Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

SMU Breaks Ground on Business School Expansion

  • By Matt Jones
  • 05/12/22

Officials from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, gathered on Friday, May 6, to celebrate a groundbreaking ceremony for a $140-million expansion and renovation of its business school. The project is set to expand the footprint of the Cox School of Business by more than 30 percent, according to local news, and will connect four new buildings with the school’s existing facilities.

The project is scheduled to include the renovation of about 157,000 square feet from three existing campus structures: the Joseph M. Wylie Fincher Building, the Trammell Crow Building and the Cary M. Maguire Building. The buildings will undergo structural demolition, and all roofing systems will be removed. The buildings’ exterior stone and brick façades will remain in place wherever possible, according to the university website.

The project will also entail about 63,000 square feet of expansion to existing buildings and underground connecting spaces. One side of the Fincher building will extend to connect with the Crow and Maguire buildings, while separate additions will be added to the Crow and Maguire buildings, also.

Construction is scheduled to take about two years. The renovated and expanded facilities will be called the David B. Miller Business Quadrangle.

“We are retooling the Cox School to create a more collaborative environment—to give students and faculty easier access to collaborate, to gather and share ideas and gain inspiration from one another,” said Matthew B. Myers, Dean of the Cox School of Business. “We will offer students more opportunity to obtain their business education in a ‘9 to 9’ environment, meaning they’ll come to classes, stay for lunch or dinner, work together with other students and their professors, and remain connected with and at Cox all day long. In short, our improved facilities will nurture an environment that will lead to a richer learning experience and a lifetime of connections. This really marks a new era for the Cox School.”

The university is partnering with Rogers-O’Brien Construction for construction and GFF Architects for architecture and design.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Cleveland High School Breaks Ground on Modernization

    Portland Public Schools in Portland, Ore., recently announced that construction has begun on a modernization project for Cleveland High School, according to a news release. The existing building will be replaced with a new, 300,000-square-foot facility at the same site.

  • Texas Recruitment

    Texas Recruitment

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The University of Texas at Austin's Texas Recruitment has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of Renovation.

  • Tennessee Middle School Completes Health, Life Safety Renovations

    The Giles County Board of Education in Pulaski, Tenn., recently announced that a series of renovation projects has been completed at Bridgeforth Middle School, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers and Brindley Construction to modernize building systems at one of the district’s oldest schools.

  • Children walking along bright school corridor with motion blur

    How Next-Gen Design Is Reshaping the Student Experience

    The environments where students learn play a crucial role in shaping their growth in and out of the classroom. By centering design on well-being, flexibility, and purpose, districts can ensure their facilities remain vibrant community assets for many years to come.