In Progress
2025
Creating immersive experiences for Austin music fans
Context
Watching Austin Change While Standing Still
Hole in the Wall is a 50+ year old music venue that has remained unchanged while Austin has transformed around it. We investigated why this place continues to matter by interviewing longtime regulars and first-time visitors.
Research Methods
Finding Meaning in Unchanged Spaces
We conducted interviews and observational research, documenting both the physical space and how people relate to it:
"The Times They Are A-Changin"- One bartender called it the "Soul of Austin," a repository of the city's pre-gentrification identity while everything around it has closed or modernized.
Holed' In - The dive aesthetic, no wifi, hidden-in-plain-sight location, and vaulted ceilings create separation from the outside world. It's anti-Instagram, requiring no performance.
Church for Secular People - Patrons described spiritual, magical performances and feeling connected to a "larger energy." Every genre works in the space.
"We Just Call It 'The Bar'" - Regulars possessively call it "the bar" and describe permission to fall asleep, get messy, or just exist without judgment.
Next Steps
Why Legacy Spaces Matter When Cities Transform
Explore why unchanging spaces matter in rapidly transforming cities and how "secular churches" fulfill needs traditional institutions no longer meet. Identify design principles: constancy, unperformative space, cross-generational mixing that can inform new gathering spaces as cities lose legacy venues. The core question: what role do legacy spaces play as anchors of continuity and communal memory when audiences increasingly crave authenticity and belonging?
