Approaching the Medical Center from the south, the Quad identifies the building through visually representing the programmatic importance of the communal areas. The decidedly quieter facades of the wings are masked by smaller adjacent structures and acute sightlines until one’s view is filled with the presence of the Quad. Architecturally, this was enhanced through the use of a more delicate language. The Quad was expressed by Kirksey through the creation of a subtle depth achieved through layering solids and voids and by expressing planar and linear elements. Ends of internal wall planes are allowed to express themselves as thin lines running from the street level to their end near the top of the building. A glass corner at the double-height student lounges is shielded from the eastern and southern sun through the use of similarly thin, tightly stacked horizontal louvers. The resulting composition of vertical and horizontal lines coupled with the transparent glass corner not only gives Texas Woman’s University an architectural signature, it delineates the entry to the Medical Center by establishing an architectural counterpoint to the standard massing typifying so much of the Medical Center. The use of this architectural language on the exterior corner of the building is carried into the interior in the main entry and gathering area, the Gateway Lobby. Juliè Gauthier, IIDA, of Kirksey’s interior design department, in advancing Chancellor Stuart’s preferences for an energized professional environment, linked the design of the interior public spaces to concepts defining the expressive role of the Quad on the building’s exterior. Variegated finishes on the stone tile floor, randomly composed hanging light fixtures in a double-height space, and a vibrant color palette (uncommon in the realm of medical facilities) all combine to maintain an architectural expression enlivened by similar concepts favoring judicious contrast over simple continuities. The typical architecture of the Medical Center does not convey a sense of the miraculous events occurring each day within its various component buildings, where lives are transformed and thousands are given new hope. Indeed, interventions at the human level have proven more successful than those on an architectural scale. Yet, in the design of the new facility for Texas Woman’s University, the designers at Kirksey have demonstrated how to elevate the care for the Medical Center to ensure its architectural well-being.
(left and right) Sophisticated finishes and randomly composed hanging light fixtures enliven the double-height space of the Gateway Lobby at the building’s main entry.
r e s o u r c e s precast architectural concrete : and granite :
membrane roofing :
Johns Manville; metal roofing : Berridge; specialty
doors : Won Door; entrances and storefronts : United States Aluminum; glass : Viracon; decorative glazing : Craftsman Fabricated Glass; glazed curtainwall: United States Aluminum; fluid applied flooring : Crossfield
Products (Dex-O-Tex);
Tom Diehl is an architect and associate professor in the University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture.
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Hakco Precast; limestone
Cangelosi; railings and handrails : Forms and Surfaces;
acoustical wall treatments :
exterior sun control devices :
Whisper Walls;
C/S Sun Controls
t e x a s
a r c h i t e c t
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