Jen Turner's life and career has taken her to New York and back to Texas, where she and The Mighty Union have designed The Carpenter Hotel.

Photo: Clair Cottrell
Jen Turner’s life and career have taken her to New York and back to Texas. After graduating from the University of Texas in Austin, she moved to New York City and spent more than a decade working for Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects as a project architect. Now a registered architect in both New York and Texas, she opened the doors to her own multi-disciplinary studio in 2009, and has since produced a collection of furniture and collaborated on the design of several museum exhibitions. The Mighty Union is the latest addition to Turner’s resume, a hospitality project founded by herself, GM of Ace Portland Donald Kenney, and partner in Ace Portland and early partner of Ace Hotel Jack Barron. The Carpenter Hotel is a recent project of the group, located right in Turner’s own city of Austin at the edge of Zilker Park and Barton Springs. A new concrete and terracotta block building holds 93 rooms with terraces, while the Carpenter’s Hall Local 1266, a low terracotta brick building era 1948 adds additional space. Turner is clearly a woman with big ideas, and today she’s sharing five of her favorite things with us in Friday Five. Photo: Courtesy of Robert Harding
1. The Courtyard

The courtyard is one of my favorite architectural spaces. It?s secret, sky-focused, and light-filled ...