Campus of the Future

IMAGINE TCU’S BEAUTIFUL CAMPUS — blond brick buildings and graceful archways, open green spaces and flowing fountains, lecture halls and laboratories, athletics facilities and performance spaces — with more.

More academic buildings and classroom space to support research, teaching and creative activities. More athletics facilities that offer top-tier experiences for student-athletes and spectators. More accessible pedestrian thoroughfares connecting the growing east campus to the historic central campus to Worth Hills and athletics. More residence halls for a growing student body. More reasons to spend time on Berry Street, where upscale mixed-use development will bring inviting restaurants, shops and apartments close to campus. More green spaces, which will someday connect TCU to the Trinity River.

And yes, more parking.

Gutierrez Hall, home to a new dining facility, is part of a wave of construction aimed at turning east campus into a hub for residential life. Photo by James Anger

The Campus Master Plan provides a road map for future development and supports the transformational growth laid out in the university’s strategic plan, Lead On: Values in Action. Both plans, approved by the Board of Trustees in 2024, resulted from many months of information-gathering through expert studies and community engagement.

“To boil it to its simplest form, the strategic plan is: What do we want to be? What does TCU want to be?” said Jason Soileau, assistant vice chancellor for planning, design and construction. “The master plan is: How can we use the physical environment to accomplish those goals?”

University leaders are also at work on a capital plan to secure the financial backing to execute the ambitious vision.

Lead On: Values in Action looks toward TCU’s future as “a top private institution with a national reputation for best-in-class student experience, scholarly impact and the most competitive athletics.” The plan prioritizes student-centered growth; research, scholarship and creative activities; athletics; and community engagement.

“Part of our strategic plan is to elevate the intellectual vitality and the research activity of campus, which will benefit our students as they’re getting to work more with the faculty on thought leadership opportunities, independent projects, experiential learning, the kinds of things that world-class academic facilities will accelerate,” said President Daniel W. Pullin, who becomes TCU’s 11th chancellor in June.

“We also have an opportunity as we expand to add additional lifestyle amenities to really create TCU as Fort Worth’s place to be, such that any of us — but certainly our students — don’t have to leave campus to live, learn, work, play, build relationships. It’ll all be right here for them.”

The Campus Master Plan is driven in part by the projection that by 2033, TCU could grow to 17,500 students, with 15,000 undergraduates and 2,500 graduate students (total enrollment in fall 2024 was just shy of 13,000).

Seven key priorities guide the plan — a green network with environmental enhancements, academic facilities, medical innovation, top-tier athletics, the growth of the east campus, a transformed Berry Street and connecting the campus to the Trinity River.

© Texas Christian University

To develop the Campus Master Plan, Soileau and Todd Waldvogel, associate vice chancellor for facilities and campus planning, worked with global design firm Sasaki Associates, which created the campus plan for the University of California, Berkeley, among others.

While many of the plan’s individual projects are awaiting feasibility studies — and will also need to be designed, approved by the Board of Trustees and funded before breaking ground — some of the earliest changes are underway.

Pullin said TCU’s ongoing evolution energizes him. “That tight coupling between strategy and operational execution, including continuing to expand prudently one of the most beautiful campuses anywhere in the country, is a great opportunity for all of us.”

The Language of Place

As campus facilities could grow from 5.9 million square feet to 11.5 million square feet, the Campus Master Plan maintains and even improves upon the TCU aesthetic, echoing familiar architectural details while expanding the university’s network of green spaces.

The plan, building on Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr.’s vision for a cohesive and beautiful campus, follows a comprehensive set of design guidelines developed by CannonDesign Inc. and documented in book form. The Language of Place at Texas Christian University codifies everything from red roof tiles to building placement and scale.

Driving the design is the priority of engaging the TCU community. Even the converging pathways, said Kathy Cavins-Tull, vice chancellor for student affairs, are purposeful.

“There’s a field of study called campus ecology that helps campus leaders design spaces and programs. Everything is — if you’re intentional about it — designed to meet the goals of your campus,” Cavins-Tull said. “Our campus, from classrooms to residence halls, labs to recreation spaces, and sidewalks to green space, is designed to bring faculty, staff and students together and create the community that we value.”

The Chancellor’s Green, proposed for the north side of The Harrison building, will feature an outdoor learning pavilion while adding more green spaces, which are a defining element of the Campus Master Plan. © Texas Christian University

Key to the plan are enhanced pedestrian corridors connecting the three campus districts — east campus, the historic central campus, and the western Worth Hills residential area and athletics facilities. A network of trees including live oak, maple and cypress will provide shade, while manicured lawns like the proposed Chancellor’s Green — the concept for the north side of The Harrison building features an outdoor learning pavilion — contribute to the parklike feel.

Enhanced accessibility means some roads will be reenvisioned. Stadium Drive and Bowie Street will become pedestrian-friendly corridors, with wider sidewalks, gathering spaces and paved paths that can accommodate a variety of transportation modes — bikes, scooters, wheelchairs. Bioswales, or shallow ditches with vegetation, might be incorporated where possible to help with stormwater.

Academic Facilities

Lead On: Values in Action plans for TCU “to grow as a leading center for research and creativity, drive new knowledge, inspire interdisciplinary connections and make a lasting impact on society.” The Campus Master Plan supports the uptick in collaborative scholarship with new academic buildings — and the renovation of existing ones — to provide state-of-the-art facilities.

A STEM facility with teaching and research labs could be among the first new academic buildings, pending funding and additional planning; the plan reserves a site on Bowie Street near the existing science and engineering facilities.

“The STEM facility will provide a mix of teaching and research lab space in a shared lab environment that promotes a modern, very collaborative, student-centered approach,” Soileau said, adding that it will have “lots of natural light, lots of social space with the intention to bring researchers together through the concept of productive collisions to further creativity and innovation in the areas of data and STEM.”

“It’s going to have a significant impact on our scholarship and research in those areas. It’s going to show a different level of commitment to that type of research and education,” Provost Floyd Wormley said. “I think it’s a must-have for us to move forward as an institution.”

As new teaching and research labs come online, Wormley said, existing ones, like those in the Sid W. Richardson Building and Winton-Scott Hall, can be renovated to serve as classrooms, additional labs or offices.

In the coming decade, Wormley said, TCU will pursue R1 status, the highest level of research institution recognized in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. To get there, TCU, currently an R2 institution, must meet lofty requirements for research, funding and awarding graduate degrees.

“The heart of TCU is something that can’t be duplicated. If you add the physical campus and upgrades with the heart of TCU, it’s going to help propel us to the next level of being a premier institution.”
Floyd Wormley

Increasing research output and serving a growing student body while keeping class sizes small means hiring additional faculty and staff, up to 500 of each. TCU will also add more graduate degree programs. In the Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences, a doctor of occupational therapy degree program will launch this summer, and a physician associate program will welcome its first cohort in January 2027.

Not all the efforts will be science-centered. “When we talk about growing research doctorates,” Wormley said, “we’re talking about the whole gamut … that includes our fine arts.”

A major renovation of Ed Landreth Hall and Auditorium, now in the design phase, will update the 1948 building, benefiting fine arts students, faculty and staff. Changes include additional studios and a more intimate auditorium, with a fly tower that lends new scenic, special effects and lighting possibilities, plus improved wing space, acoustics and seating.

Throughout campus, some changes will be behind the walls. “We will need to make sure that we have the digital and computational networks and infrastructure to be able to do things in the high-performance computing and artificial intelligence and machine learning and data analytics area,” Wormley said. “We’re building for a brighter future for our students.”

Medical Innovation

In 2024, the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University moved into its permanent home, the 96,000-square-foot Arnold Hall. Built with TCU blond brick and archways, Arnold Hall is in the Medical Innovation District, close to five of the School of Medicine’s hospital partners. While the student body won’t grow — each class is capped at 60 — the school is poised for major advances in research and innovation.

Two developments on the horizon are an anticipated grant for research on prenatal health and plans to conduct clinical trials in partnership with area hospitals that will strengthen Fort Worth’s national reputation in health care. The efforts support the Campus Master Plan’s priority of establishing the School of Medicine as a center for biomedical innovation.

Arnold Hall, the home of the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, opened in 2024 in Fort Worth’s Medical Innovation District. Building a research tower with an educational center and lab and office space is the next priority. Photo by Wade Griffith

Arnold Hall stands on the corner of a 5.7-acre site designed with expansion in mind. Dr. Stuart D. Flynn, founding dean of the medical school, sees the next priority as a multipurpose research tower, up to 10 stories tall, with room for a ground-floor educational center serving the Medical Innovation District, labs and office space. The facilities will allow medical students and faculty to work with prominent industry and research partners on clinical trials, genomics, artificial intelligence, and health data privacy and security.

“I think it is prudent for us to do these things with industry because then industry will say, ‘Well, let us build out this space with you,’ ” Flynn said. “All of a sudden, we’re developing new immunologics with Pfizer, and we’re not footing the whole bill. … That’s how I see this playing out.”

Clinical trials and research grants will give medical students the opportunity to participate in what Flynn called “very fruitful, very clinically relevant research opportunities.” Ten years from now, he projects, TCU will be “a major national player in the clinical trial model” and, by continuing to emphasize empathy and communication, Burnett will be known as “the medical school that trains the physician that we all would like to have as our doctor.”

The School of Medicine is partnering with the College of Science & Engineering, the College of Education and Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences to launch a PhD program in anatomical sciences, which will welcome the first cohort of students in fall 2026. The job market — both in medical schools and in industry — is ready for those future graduates, Flynn said.

“We’re very committed to being a forward partner in Fort Worth’s growing Medical Innovation District, working with hospital partners and others that care about world-class health services to our growing citizenry and the entrepreneurial ecosystem that is necessary to surround that,” Pullin said. “I think you’ll see additional investments, impact and opportunity as we create a hub for biomedical innovation, starting with the medical school and bringing in other areas of TCU that exist today.”

A new pedestrian loop will connect TCU’s athletic facilities with the rest of campus. © Texas Christian University

Top-Tier Athletics

TCU’s recent track record of succeeding on the national athletics stage has made a measurable impact on student interest. After the 2022-23 football season that culminated in the College Football Playoff National Championship game, applications went up 26 percent for the next school year.

“A few decades ago, we made the decision to move from a quality regional university status to a university that could broaden its impact and become a national brand, and we felt like the most logical front porch to create that awareness and that welcoming atmosphere was to invest in athletics in a more significant way,” Pullin said. “And it worked. It drove awareness. We had success. We were able to grow the student body. … We’re still one of the smallest universities that are playing big-time sports today.”

Jason Soileau, left, and Todd Waldvogel worked with a global design firm to craft the Campus Master Plan. New performance facilities for TCU Athletics are among the first projects on the docket. Photo by Raul Rodriguez

Lead On: Values in Action continues the strategy, naming athletics as one of four pillars in TCU’s next decade of transformation. As such, the Campus Master Plan includes a mission of “securing athletics facilities as best-in-class for the Big 12 Conference.”

New and remodeled facilities will help with recruiting, retaining and bolstering the success of student-athletes while also enhancing the game day experience for spectators. “There has always been the facility arms race in college athletics,” said Ryan Peck, senior deputy athletics director for external affairs/revenue generation. “We have elite stadiums; what does the next iteration look like?”

Student-athletes won’t have to wait long to find out; the donor-funded $50 million Human Performance Center Renovation and Expansion Projects are on track for completion in July.

Serving all 480 TCU student-athletes in 22 varsity sports is the new Simpson Family Restoration and Wellness Center, a 10,000-square-foot facility behind Schollmaier Arena. Peck described the wellness center as “a student-athlete spa,” with a hydrotherapy pool, hydro massage pods, infrared therapy and a cryo lounge with heat and cold therapy, including a snow room — the first of its kind on a U.S. college campus — where a cooling system maintains subfreezing temperatures and emits snow flurries.

“You’ve got a sauna next to the snow room,” Waldvogel said. “And the old Dutch Meyer saying, ‘Fight ’em until hell freezes, then fight ’em on the ice’ — they’ve got that quote over these two rooms.”

The Mike and Brenda Harrison Football Performance Center, a new 20,000-square-foot building, overlooks the Morris Practice Fields. It features the Jamal Powell Weight Room for the football team, provided by Kate and Sonny Dykes, an indoor track and two multipurpose rooms, including one that can be heated for activities such as yoga.

The Mike and Brenda Harrison Football Performance Center is on schedule to open in July. It will include a weight room, indoor track and multipurpose rooms that can be heated for activities such as yoga. © Texas Christian University

Renovations to the Bob Lilly Performance Center, an adjacent 20,000-square-foot workout facility, have primed it to serve all other student-athletes with an expanded strength area, plus a dedicated strength room for men’s and women’s basketball.

Finally, there will be a newly constructed entrance to the John Justin Football Complex.

Which athletics construction project comes next, Peck said, depends upon the completion of feasibility studies and donor interest. While the Campus Master Plan features improved venues for every program, he sees updating the baseball stadium, soccer field and basketball practice facility as priorities.

Among the proposed buildings is an Olympic Sports Center that would provide a home base for teams competing off-campus, notably equestrian, golf and triathlon. The facility would include team offices, sports medicine spaces, lounging areas and a cafeteria. Situated adjacent to the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center, it would also house indoor tennis courts.

A new pedestrian loop will connect the facilities to the rest of campus. The wide path and adjacent lawns would encourage fans to gather and tailgate by providing a welcoming and walkable athletics village.

“Athletics is a key component to community-building. … We all get to participate even if we’re not on the field or the court,” Cavins-Tull said. “It is that one thing that is shared among generations of Horned Frogs.”

A series of Campus Master Plan projects will continue to transform the east campus into a hub for residential life as the university grows. Drone photography by James Anger

East Campus

In January, the new Hill and Walsh residence halls, with 292 beds for first-year students, opened alongside a 550-seat dining facility, Gutierrez Hall, due east of the Neeley School of Business.

The move addressed a housing shortage and brought a much-needed dining hall to the east campus. Gutierrez Hall has soaring ceilings with exposed beams and lots of natural light; the food stations serve everything from pizzas and pastas to salads and wraps; there’s also a coffee and dessert bar.

A series of Campus Master Plan projects will continue to transform the east campus into a hub for residential life as the university grows. The next wave of residence hall construction, which will add about 2,400 beds, is set to break ground after spring commencement and should open in time for the fall 2027 semester.

The first wave of construction on the east campus began in 2023. Gutierrez Hall, the 550-seat dining facility between Hill and Walsh residence halls, opened in January. It features soaring ceilings with exposed beams and a variety of food offerings. Photo by James Anger

Among the projects is a set of three residence halls for first-year students behind Hill, Walsh and Gutierrez halls. One block north, a residence hall for sophomores is in the works; a couple of blocks to the east, a string of townhouses for juniors and seniors will take shape. Across campus in Worth Hills is another residence hall site for sophomores.

A unique private partnership with American Campus Communities, which has built student housing at dozens of universities, will fund the residential development. The agreement gives the developer a long-term lease on TCU-owned land — 65 years with two 10-year extensions — to build residence halls at its expense and collect housing fees.

“From a student experience perspective, it’s going to just be like all the rest of our housing. The residents won’t know it’s an American Campus Communities facility versus a TCU facility,” Waldvogel said, adding that TCU will assign students to the halls and hire hall directors and resident advisers, while the developer will handle building maintenance.

As surface lots make way for new residence halls, TCU has plans to replenish the supply of parking spaces.

The East Campus Parking Garage and Police Station project, at the corner of Merida Avenue and West Cantey Street, is a five-story parking structure with 900-plus spots. Anchoring the building will be the new TCU Police Station, at nearly 13,000 square feet, including an emergency operations center. The project is scheduled for completion by late 2026.

Berry Street

Campus Master Plan renderings for Berry Street show seven blocks between University Drive and McCart Avenue as a vibrant urban village with restaurants and retail shops. The development, known as the Morado on Berry — a nod to the Spanish word for purple — includes plans for an appealing streetscape with wide sidewalks and pocket parks.

As with the next wave of residence halls, a private partnership makes the Morado on Berry possible. Endeavor Real Estate Group, an Austin-based real estate developer, gets a 75-year lease, with two possible 10-year extensions, on TCU-owned lots along Berry Street.

Bill Nunez, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said both partnerships help TCU achieve strategic goals. “It’s to leverage best-in-class partners to build facilities that we could not otherwise build,” he said, “so we can preserve capital to invest in academic resources.”

Over time, Endeavor will build four mixed-use buildings that combine ground-floor retail with upstairs apartments; the developer will manage the properties, offering rentals at market rate. The new buildings will follow TCU design guidelines but on an urban scale, meaning taller, denser development with corridors, courtyards and outdoor seating.

The first phase of development broke ground in April with completion by fall 2027. In addition to two mixed-use buildings, this phase includes a freestanding building east of the campus store that planners said will likely be home to a destination restaurant.

“We want students to stay close, and students want to stay close.”
Kathy Cavins-Tull

The smaller of the two mixed-use buildings will be behind University Drive restaurants, including McAlister’s and Dutch’s. Across Cockrell Avenue, the larger mixed-used building, with a parking garage, will extend to Greene Avenue and face Berry Street. Together, the two buildings will offer 25,000 square feet of retail space plus 223 apartments with 780 beds, bringing the total number of added beds available in 2027, including those in the new residence halls, to nearly 3,200.

The luxury apartments will include in-unit laundry and a rooftop pool. They will help to satisfy a persistent need for more housing options on or near campus for graduate students and juniors and seniors, who report feeling less integrated with the TCU experience than they did as first-years and sophomores.

“About 62 percent of our students who live off campus live more than a mile from campus, so you can understand the disconnection. We get a lot of requests for students to stay beyond the sophomore year,” Cavins-Tull said. “We have waitlists for juniors and seniors that if we have bed spaces, we could accommodate them. We haven’t really had enough bed spaces for juniors and seniors for about eight years.”

A second wave of development on Berry Street will bring two additional mixed-use buildings. Located side by side between Waits and Merida avenues, the buildings will have retail and TCU office space on the ground floor and apartments upstairs, adding a total of 500 beds; one of the buildings will also have a parking garage. The project is slated to begin in spring 2027 and open by fall 2029.

Continuing east on Berry Street, between Merida and Sandage avenues, a new park will serve as a visual gateway to the east campus. The park will provide activity and recreation space while also being designed to handle stormwater in the low-lying area, mitigating flooding. The university and the city of Fort Worth will work together on plans to connect the park to a series of green spaces and trails that could someday extend several miles north of campus to reach Forest Park and the Trinity River.

With the concentration of restaurants, retail and gathering spaces planned for the north side of Berry Street, Soileau expects that the changes will create a ripple effect, inspiring similar private development along the street’s south side. Altogether, the Berry Street development will give the TCU community and neighborhood a safe entertainment district.

“We want students to stay close,” Cavins-Tull said, “and students want to stay close.”

Looking ahead to how Lead On: Values in Action reimagines TCU a decade into the future — and how the Campus Master Plan will build the environment to support those strategic goals — reveals an elevated, expanded university while retaining the spirit and ambiance that define TCU.

“When students, no matter what their discipline is, see the quality of the facilities and the housing and everything that we have and how it’s built with them in mind, it will be hard for them to look at any other university,” Wormley said. “The heart of TCU is something that can’t be duplicated. If you add the physical campus and upgrades with the heart of TCU, it’s going to help propel us to the next level of being a premier institution.”

“Through our Lead On: Values in Action strategic plan and the Campus Master Plan,” Pullin said, “we have the chance to really create one of the most dynamic, high-impact educational experiences at any university in the nation.”