Functions accommodated in the building include retail enterprises such as the bookstore, tech store, cafe and copy shop as well as an ample recreation/multipurpose room dedicated to student activities. A large visitor's center serves as the primary greeting and orientation point for prospective students, families and others coming to the campus from outside the university community.

Because the building sits in a position on the campus where many people pass through on their way from parking to the main mall, a long concourse with generous clerestory light has been created to celebrate that movement. Entries to all major functions open off the concourse and are marked by strong color that contrasts with the black/white/grey palette of the rest of the building. Steel struts act as structural bracing, dancing irregularly across the tall space and emphasizing its role as a place for circulation. Large scale campus events will be held in the open indoor/outdoor room that flanks the north side of the concourse.

Both in terms of its functions and its key location the new Visitor Center and University Bookstore plays a transformative role on the UT Dallas campus. It creates a fresh new image for the campus in concert with the recently completed landscape plan, and it provides much needed spaces for enhanced student life.

Media

“An Ordered Approach.” Texas Architect, January-February, 2012

“2012 Design Award – Interiors,” Metal Architecture, July 2012

Page project team members include: 

• Lisa Bradley
• Britt C. Feik
• Mattia J. Flabiano III
• Dee Maxey
• Robert D. May
• Crystal McMahon
• John Mehl
• Yanghee Pierce
• Richard C. Robinson
• Lawrence W. Speck