Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

The University of Texas at Dallas: Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center

  • 09/01/18
University of Texas at Dallas

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS

The Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center provides a home on campus for the more than 105,000 alumni of The University of Texas at Dallas and serves as a gateway for current students to become lifelong members of the UT Dallas community.

Opened in September 2017, the 30,246-square-foot center is named for Nancy Gundy Davidson, B.S. '80, and Charles “Chuck” Davidson, M.S. '80, in recognition of their $15 million gift that made its construction possible.

As UT Dallas’ first special-use facility, the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center boasts a 5,785-square-foot ballroom which can host up to 700 guests and can be quickly converted into three separate break-out spaces. The building also features an executive board room, multiple conference rooms, and several indoor and outdoor lounges. In its first year of operation, the center has already hosted more than 200 events and 14,000 guests for galas, conferences, lectures, concerts, weddings, and other gatherings. New office space for the university’s alumni relations and events staff is located on the building’s second floor.

Overland Partners, the San Antonio-based architectural firm, worked with UT Dallas administrators and the Davidsons to realize a vision for a sustainable and welcoming facility that would help forge deeper connections between the university; the general public; and UT Dallas alumni, students, faculty, and staff.

Upon completion, the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center was awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The center’s design incorporates regionally sourced materials and technology that significantly reduces water consumption. In addition, a conscious effort was made to blend the center’s indoor and outdoor spaces by situating the building within a grove of Live Oak trees and making ample use of glass. The resulting mixture of daylight and shade helps mitigate energy use in the facility.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management September 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.

  • abstract illustration of school gym

    How the Gymnasium Can Serve as a Model for Learning Space Design

    Multipurpose gyms work because flexibility was built into the brief from the start, not retrofitted later. The same logic applies to academic spaces.

  • nursing students talk while studying in a hallway

    Elsevier Launches VR Simulation Solution for Nursing Students

    Elsevier has introduced Shadow Health Lab with Virtual Reality, a simulation platform that allows nursing students to interact with virtual patients and build clinical judgment skills in a safe, realistic environment.

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.