University of Texas at Austin Santa Rita Oil Rig
Austin, Texas
Santa Rita No. 1, the discovery well of the Big Lake Oil Field in the West Texas Permian Basin, blew on May 28, 1923. In 1939 a plan was devised to dismantle and relocate the entire rig to the University of Texas campus and reconstruct it exactly as it had originally appeared. The rig spent 18 years in exterior storage, which significantly deteriorated many of its original timber parts. The rig was partially reconstructed and unveiled to the public in 1958. Architexas was hired by the University to provide a feasibility study and master plan for the rig, which included historical research, an existing conditions analysis, conceptual rig plans, landscape plans with options for its restoration, and an estimate of the probable cost for each option. Subsequently, Architexas was hired to provide full architectural services for a limited scope of work to provide a function restoration.
The unique challenge of this project was finding information on the exact type of oil well to understand how it operates. Through historical research, Architexas located two similar types of oil rigs: one in Midland and another in Odessa, Texas. Architexas fully documented the remaining pieces of Santa Rita No. 1, then visited and documented the other two similar rigs in Midland and Odessa. The information enabled Architexas to prepare a set of documents that was historically accurate.
