A Compelling Design

A Compelling Design

The towering height and the sheer and girth size of the facility has drawn much pleased and enthusiastic comment. The impressive height of the building is owing to floor-to-floor measurements of 17 feet compared with the 11 feet norm. The apex style roof also adds additional height that is equivalent to another story of about 17 feet. Furthermore, exceptionally broad interior corridors are themselves integral spaces and not merely passageways, featuring informal seating areas and adding significant girth to the building. The law center has 128,000 square feet, compared to the 59,000 square feet in the former home of the Law School, Morrison Constitution Hall.

The pewter-hued standing seam galvanized steel roof, combined with the interior building lighting and extensive glass exposures of the building, have established the law center a marker" of one's entry into the city. Indeed, the structure is immediately and highly visible from I-35 as one enters the city from the north and is further marked by exterior accent lighting on both the river and University Parks Drive elevations of the building that further heightens its visibility in the evening and nighttime hours.

The law center has a classic exterior that reflects the red brick and cut stone of the original campus buildings near the central area of the campus. While the overall building design is in a classic mode, the design also integrates certain contemporary elements that give the law center a timeless design quality. The basic footprint of the structure is a splayed "U." This conformation allows for maximum exterior exposures from within the building. The design also integrates exceptionally generous window surfaces for the purpose of bringing the outside environment, including the river views, "into" the interior of the law center. As a consequence, there are relatively few areas of the law center that do not enjoy natural light.

The windows around the building are highlighted by spandrels made of grey-green Vermont slate. There are four architectural circular medallions on the gable area on both ends of the east and west wings. The slate medallions are each inset with a Texas star and are surrounded by distinctively crafted masonry work. A Scripture verse from the prophet Micah is engraved in a slate panel on a wall to the right of the entry courtyard. The Micah panel will be enhanced by the addition of a walkway adjacent to it with a patio in front of it with seating for reflection. The building is designed to integrate three major components: the west and east components each have three levels and a fourth equipment/attic level; the central component has two levels and an additional storage/attic level.

The spacious courtyard provides an aesthetically pleasing entry into the law center and in itself makes a statement in its landscaping and ambiance. The courtyard design features live oaks, cedar elms, red oaks and many other species of plants. The Walk of Honor, a display of donor pavers of four different sizes and five different hues recognizing Law School donors, will be placed in the courtyard. The courtyard also features generous informal seating areas to allow for outside study and socializing. A curvilinear pergola, or arbor, defines the leading edge of the courtyard. Both the vertical and horizontal elements of the pergola eventually will cover over with trailing crossfire.

The courtyard marks by way of massive, engraved boulders, the components of the law center and invites the visitor into one of the two principal entries. The main entry is into the central Leon Jaworski Center and a second entrance is into the east side Harold and Carol Ann Nix Academic and Advocacy Center. The Sheridan and John Eddie Williams Legal Research and Technology Center completes the triad of major components. The Nix Center classroom/courtroom entrance allows ingress and egress from the law center to the courtyard and parking area during daytime hours when most foot traffic is between the east classrooms and courtrooms and the parking area.

The main entry leads into a large and inviting curvilinear entry foyer and main corridor and includes an immediate view through the law center foyer and out onto the river. The Wall of Honor, honoring major gift donors, along with other recognitions, is located on two curvilinear slate-on-slate walls in the entry foyer. The Wall features a black cleft Pennsylvania slate background with honed slate donor panels.

The level of finish in the foyer, as well as throughout the law center, including several "signature areas" such as courtrooms, library reading rooms, and the Dean's suite, is of a grade seldom seen in an academic building. Nearly all the wood used throughout the law center is Makoré, an African cherry wood, which creates, along with other finishes, an exceptional feeling of warmth in the building. The grey-green Vermont slate is used on the exterior window spandrels, and on the floors of the first level curvilinear corridor, the student social lounge and the library entrance and reception areas. On the floor areas, the grey-green slate is punctuated by black slate accent lines. The grey-green slate also is used as accent breakpoints in the coordinated carpeting that is used throughout the balance of the Law Center.

The law center has two open and broad staircases (one in central hall on the main corridor, just off the entry foyer, and one that meets the view of the library user upon entry into the west wing library), as well as three additional service stairwells. The open staircases are very aesthetically pleasing in that they become progressively wider from top to bottom and feature the Vermont slate. There are also two elevators--one in the east wing and one in the west wing.

The beauty of the law center is enhanced by a recently acquired collection of Entry Hallway approximately 120 pieces of art work that the Law School community and friends have greeted with very positive reviews. The genres range from traditional to modern, but have been selected in accordance with thematic objectives that maximize the impact of the art and take into account the setting and work of the Law School. Several scores of archival pieces and Law School historical memorabilia have been fully restored and re-framed for the enjoyment of the entire law school community.