Texas A&M University - Commerce Nursing and Health Sciences Building

Renowned academic institution Texas A&M University was making significant investments in its growing satellite campus in East Texas, with a goal to become a leading public research university. Its capstone project was to add a health sciences facility that would unite and support education and advanced research in three areas: Nursing, Health and Human Performance, and the Biomedical Institute for Regenerative Research.  

The new Nursing and Health Sciences Building not only creates an advanced home that allows for the fusion of these key disciplines, but it also creates a pivotal landmark building and a new public face for the campus that elevates the Texas A&M Commerce brand.  

The building’s hallmark is its “living room,” a highly visible, voluminous campus hub with a three-story glass curtainwall and rooftop terrace, that overlooks the campus’ iconic Gee Lake and the building’s new ‘boardwalk.’  Shared by all three disciplines and others across campus, it provides a variety of learning environments and collaboration spaces. It also is well-designed to host symposiums and departmental events, with features like moveable furniture, advanced audio-visual equipment and access to the building’s café and teaching kitchen. 

The building’s exterior articulation subtly stratifies the building’s three disciplines, each with their own floor. Together, they create an elegant union of health science research and education, with facilities that include a nursing suite comprising two 10-bed skills labs, a 10-bed physical assessment lab and full simulation suite; HHP-focused programing consisting of a full-court teaching gymnasium, teaching kitchen and human performance lab; and four general use classrooms and two state-of-the-art biology research labs.  

Sited near the main entrance to campus, along the predominant frontage road and adjacent to inviting Gee Lake, the building makes the most of its prominent location. It creates an impressive and welcoming icon for the University, complete with large Texas A&M signage in glowing milky glass on the south façade. On the building’s prominent north side, a shaded boardwalk extends from the living room and overlooks the lake, an ideal gathering spot that welcomes the public in. The building’s campus-facing side welcomes in the student community, with a large wellness courtyard that is used for training, education and recreation, and pedestrian connections to adjacent related facilities.  

The Nursing and Health Sciences Building brings a new energy to Texas A&M Commerce, creating a synergistic hub for the health services, a new face for the University and greater prestige as a public research institution.