UHV Health & Wellness Center at Texas A&M University-Victoria

Project Description:

Located about 100 miles from San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University-Victoria is a small but growing satellite campus with approximately 4,500 students. As they planned for future growth, university leaders prioritized bringing vital health and wellness services to their students. They created an innovative partnership with a community healthcare provider to operate a walk-in clinic on campus, sharing space in a new student recreation facility. The UHV Health & Wellness Center is designed to make a statement. The sleek and glassy two-story facility is intentionally prominent, sited on a corner at the arrival edge of campus. The wealth of recreation amenities for students — including strength and conditioning areas, fitness instruction, sports courts and a bouldering wall — helps establish UHV as a destination institution. A primary design goal was to blur the lines between the clinic and the recreation center, creating a unified facility. A two-story, daylit entry lobby serves both, with the clinic on one side and access to the fitness facilities on the other. The lobby can be accessed either from the interior campus side or the community/street side. This central space also includes casual seating areas to foster a sense of belonging and community. On the south “community-facing” side, minimum setbacks create convenient access to a growing off-campus housing area and an urban frontage. The site design restricts parking to the perimeter while preserving an open lawn area adjacent to the building. The green space serves as a highly flexible amenity, facilitating everything from yoga to recreational sports to campus movie nights.