UH Garage + Studios Going Up

As part of a larger master plan to create density and enhance the pedestrian experience, the University of Houston (UH) Garage + Studios will serve the arts and architecture colleges with teaching and student spaces, a food service facility and much needed parking. The project's first column was erected today.

UH Garage + Studios is a 780,000-square-foot structure with a hybrid program. The project includes a two-story 50,000-square-foot academic building for students and faculty of Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts and the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design as well as parking and transportation offices and a five-level parking garage to accommodate 2,536 vehicles.

The academic building faces a new campus roadway and an existing student fabrication building, with the lawn of the College of Architecture and Design beyond. The design—including brick to match the architecture building and the 180-foot ipe porch deck marked by legacy trees and native plants—engages the existing campus by establishing connectivity and encouraging students to walk in the district.

The building is dedicated to studios, classrooms, offices and support spaces. It will consolidate all Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts studio spaces, which currently reside in disparate areas of the campus, and augment the existing digital fabrication facilities for the architecture students. It will also house the university parking and transportation offices. Much of the interior, especially the studio spaces, is intentionally left raw ensuring flexibility for its artist users.

Efficiency and technology are prioritized in the parking garage. The mixed use building allowed the design team to come up with a singular robust and resilient solutions for infrastructure, circulation and drainage. The building components support each other while also contributing to the campus life.

Page is providing architecture, interiors, MEP engineering and wayfinding services. Martinez Moore is providing consulting for parking, as well as structural, civil, and traffic engineering. Flintco is the CM at risk.