University of Texas at San Antonio

This 600 acre campus was designed to accommodate a population of 30,000 students. Ford, Powell & Carson, in cooperation with Bartlett Cocke & Associates, designed the master plan for the campus as well as the initial core buildings. These first seven buildings contain 750,000 square feet of space arranged around a shaded central plaza which functions as a "town center" for the university. The opportunity to design a large campus to be constructed in a single phase provided an opportunity to rethink fundamental notions about campus planning. Campus planning principles based on modest incremental growth were discarded in favor of a more systematic approach that would take advantage of economies of scale and the unparalleled opportunity to completely integrate all building, mechanical and service systems. The result is a campus where all spaces can be readily converted to different uses, where mechanical and electrical systems can be modified without demolition; and where high building densities are possible without overcrowding. This unique approach to campus planning has been cited in numerous publications and has received several awards. UTSA retained Ford, Powell & Carson to make updates to the master plan in 1991, 2000, and in 2005. Priorities included continued orderly growth and a focus on individual needs.

description by Ford, Powell & Carson Architects