HED served as lead architect in the master planning, programming, and design of the 32,000 SF Dallas College Garland Center (formerly Richland College Garland Campus), a community campus focused on workforce training/development and corporate services. It also provides a separate lease space for use by the Garland Chamber of Commerce, with its own identifiable entry.

The dramatic feature space of the new facility is a 6,000 SF two-story glass atrium that accommodates main public access from on-site parking and public transit and links both the Chamber’s lease space and school administration wing to the education wing. The atrium serves a variety of functions, including conferences, job fairs, special conventions, and many other community services. It incorporates sophisticated audio-visual technology for a large variety of presentation options. Due to the transparent qualities of the atrium design, it serves as a sort of “lighted beacon” at the edge of the new urban redevelopment, providing dramatic views into the atrium from downtown and out from the atrium to downtown Garland.

The building was designed to provide a new public plaza link to a proposed urban redevelopment and nearby Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) bus and rail stations. Organized into three functional building areas that consist of the main central atrium, a separate administration wing, and a classrooms/computer lab wing, each functional building area is oriented to take advantage of proper solar orientation.