HED, i.e., VAI Architects, served as Architect of Record while working in collaboration with WTW Architects for a building expansion to the Sam Rayburn Student Center at the Texas A&M University campus in Commerce, Texas. The existing student center included accommodations for offices and work areas for student organizations, activities, dining, bookstore, spirit shop, café, 420-seat ballroom, and meeting rooms.

HED developed a 31,640 SF, two-story building addition. The first floor is comprised of new food serveries, special venue seating, food services/kitchen support including dish washing, storage, preparation, and food service vendor offices. The second floor includes meeting and conference rooms, senate chambers, and a staff office and conference room suite.

The addition complements the existing building in its scale, massing, and materials and provides abundant natural light to the entire dining space. The team initially prepared a program and developed a master plan, including the dining hall expansion and two subsequent phases. As part of the program, the scope included preliminary plan layouts, massing studies, and estimated project costs. The second phase houses a large event space to seat 1,000, meeting rooms, retail, and academic functions. The third phase includes a complex with a Student Club, concessions, and three 200-250 seat theaters that show first-run movies and accommodate lectures, conferences, and small music or theater presentations.