Read time: 4 minutes

New 240-Student Med-Ed Building — Created by Dunaway, CO Architects, and Hoefer Welker — On Track for Mid-2024 Completion

(FORT WORTH, TEXAS) – To help meet Dallas-Fort Worth’s expanding need for medical services as the area’s population grows, TCU recently broke ground on the newly named Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University. The University’s first major off-campus development, known as the Burnett School of Medicine, will further advance TCU’s mission to transform healthcare by inspiring its 240 Empathetic Scholars® when the new building opens in the Summer of 2024. Hundreds of faculty and staff will work in the Burnett School of Medicine, cultivating a new generation of medical talent and clinical expertise. Their training and experience will leverage access to the context and vision of Fort Worth’s Medical Innovation District, located adjacent to downtown and home to Tarrant County’s major hospitals, as well as dozens of independent medical clinics.

“The digging has begun, and a new era for the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine has launched,” said school Dean Stuart D. Flynn, M.D. “With this new building project in the city’s Near Southside neighborhood, TCU’s investment in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and the state continues.”

“

With this new building project in the city’s Near Southside neighborhood, TCU’s investment in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and the state continues.

”
Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., Dean, Texas Christian University

Anne Burnett Marion (1938-2020) was a native of Fort Worth and was deeply committed to her community and supporting the future of medical education. She was a prominent Texas rancher, philanthropist, and art collector who founded the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ann Marion lived in a Fort Worth home designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei, FAIA, and is best known as a visionary philanthropist.

“During her lifetime, Anne Marion’s support of the university through her service as a trustee and her philanthropy played a vital role in strengthening TCU’s academic profile and reputation. Her investment of $50 million in our School of Medicine enhances her legacy and will have a momentous influence on TCU for the next 150 years,” said Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr.

The 95,000-square-foot Burnett School of Medicine project is an architectural partnership between Los Angeles-based CO Architects and Hoefer Welker’s Dallas-Fort Worth office, alongside prominent Texas engineering and landscape- architecture firm Dunaway. Located in Fort Worth’s Near Southside District for close proximity to TCU’s clinical partners, the Burnett School of Medicine is part of a 5.3-acre extended campus master plan that will include additional facilities.

“

Because of our long history with TCU and our experience in Fort Worth’s Medical Innovation District and the Near Southside neighborhood, we understand the profound impact the School of Medicine will have for generations to come.

”
Jason Williamson, PE, Chief Operating Officer

“Our design approach for the Burnett School of Medicine merges the modern-day medical school with the regional influences of Fort Worth and TCU’s recognizable architectural brand on a new, downtown campus,” says Jonathan Kanda, FAIA, Principal at Los Angeles-based CO Architects. “This new home will enable collaborative learning in team- based classrooms, experiential learning in simulated medical environments, and a meaningful, intimate culture in a wide range of community areas and small-group study spaces.”

Adds Travis Leissner, AIA, Associate Principal at Hoefer Welker, “It will fuel innovation not just through traditional life science research but also through close engagement with a broad, interdisciplinary array of hospital systems, health- related consortia, and biotech industries partners.”

“We are proud to provide our multi-disciplined services on this significant project,” says Jason Williamson, PE, Chief Operating Officer at Fort Worth-based Dunaway. “Because of our long history with TCU and our experience in Fort Worth’s Medical Innovation District and the Near Southside neighborhood, we understand the profound impact the School of Medicine will have for generations to come.”

In addition to CO Architects (design architect and medical education specialist), Hoefer Welker (architect of record), and Dunaway (civil and structural engineer, landscape architect), the Burnett School of Medicine’s build team includes SSR Inc. (building systems engineer) and Linbeck (construction management).

About CO Architects
Los Angeles-based CO Architects is nationally recognized for architectural planning, programming, and design in the higher education, science and technology, and healthcare sectors, and works with leading institutions from coast to coast. CO Architects’ specialized expertise includes transformative schools of medicine and health professions, advanced research and teaching laboratories, and innovative clinical facilities on higher education, healthcare, and urban campuses. The firm has been nationally and internationally recognized with more than 195 awards for innovative design and project delivery, including the American Institute of Architects, California Council’s Architecture Firm of the Year Award.

About Hoefer Welker
Founded in 1996, Hoefer Welker is a multidisciplinary architecture, interior design, medical equipment planning, technology consultancy, and engineering firm known for collaborating with clients to create performance-driven solutions. From offices in Dallas/Fort Worth, Jacksonville, and Kansas City, the firm works with clients in the healthcare, education, government, civic, multifamily, and commercial markets on projects across the U.S.

About TCU School of Medicine
The Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth’s M.D. school, opened with a class of 60 students in July 2019. The new allopathic medical school was formed in 2015. The Burnett School of Medicine’s focus on communication, a first-of-its-kind curriculum, and the development of Empathetic Scholars® uniquely positions the school to radically transform medical education, improving care for future generations. To make this new school possible, the greater North Texas community continues to offer generous philanthropic support. The school’s current Founding Donors include Alcon Vision; Amon G. Carter Foundation; Baylor Scott & White Health; Mrs. Rebecca and Mr. Jon Brumley; The Burnett Foundation; Cook Children’s; Mrs. Anita and Mr. Kelly Cox; Mr. H. Paul Dorman; Mrs. Harriette and Arnold Gachman; Mrs. Pricilla and Dr. John Geesbreght; Martha Sue Parr Trust; The Morris Foundation; Sid W. Richardson Foundation; Thomas M., Helen McKee, & John P. Ryan Foundation; Tartaglino Richards Family Foundation; Texas Health Resources; and three anonymous donors.