Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation at Baylor University

Size: 4 stories, totaling 275,000 GSF, including 263 offices for administrative staff and faculty
Owner: Baylor University

Chartered in 1845, Baylor University is the oldest, continuously operational university in Texas and has been offering business courses since 1923. With the construction of the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, the University was able to expand enrollment in its business school by 40% and offer new opportunities for student and faculty interdisciplinary collaboration, in an environment built for 21st century learning.

The 285,000 square foot, $100 million building houses 41 classrooms, 267 offices, a 9,200 square foot conference center, a four-story central atrium with 10,000 square feet of common area, and a 350-seat auditorium. The building structure is exposed architectural concrete and structural steel, with custom long-span steel trusses over the atrium and conference center and a segmented arch doe roof over the auditorium. 

Construction required 196 drilled pier foundations, totaling 5,150 linear feet, 600 tons of structural steel, 13,500 cubic yards of cast-in-place concrete, 14,200 square feet of cast stone, 23,000 square feet of precast concrete walls, 26,000 square feet of brick masonry, 31,400 square feet of curtain walls and 569,000 hours of labor, and 60% of construction costs were spent locally. 2.6 million pounds of construction waste were recycled, and the building was awarded LEED Gold status by the U.S. Green Building Council for its innovative use of technologies to reduce energy consumption.