Architect Named for Belo Center for New Media at The University of Texas at Austin

AUSTIN, Texas -- July 7, 2008 -- Lawrence Group Architects of Austin has been named architect for the Belo Center for New Media on The University of Texas at Austin campus.

The Belo Center for New Media, a new building that will extend the College of Communication Complex at the northeast corner of Dean Keeton and Guadalupe streets, will augment teaching and research space for the college. The center is projected to be between 100,000 and 125,000 square feet, with groundbreaking expected in April 2010.

Lawrence Group was selected from 15 architectural firms that responded to the Request for Qualification. Lawrence Group’s Managing and Design Principal-in-Charge Earl Swisher, AIA, NCARB, will serve as the overall project manager; Broadcast Design Principal Thomas C. Lekometros, AIA, will oversee the integration of design between the overall project and the broadcast media aspects of the project; and CIDQ-certified interior designer Mary Sue Sutton will be responsible for the interior design.

The firm will work closely with Austin-based architectural firm Graeber, Simmons & Cowan, which will serve as associate architect on the project; San Antonio-based Facility Programming & Consulting on architectural programming; Datum Gojer Engineers, L.L.C., a HUB-certified structural and civil engineering firm, which has offices in Austin and Dallas; and Flintco, Inc. a construction company with an office in Austin.

Lawrence Group is one of the largest building design, development and project delivery firms in the country with offices in Austin, the Carolinas, Denver, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis, as well as Beijing, China. Notable Austin projects include the new mixed-use development at 6th & Brushy; expansions and renovations at Terrazas Library, Manchaca Library and Carver Library; and the Time-Warner Broadcasting/News 8 Austin building.

In September 2007, the College of Communication announced plans to establish the Belo Center for New Media that will feature state-of-the-art classrooms, advanced production labs and seminar rooms, along with large auditorium spaces for introductory classes, film showings and conferences. The center will be named in recognition of the role played in Texas history by Colonel Alfred Horatio Belo, the original owner of The Dallas Morning News who was among the first class inducted into the Texas Newspaper Foundation Hall of Fame.

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Contacts:
Erin Geisler
512-475-8071

or

Donna J. Gamache
314-231-5700