By Eric Althoff
FORT WORTH, Texas鈥�Texas Christian University aims to increase both its teaching and health-care capabilities in the greater Dallas area thanks to its soon-to-be-realized Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine building, the first major TCU building to be constructed off the main campus. When completed in the summer of 2024, the Burnett School will train 240 鈥淓mpathetic Scholars鈥� in a modern medical teaching facility located in Fort Worth鈥檚 Medical Innovation District and convenient to several local hospitals and clinics.
As designed by CO Architects and Hoefer Welker鈥檚 Dallas-Fort Worth office, the Burnett School of Medicine facility will encompass 95,000 square feet of educational space for the medical profession and is part of 5.3-acre 鈥渆xtended campus鈥� plan envisioned by TCU. The four-story structure will be sited at the corners of South Henderson and West Rosedale.
The medical education center is named in honor of Fort Worth native Anne Burnett Marion, a philanthropist who was dedicated to serving her community and the cause of medical education. Prior to her death in 2020, Burnett Marion donated $50 million to the medical school鈥檚 construction budget.
Jonathan Kanda, principal at Los Angeles-based CO Architects, said that his company鈥檚 approach entails respecting the local aesthetic of the DFW region, while infusing the school with modern amenities necessary to current medical education.
鈥淭his new home will enable collaborative learning in team-based classrooms, experiential learning in simulated medical environments, and a meaningful, intimate culture in a wide range of community areas and small-group study spaces,鈥� Kanda said.
Meanwhile, Travis Leissner, an associate principal at Hoefer Welker, believes that the new medical campus will serve to fuel future innovation 鈥渘ot just through traditional life science research but also through close engagement with a broad, interdisciplinary array of hospital systems, health-related consortia, and biotech industries partners.鈥�
The designers are working in conjunction with Linbeck, who is acting as both construction manager and general contractor, as well as civil and structural engineer Dunaway and building systems engineer SSR Inc. Together they will have to tackle a project timeline that must allow for the building to be ready for the next class of students in the fall of 2024. (The first class commenced their studies in 2019, according to the university.)
鈥淭o meet construction milestones鈥he project team could not operate and deliver business as usual,鈥� Hoefer Welker Vice President Tony Schmitz informed 91视频. 鈥淲e all have been working simultaneously and collaboratively in design and document creation to provide direction and ensure design intent and constructability have been addressed for active work in the field.鈥�
The medical school鈥檚 dean, Stuart D. Flynn, termed it a 鈥渘ew era鈥� for TCU, as well as for Fort Worth鈥檚 Near Southside Neighborhood and surrounding Tarrant County.