Classes began today at UNT at Frisco’s newly opened, $100 million Frisco Landing building, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.
The 135,000-square-foot Frisco Landing will be home to many of the 2,500-plus students enrolled at UNT at Frisco, which offers 27 undergraduate and master’s level programs. It’s the first permanent building to be built on the UNT at Frisco campus, located on 100 acres of land at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Panther Creek Parkway. The land was donated by the city of Frisco at no cost to strengthen its partnership with the Denton-based University of North Texas System.
Designed by Baltimore-based Ayers Sant Gross
Striking architecture is featured at Frisco Landing on the UNT at Frisco campus. [Video still: UNT at Frisco]
Construction began on Frisco Landing in fall 2020. The building was designed by Baltimore-based Ayers Sant Gross, which specializes in university design. The firm also designed a 172,000-square-foot building at UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth.
UNT has offered classes in Frisco since 2016, with students studying at locations including Hall Park and Inspire Park.
A collaborative campus with 69 ‘huddle rooms,’ interactive classrooms, and more
One of the 69 “huddle rooms” at Frisco Landing on the UNT at Frisco campus. [Video still: UNT at Frisco]
UNT’s four-story Frisco Landing building was designed as a space where students can collaborate in every direction. It features 69 “huddle rooms” that allow for small to medium-sized groups to meet up, along with interactive classrooms that emphasize participation by all. A balcony lines the building’s west side.
The new campus will focus on achieving the university’s goal of work-ready graduates and the city of Frisco’s goal of having a university that can help it attract new corporations and businesses to the city.
“Planting a flag in Frisco”
Tower at Frisco Landing building on UNT at Frisco campus. [Video still: UNT at Frisco]
Michael R. Williams, chancellor of the UNT System, sees the UNT at Frisco campus as a big part of the system’s future.
“The UNT System is planting a flag in Frisco,” Williams said at the ribbon-cutting last week. “A flag that makes a promise to deliver an excellent education that is accessible, affordable, and transformative.”
More than 20 buildings planned for UNT at Frisco over the next 25 to 30 years
The campus master plan shows more than 20 buildings that will be home to 25,000 students sometime over the next 25 to 30 years. The plan came from Baltimore-based Ayers Sant Gross, which specializes in university design. [Rendering: UNT]
The master plan for UNT at Frisco (above) includes more than 20 buildings that could be constructed on the 100-acre location over the next 25 to 30 years. The plan was approved in August 2019 by the UNT System Board of Regents.
“We ultimately want to grow the Frisco campus to 25,000 students,” Wesley Randall, dean of UNT’s New College at Frisco, told the North Texas Daily. “From a UNT perspective, we continue to grow, so Frisco gives us an opportunity to keep expanding.”
Leveraging connections with corporate neighbors—including the Cowboys and the PGA
UNT at Frisco’s Frisco Landing building at sunset [Video still: UNT at Frisco]
UNT at Frisco has some powerful—and glamorous—neighbors in the vicinity, including numerous large corporations. The school already hosts classes with partners including the Dallas Cowboys, who are headquartered at The Star in Frisco, and the PGA of America, which recently opened its new headquarters in Frisco.
“From our perspective, us being in Frisco gives us a really good insight and partnership with the firms that really represent the North Texas economy and the future of North Texas,” Randall told the North Texas Daily. “You’ve got a city that’s trying to attract new businesses with big offices and great paying jobs.”
Programs offered exclusively at UNT at Frisco include Project Design and Analysis—an immersive program that enables students to put their skills into practice on real-world projects with industry partners—as well as Industrial Distribution and Applied Project Design and Analysis.
Get on the list.
Dallas Innovates, every day.
Sign up to keep your eye on what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth, every day.
R E A D N E X T
-
The University of North Texas BioDiscovery Institute's $1.4 million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation is seeding research in sustainable medicine—literally. “What we're thinking long-term is that if plants can store medicines in seeds, you eat the seeds, and the medicine is already contained. You don't have all these factories, you don't need any chemicals—it's just there and available,” said UNT lead researcher Elizabeth Skellam.
-
University of North Texas faculty members Alexandra Ponette-González and Matthew Fry will soon launch a a five-year study—backed by a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation—to explore how digital tools like i-Tree influence urban forest sustainability and equity. Cities across the U.S. use this technology to help make decisions about our urban forests—which encompass all the trees and shrubs that exist on public and private land within each city. The UNT team will work with researchers across the U.S. to see how the technologies impact equitable access, involve local constituents in decision-making, represent people’s values and preferences, and affect the removal of air pollution. “Theoretically, digital tools…
-
Frisco-based InspectIR received the FDA emergency use authorization on Friday for its breathalyzer test, which tests for organic compounds associated with COVID-19 in a person's breath. According to a study, the tests are more effective than the rapid antigen tests available for free from the U.S. government.
-
The exhibit is a curated selection of designer garments and accessories from UNT's collection of historic dress and high fashion from past centuries through the present—including designs by Todd Oldham, Vera Wang, Givenchy, Balenciaga, and many more.
-
Slated to break ground next year, Firefly Park will add "a significantly different, cool vibe to Frisco," says the city's mayor. Developer Kyle Wilks of Wilks Development hired Amsterdam-based UNStudio to develop the master plan in collaboration with Sasaki Associates. That European influence is showing up in the 230-acre project's walkable, park-laden layout—and in the architecture's future-forward look. The Dream Hotel will be designed with hints of the region, with a design philosophy “both surreal and contemporarily chic."
