flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Zachry Engineering Education Complex: Rethinking engineering education

Reconstruction Awards

Zachry Engineering Education Complex: Rethinking engineering education

Texas A&M’s engineering school builds for future growth.


By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | November 13, 2019
The zachry exterior

Once a four-story, precast concrete box, the Zachry has become a campus threshold and gateway. All photos: Randy Braley Photography

In 2013, Texas A&M University College of Engineering launched its “25 by 25 initiative,” whose goal is to more than double its enrollment to 25,000 students by 2025 without incurring significant infrastructure costs. All this while simultaneously creating a 21st-century engineering education model focused on technology-enabled learning, hands-on projects, and collaborative and multidisciplinary learning spaces.

The first step was the renovation and expansion of the old Zachry building, a 1970s-era precast box. The revivified structure, now the largest academic building on campus, has become a gateway that has added two five-story additions totaling 225,000 sf. Its common labs have open floor plans organized by themes rather than by standalone departments.

To make the building look like new construction, the project team, led by architect TreanorHL, removed the entire load-bearing precast concrete façade. Permanent steel framing was installed prior to removal, which eliminated the need for about 90% of temporary shoring. The team also reused 80% of materials from the original structure.

 

The atrium and staircaseThe atrium and staircase are activated by natural light, flexible seating, glass walls, and a skylight. 

 

Visual transparency into the learning studios, labs, maker spaces, and outdoor green spaces activates the building’s interior. A new central atrium connects a learning staircase and a 165-foot-long, 3,500-sf split-level skylight that runs down the atrium’s spine.

To support new ways of learning and instruction, the design team collaborated with a national furniture manufacturer to develop custom group tables whose monitors can be raised and lowered on demand. Users can switch between tables and displays to selectively share and display inputs from any point in the room, from distance learning, and via interactive touchscreens (T1V) in each learning studio. These components and concepts were tested in an offsite prototype classroom prior to installation.

The Zachry Engineering Education Complex received the Gold Medal Engineering Excellence Award and the Eminent Conceptor Award from the American Council of Engineering.

 

GOLD AWARD WINNER

BUILDING TEAM TreanorHL (submitting firm, architect) Texas A&M University (owner/developer) JQ Infrastructure (SE, CE) Shah Smith & Associates (MEP) Coleman & Associates (landscape architect) Vaughn Construction (GC, CM) DETAILS 530,000 sf Total cost $171 million Construction time August 2016 to July 2018 Delivery method CM at risk

Related Stories

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 8, 2019

2019 Reconstruction Awards: The 1060 Project at Wrigley Field

Venerable Wrigley Field is raised up in a top-to-bottom restoration that took five years to complete.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 6, 2019

2019 Reconstruction Awards: Betting on a city's future

Can a new resort and casino pump life into a city once renowned as the nation’s arms maker?

Reconstruction Awards | Dec 4, 2018

BD+C's 2018 Reconstruction Award Winners

Cincinnati Music Hall, MASS MoCA Building 6, and 20 Times Square are just a few of the projects recognized as 2018 Reconstruction Award winners.

Reconstruction Awards | Dec 3, 2018

2018 Reconstruction Awards: Honorable mentions

These four projects won honorable mentions in BD+C's 2018 Reconstruction Awards.

Reconstruction Awards | Dec 3, 2018

Elgin Tower: Elgin's heart beats again

A project team brings this Chicago suburb’s landmark tower back to life.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 30, 2018

Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company Building: GC to the rescue

Hawaii’s largest contractor saves one of the state’s prized architectural landmarks—and now calls it home.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 30, 2018

5 Beekman Hotel and Residences: Back in business

A landmark office tower becomes one of N.Y.’s hottest lifestyle hotel destinations.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 29, 2018

700 Constitution: Healthy living

Hospital turned apartment brings luxury living to a D.C. neighborhood – and saves a valued piece of architecture.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 28, 2018

IBEW Local 134 Union Hall: Union lights a 'beacon'

Electrical workers’ local converts an abandoned Chicago school into a brightly lit union hall.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 27, 2018

Bedford Square: Revivifying urbanity

A suburban mixed-use redevelopment restores ‘the lost art of living closely.'

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Giants 400

BD+C Awards Programs

Entry information and past winners for Building Design+Construction's two major awards programs: 40 Under 40 and Giants 400



halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021