Commissioned initially by Texas Woman’s University to assess the accessibility of four buildings on Campus, CamargoCopeland Architects later implemented its findings in order to augment access to the existing facilities, but also identified and resolved serious Life-Safety deficiencies within the historic buildings.

 

Both the Music Hall and Fine Arts building stairwells were lacking appropriate protection or separation; in order to resolve these issues, CamargoCopeland implemented two exterior steel staircases from each facility. These staircases were not only devised to stand separate from the facility so as to not engage the Historic building, but to also be hidden from view by a screen wall which emulates the existing historic elevation of the building. The scope of the project included reconfiguration of existing spaces to allow for handicapped access, the replacement of an elevator in the Fine Arts building, as well as incorporating handicapped seating within the Music Hall, all within the context of preserving, wherever possible, the integrity of the campuses historic buildings.