By Danilynn Welniak/reporter
RadioShack’s Riverfront Campus in downtown Fort Worth is currently morphing into TCC’s Trinity River Campus. Although it is transforming from a corporate building to an educational facility, the effects it had on its employees and will be similarly felt on students.
“RadioShack already called this building a campus and intended it for learning,” said Trinity River Campus President Tahita Fulkerson.
In 2005, RadioShack moved 2,300 employees from the Tandy Center to the Riverfront Campus to save money and make their employees more successful.
“It is easy to change the environment, but true success hinges on transitioning the people to work in the new environment,” said Nina Petty, managing director of Innovative Developers.
The workplace reflects values and molds people; therefore, special emphasis was placed on making the building unique, Petty said. Its design increased flexibility, access, communication and collaboration among the RadioShack employees.
Petty said a culture had been created in which the people forever learn and grow, and every individual aspires to succeed.
“We shape our buildings, and then our buildings shape our lives,” she said. “This one will shape students and people for hundreds of years to come.”
In 2008, when TCC bought the campus, it also acquired 929,000 usable square feet, all the furniture, the mineral rights, the media equipment and most of the art collection. Everything about the building contributes to the vision established for Trinity River Campus.
“Our philosophy is an unshakable focus on student learning with emphasis on service and community engagement, strong communication, professional and personal growth, multicultural competence and language acquisition, interdisciplinary collaboration and wellness,” Fulkerson said. “This building makes it all possible.”
The campus is as close to the river as physically and politically possible, Fulkerson said. Special attention is given to utilizing the view of the river to aid the learning atmosphere.
“This building facilitates learning in ways that we can’t even imagine,” she said. “It provides experiences unlike any other, stimulates the senses and encourages an open exchange of ideas.”
By 2015, four buildings will complete the Trinity River Campus, each named after various parts of the river. Trinity and East Fork are the first two buildings available for education starting this summer followed by Clear Fork in 2012 and West Fork in 2015.
Trinity provides 177,000 square feet and four stories designated for student services, labs, math classrooms, a bookstore, campus security, administration and conference rooms.
East Fork has seven stories and 180,000 usable square feet with a 30,000-square-foot library located at the heart. It will also provide informal learning spots for students, open meeting rooms, various classrooms and open faculty areas and cubicles called interdisciplinary pods.
Shewanda Riley, a NE Campus English instructor, expressed her intrigue with the open teacher facilities.
Being accustomed to modern cubicles and private offices, these open offices seem questionable to workability, but it will be interesting to see how they advance higher education, Riley said.
Fulkerson credits the modern advancements, open learning environment and pioneering professors for Trinity River Campus’ metamorphosis from corporate to collegiate and its future effects on students.
“We are here because the world needs us, because Tarrant County needs us,” she said. “And we are really excited to be here to work with [future generations].”
