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A Common Vision

Welcome to our Campus Commons, the heart of education at TCU in the 21st century. Like the town square of old, everything will intersect here. With a 135,000 square foot University Union, four multi-story residence halls and a park-like greenway, you’ll be immersed in a community of learners, a place where intellectual discussion and social engagement is the norm.

An Exceptional Learning Community

Step from your residence hall onto an expansive green. Follow a covered walk to the Union to grab a meal, get your mail, meet with a study group or just hang with friends.  Head to class, less than five minutes away; or to our award-winning recreation center to stretch your muscles.

A lot of People are Digging our New Campus

The $100 million Campus Commons is the next step in TCU’s vision of a world-class, values-centered university experience housed in a residential environment. In the past decade, we’ve upgraded existing residence halls and classrooms, added a state-of-the art technology center, a hall for entrepreneurial education and an expansive recreation center, and will reopen the historic Bailey Building in 2007 after adding a wing and restoring its original 1914 façade.

Like the Town Square of Old, Everything will Intersect Here

Plans for the Commons began in 2003 when Chancellor Victor Boschini initiated Vision in Action (VIA), a strategic planning process that identified more than 50   specific objectives. VIA determined that TCU would, among other plans, hold    undergraduate enrollment at 7,200 through 2009-10, and house two-thirds   (4,800) of the undergraduates in University-owned or authorized housing. See www.via.tcu.edu for detailed plans.

The Nexus of Student Life

The 135,000-square-foot Brown-Lupton University Union will be a “permeable” building with two through-passageways and multiple entrances and exits. The central corridor will run from Stadium Drive to the green. There will be lounges, a TCU Heritage Center, a copy center, a convenience store, a post office, specialty retail and retail food services (with indoor and outdoor seating), even a sports-style restaurant. A large suite of offices and workspace for Student Government and student organizations on the first floor will include a spacious outdoor patio. A 350-seat “great hall” will provide space for films, lectures and concerts.

The second floor will feature a large dining facility with covered and open-air outdoor seating. A large office suite for student services will be housed on this level.

A student governance chamber, multiple lounges, seminar/conference rooms and a large ballroom with

pre-function space will make up most of the third floor. The Chancellor’s Dining Room on this level will be attached to a spacious reception area, which will open onto an outdoor terrace.

The building will be crowned by a five-story bell tower, and the Commons side will be lined with fully arcaded walkways. In keeping with the pedestrian nature of the Commons, three open-air amphitheatres (one seating 200-300, two seating 50-60) will accommodate events, productions and concerts.

At Home on Campus

Each of the four new residence halls flanking the Commons will have four or five stories and house 150-160 students, who will live in suite-style rooms. Some suites will include a living area, and every student will have a private room with bed, desk and closet. In most, two to four students will share a common bath. There will also be some single-student rooms with private baths. All the halls will have multiple common lounges for study and student activities. Covered walkways will connect the halls to the Union.

Foot Traffic Only

In keeping with the pedestrian intent of the Commons, all parking will be moved to the perimeter of the  campus, with regular shuttle service providing rides to and from the lots.

What About Frog Fountain?

The Frog Fountain flutes will be dismantled and stored, then reinstalled in a new pool at the east end of the Commons when the first two residence halls are complete in August 2007.

The Old will be New Again

The Brown-Lupton Student Center, built in 1955, will become a primarily academic complex for AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences after the Commons,is complete. No date for this project has been set.

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