LEARNING BY DESIGN magazine - Tarleton State University Engineering Building

The project consolidates two engineering programs into the same building that are currently dispersed in old facilities throughout the campus.
Floor Plan - Level One
Layout of common areas repeats across all levels to maximize transparency among floors and visual connectivity to the rest of the campus.
The new gateway building is activated with green pedestrian paths that embrace a vibrant, mixed network environment of academic spaces, athletics, and student life.
The distributed massing design provides pedestrian paths that invite exterior circulation through the building and activate the engineering quad.
Signature Tarleton brick blend combined with a horizontal stone banding to frame the head and sill openings is a detail found on most campus buildings.
The pedestrian flow engages students with transparent laboratory storefronts that showcase the engineering programs and their special equipment.
An exterior bridge and glass walkway create a portal feature that breaks down the building scale and displays the engineering programs to the campus.
Transparent layers of collaboration spaces and classrooms help to facilitate connectivity on all three levels from the inside out.
The visual connectivity inside the labs, among floors, and to the quad engages users seated in collaborative furniture along the main circulation.
The storefront facing the labs was specially designed to provide acoustical separation between the collaboration areas and the louder lab spaces.
The corridors provide individual and small group flex spaces to facilitate interaction and promote collaboration between the engineering programs.
Exposed ducts, conduits, and piping help solidify the theoretical concepts discussed in classroom and showcase the nature of the engineering program.
The saw tooth roof at the high bay area spreads uniformly diffused natural light from the north through all the lab spaces.
Utilities that serve the lab machinery are organized by layers in a metal grid to provide the required flexibility for continuously evolving programs.
Terry Wier
Terry Wier
Terry Wier

The Engineering Building at Tarleton State University is a new, three-story facility designed to support the engineering, engineering technology, and computer science programs and connect them to the broader community. Located prominently at the campus edge, the gateway building is the primary entry to the campus and an iconic statement that emphasizes and reflects the unique and innovative qualities of the programs it supports.

The centerpiece is the outdoor engineering quad: it connects to the current pathways on campus and transforms the facility from vehicular destination to pedestrian mall. The faculty office area is separated from the classroom and lab space by an exterior bridge and glass walkway, which helps break down the scale of the building—it also creates a portal feature that displays the engineering quad to the campus edge and the broader public.

A learning commons encircles the quad and provides a variety of teaming, collaboration, and individual study space alongside and adjacent to a full height glass wall overlooking the outdoor activity space. Featured lab spaces located on the first level have transparent fronts to put lab activity on display and provide a seamless connection between the quad, learning commons, and the labs themselves.

Tarleton State University Engineering Building

Description

Project Location:
Stephenville, TX

Architecture Firm
Stantec
Austin,Texas
www.stantec.com
https://www.facebook.com/StantecInc/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/stantec/
https://twitter.com/Stantec

Photography By:
Terry Wier

Tarleton State University Engineering Building

Category

Description