CONTINUED FROM 1 COMING IN FOR A LANDING The University of North Texas’ Frisco branch campus will debut with Frisco Landing and include a variety of features.
you stay there as a student with your friends and you’re working on projects afterwards. That’s the goal.” Balconies surround the upper oors and provide additional gathering spaces for students and faculty, Vail said. The third and fourth oors of the building have a smaller footprint than the lower oors and are primarily for classrooms and huddle rooms. No par- ticular oor is dedicated to one area of study, she said. Rather, students travel throughout the building to get to their classes. “It kind of forces students to go dif- ferent places,” she said during the May tour. “I think it’s great if classes can be mixed around and get students to go see other things.” Creating a landing space Creating the building concept was a lengthy process, Smatresk said, and one that involved the active engage- ment of students and sta . The third oor will demonstrate this involvement with a UNT branding ele- ment created by a student. Normally, the university hires a professional sculptor to create something for the campuses, but for this building UNT o cials decided to tap the talent of Archit Karkare, a student in the art department. He is now working with a fabricator in Denton on a sculpture idea he submitted, he said. His sculpture will consist of three eagle feathers—a tribute to UNT’s eagle mascot—spiraling upwards. It will be made out of aluminum and polyester fabric threads, and it will be suspended from the ceiling. “My concept behind the proposal was this idea that UNT is a place, at least for me, where I challenge myself and try to push myself higher,” he said. Iyke Ifeji, a student at UNT at Frisco’s
Students, faculty and sta will have 884 parking spots.
Frisco Landing classrooms are still under construction, but have exible designs so students can engage with partners and teachers.
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BUILDING FEATURES
The Frisco Landing building sits on 100 acres, which UNT can potentially use for more buildings in the future.
Classrooms and facilities at Frisco Landing are designed with project-based learning in mind.
Frisco Landing will be able to serve at least 5,000 students.
in-person classrooms 29
7 classrooms KEY 1 student
12 classrooms
69 huddle rooms with capacity ranging from 2-10 people.
6 classrooms
3 classrooms
tness center 1
PANTHER CREEK PKWY.
1 classroom
ELDORADO PKWY.
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SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
in recruiting students but potentially engaged in helping to develop cur- riculum or teaching classes, or to be guiding students and helping in their professional development.” About the campus UNT has been o ering classes in Frisco since 2016 at Hall Park and Inspire Park. Prior to this, there was no four-year institution in Collin County. Frisco Landing is expected to o er classes in 27 undergraduate and mas- ter’s level programs, from biology to sport entertainment management. A guiding principle for the design of Frisco Landing was creating future- proof classrooms, Smatresk said. This was done through design and construc- tion in addition to curriculum develop- ment. A team of faculty, students and
sta members compiled the values and the statements the new campus should embody, Smatresk said. This includes incorporating HyFlex classrooms, he said. HyFlex classrooms are designed with features to allow stu- dents to work in small groups or listen to a lecture in a traditional style. Com- puters or screens are available around the room so students can work interac- tively or attend virtually. “Not everyone is capable of going to every class all the time, and so if your work schedule or personal life sched- ule doesn’t support that, we’ve built classrooms that make it easy to still be part of the community,” Smatresk said. Throughout the campus a commit- ment to collaboration is apparent with open spaces, maker spaces and lounge areas. The rst oor features larger
classrooms and provides access to out- door spaces, such as an amphitheater and workout areas. The second oor features the learn- ing center and library as well as smaller huddle rooms dedicated to testing and tutoring. Sta said these areas show- case the university’s commitment to project-based learning, compounded by the fact that there are no o ces on most of the oors. “That’s kind of a big shift in learning is not going to your o ce for meet- ings,” said Jeannine Vail, senior proj- ect manager of the University of North Texas System, during a May tour of Frisco Landing. “The idea is that you have class and you might have ques- tions before or after, and you just pop into the huddle room with the faculty member and you start working. Maybe
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