@Build_Culture
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We design, build and develop walkable neighborhoods in brick, built to last centuries. Follow along for arches, corbels and why masonry still wins.
Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Joined April 2016
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One of our favorite photos of all time from a project. We completed in 2020. There is 60’ tower overlooking a lake. But standing inside pre-framing, getting to take in all 160,000 brick at once, is frankly amazing.
Building Culture retweeted
There is something almost cathedral-like about masonry as the massing goes up…it’s almost a shame when it comes time to install the floor.
Exposed timber framing helps to soften the blow.
This is a veneer building, 1040 SW 16th in Oklahoma City. The arches work the same way.
Bring pictures to your architect, GC or mason. It's the easiest way to show them what you want.
Our Build Beautiful workshop: 2026 is full. Join the 2027 list: buildingculture.com/workshop…
This is a veneer building, 1040 SW 16th in Oklahoma City. The arches work the same way.
Bring pictures to your architect, GC or mason. It's the easiest way to show them what you want.
Our Build Beautiful workshop: 2026 is full. Join the 2027 list: buildingculture.com/workshop…
Building Culture retweeted
Sneak peak of our next pocket neighborhood in development.
Almost through entitlements.
34 units with townhomes, live/works, and flats. All rental on a single parcel (~1.1 acres). Just a few blocks from Townsend.
It’s an upper-end market rate project that will compete with Class A multi-family—but a much better living experience.
Just got our first preliminary renderings back for markup before adding color from JJ Zanetta, an artist we always work with on our projects.
Co-GP’s on this one with Canvas Development and Architecture.
Im really excited about this one. More coming soon!
@EddieCoates @matt_hayes4
Brick by brick!
Laying our big stone lintels on our chamfered corners this morning!
Another tip for anyone doing masonry: besides well-detailed arches, natural stone lintels are an amazing detail that will elevate your building. Simple, cost effective, and beautiful. Could be done on a multi-family building.
The industry defaults to cast stone (concrete), but natural stone with a hand chiseled face is so dang beautiful. Sometimes we use cast stone, too—particularly if it’s a large opening and needs steel.
But this is limestone out of Kansas we’ve had tested, and worked with our structural engineer to determine required height.
Building Culture retweeted
Today’s episode:
Today I sit down with Austin Tunnell (@AustinTunnell), founder of Building Culture - a real estate developer in Oklahoma City building some of the most beautiful structural masonry projects in the country.
Austin grew up a football player in the Houston suburbs, went to KPMG out of college, quit, joined the Peace Corps, and came back to apprentice under a master mason in rural Oklahoma for $12 an hour while his wife cleaned houses so he could afford to learn.
We talk about why American cities got ugly, why beauty matters more than people think, and what it actually takes to build something meant to last 500 years instead of 50.
I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.
(00:02:33) - Austin’s journey with the Peace Corps and how that led him to Masonry
(00:12:26) - Why we moved away from Masonry and toward wood frames
(00:15:19) - What drew Austin to Masonry
(00:19:34) - Learning the craft
(00:24:25) - Why humans gravitate toward humanely built things
(00:26:51) - What people can do with brick to get more value from a home
(00:31:23) - What to ask architects when looking for a Mason
(00:32:39) - Training Masons
(00:33:28) - Austin’s project in Edmond, OK
(00:38:17) - Defining beauty
(00:50:03) - The impact of over regulation in construction and zoning
(00:55:50) - Austin on scaling his business
(00:59:38) - Local, state, and national policies that need to change
(01:05:03) - Interior beauty in Austin’s world
(01:09:30) - Tax incentives and capital structures
(01:16:52) - Building a media business in Real Estate
(01:18:05) - Live-work real estate
Building Culture retweeted
Depth is one of the biggest factors that makes newer buildings, generally speaking, feel flimsy, shallow, and lacking substance compared to historic buildings.
We can't always do 16” walls. But when we can….boy. You can literally feel it when interacting with them.
These ones on our Apollo Workspace concept feel so dang good.