri

"We're not opening a tea house the way that someone opens a coffee shop, but with tea," says Fan. "We're bringing in a cultural practice that has no precedent in America, but it's very common in China. And what it does is it creates that third place environment like you experienced on Wednesday, where people from all walks of life can come and share space with each other and create community together spontaneously."

The tea table was, in fact, the site of the longest post-yoga conversation I've ever had. Even though yoga students often have similar values and experiences, it's tough to start a conversation when people are packing up to leave. Fan points out that the tiny tea cups, which hold about three sips, necessitate that people stay at the table to enjoy the drink.

West China Tea House Austin A delicate tea should be enjoyed slowly.Photo by Brianna Caleri

Although this service is the main offering, it won't be the only one at the new tea house. Fan estimates that it'll have three or four tables for perpetual service, one for self service — which will allow people to rent the tea ware and pour for themselves — and some private tastings for learning more about each variety. And if a guest likes something they tried, there's plenty of dry teas to purchase and take home.

As in the previous location, the new one will also host events, including technical classes, a dream circle, and a men's group. The latter has been going on for six years, and Fan joins as a participant rather than a facilitator.

"It's a place for men to come and support each other in their lives in a personal way, emotionally," he says. "There's a tendency for men in our society to put a lot of our emotional labor onto women in our lives, because that's just the way our patriarchal society is organized. And so this is an opportunity for men to provide that for each other. You know, we all need someone to talk to."

West China Tea House Austin Tea-lovers in Austin may be less familiar with steeping these tea cakes.Photo by Brianna Caleri

The big move
West China Tea House ended up at Flow Yoga through a series of unfortunate events and silver linings. In short, Fan's wife, Lindsay, completed her teaching training at there, and the crew became patrons at the tea house — a mutual appreciation between the businesses.

Flow Yoga asked the tea house to participate in its holiday bazaar on December 14, but Fan recommended some independent tea servers that had previously worked with him, because the tea house was supposed to open in Hyde Park the next day. That never happened, thanks to some bureaucratic issues, according to Fan.

When TxDOT arranged for West China Tea House (along with more than 100 other properties) to move from the side of I-35, it offered the tea house a special deal, Fan says. Because TxDOT considers West China Tea House a community impact business, it offered the dollar equivalent of two years of rent in a comparable space and neighborhood. Coming out to $560,000, it wasn't a no-strings payout, but more like a grant that had to be applied to getting the business situated somewhere else.

"[Whether it was] worth it to make the move is kind of a moot point, because nobody has any choice in the matter, right?" says Fan. "It's all compulsory. Whether it's worth it for anybody else, I can't say. It was definitely worth it for us, insofar as for us, it's a net positive. We came out winning in this situation."

West China Tea House Austin Retail is a large part of what the tea house does.Photo by Brianna Caleri

Instead of renting, Fan used the money to purchase a building. He says the team is about 90 percent ready, but permit issues have significantly stalled the opening process.

"It's like pulling teeth trying to get the city to let us open a business in Austin," says Fan. "So in this particular story, the State of Texas is the good guys, and the City of Austin is absolutely the antagonist ... City of Austin development is literally the worst — you can quote me saying that — literally the worst."

Challenges in opening
Among Fan's complaints are that city inspectors have given conflicting information about whether or not certain things need to be fixed, they will not provide transparency about what is needed to pass the inspection, and the result is a guess-and-check process. Getting in contact has also been a large time sink. In one case, he says an employee of Austin Energy delayed the process by forgetting to "check a box" before going on a month-long vacation. With no communication from the employee or the department, the project fell behind by a month and a half.

Most important at this stage, the building Fan bought was previously a retail space, and the city has deemed the teahouse a restaurant — a designation Fan disagrees with, pointing out that in terms of food safety, it's no different than a bank giving out coffee. He explains that a wheelchair ramp at the business is "a few degrees too steep" for current codes, but it was grandfathered in for the retail space, and is still usable. Although it could have remained operational at a retail space, an official change of use means he needs to update it to the code restaurants are held to, which he says is impossible to implement because of the shape of the lot and how the building is situated.

"We are now running into this completely needless bureaucratic hurdle," he says. "I want to emphasize, we care about accessibility. We want people to be able to get to our tea house in wheelchairs. It's important to us, and we do have an absolutely functional, absolutely acceptable ramp. If you went outside of Travis County, that ramp would be fine. So this is not an accessibility issue."

The city submitted a response to CultureMap regarding Fan's complaints in general: "When remodeling a building, business owners and contractors often work with multiple departments, review teams, and inspectors. We are all here to help guide them through the permitting process. With older buildings, it can be a challenge to ensure they are up to current standards set by local, state, and national safety codes. This project is moving through the building inspections process, and DSD inspectors are ensuring the building is safe and compliant with all necessary codes."

CultureMap made contact with Austin Energy, but the point of contact did not submit a response.

A temporary solution
While the tea house team figures out how to get the business up and running in its new home, thankfully, there's Flow Yoga. When the team reached out again for more information on the independent servers, things had changed for the tea house. In "a matter of days," according to Fan, the yoga team gave them free reign to model the space into whatever they needed.

West China Tea House Austin The room looks completely different now.Photo by Brianna Caleri

Fan is still looking forward to the new space when it's ready. It'll be situated near other popular businesses and community hubs — he lists Lazarus Brewing Co., Prana Café, Huston-Tillotson University, and Planned Parenthood — making it great for introducing new people to a niche cultural experience.

"So we're right in the middle of kind of the hottest part of the town, and we're excited to see how this business model performs when we have foot traffic and visibility, which we didn't have ... at the old space," he says.

West China Tea House Austin People come and go on their own schedules.Photo by Brianna Caleri

Until then, West China Tea House is open at Flow Yoga Westgate (4477 S. Lamar Blvd. #420) Tuesdays through Thursdays from 2:30-7:30 pm, and Fridays through Sundays from 2:30-10 pm.

community spaces tea yoga wellness