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TCU Hill Hall, Walsh Hall, and Gutierrez Hall

Fort Worth, Texas

Expertise

  • Education

Services

  • mechanical / plumbing engineering
  • structural engineering

Size

  • 127,900 SF

BHB provided full mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) design services for three new buildings on Texas Christian University’s expanding East Campus—Hill Hall, Walsh Hall, and Gutierrez Hall. Designed to support the university’s strategic growth and enhance the student living experience, this modern residential and dining complex is situated directly behind the Neeley School of Business, establishing a new hub of student activity and connectivity on the eastern edge of campus.

Hill Hall and Walsh Hall are four-story, suite-style residence halls with a combined bed capacity of 300, primarily intended for first-year students. These buildings promote a community-focused layout while offering students privacy, comfort, and easy access to shared amenities. Each building is outfitted with high-efficiency HVAC systems connected to the existing chilled water loop on campus, and receives heating hot water from a newly constructed central utility plant integrated into Gutierrez Hall. The plant was engineered with redundancy in mind—featuring multiple pumps and domestic and heating water boilers to ensure continuous service and long-term system resilience.

Gutierrez Hall, the centerpiece of the complex, is a 550-seat full-service dining facility that expands the university’s culinary offerings with seven unique food service concepts and a large back-of-house production kitchen. Beyond serving the new residence halls, this dining facility accommodates dietary restrictions and food allergies and is designed to support both current and future student populations across East Campus. Architecturally, the dining hall emphasizes openness and transparency, with floor-to-ceiling glazing on both ends and exposed roof beams that bring in natural light and elevate the overall dining experience.

The MEP systems throughout the complex were designed with sustainability and maintainability in mind. LED lighting is used exclusively across all three buildings, blending pendant, troffer, and recessed can fixtures to create warm, energy-efficient spaces. Building systems were coordinated to meet LEED certification standards, with integrated controls and energy-efficient equipment selections that align with the university’s long-term sustainability goals.

Beyond the buildings themselves, the project includes a landscaped outdoor common area that serves as a shared courtyard between the residence halls and dining facility—enhancing the sense of community, offering flexible programming space, and providing visual connectivity between the buildings. With a construction budget of $80 million and a total project size of nearly 128,000 square feet, the TCU East Campus Housing development represents a major investment in student life infrastructure. BHB is proud to support TCU’s vision by delivering forward-thinking MEP design solutions that prioritize comfort, performance, and long-term efficiency.

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