FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ag Headquarters Building to Consolidate Various Departments

HOUSTON, TEXAS — On May 22nd, Texas A&M University System broke ground on the $62.4-million Agriculture Headquarters Building and Visitors Center on their main campus in College Station, Texas. Part of a planned 300,000-sf, four-building complex for the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, these first two buildings are scheduled to open in 2011.

Designed by Houston architecture firm Kirksey, the five-story, 166,000-sf Ag Headquarters Building will consolidate the various departments within the College of Agriculture into a single location on the west campus. The building will feature state-of-the-art technology throughout and house educational, research and administrative facilities. Educational spaces are designed to foster collaborative teaching, research and extension efforts. Additional public areas include a training center, auditorium and a food service court. Skanska is the construction manager over the project.

Anchoring the complex, the two-story, 13,000-sf visitor center and 4H/FFA museum is designed to showcase the history and significance of agriculture to Texas A&M University and the world at large. “Agriculture is Life” is the theme driving the design and construction of the Agriculture and Life Sciences complex.

More than 600 faculty, staff and researchers will call this new complex home. Seeking LEED® Silver certification, these buildings are designed for increased energy efficiency, decreased water use, and more efficient use of on-site resources. Unique sustainable features include extensive rainwater collection and storage underground for use as irrigation, constructed wetlands and on-site gardening that supports the dining commons.

The long-term vision of the master plan for the TAMU Agriculture and Life Sciences Programs is to increase the external visibility of the programs. The new “Agri-Life” complex will do much to further this goal and will benefit faculty, staff, and students with the consolidation of all departments and administrative functions within a single, unified campus.

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Developed by the US Green Building Council, LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and is an internationally recognized certification system that measures how well a building or community performs across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

Kirksey is a Houston-based architecture and interior design firm with more than 26 million sf of LEED® projects certified or underway. Our certified projects have achieved major milestones within our community, including the 1st LEED certified building in Houston (Silver, New Construction), the 1st LEED CI in Houston (Silver, Commercial Interiors), the 1st LEED EB in Texas (Existing Building, our own corporate headquarters), and the 1st LEED CS (Core and Shell), which is also the 1st Gold certified building, in Houston. We developed a basicGREEN™ program that is employed on EVERY project, regardless of whether certification is achieved. www.kirksey.com