Designed by CO Architects and BGK Architects, This Modern Facility Will Accelerate A Leading Institution’s Technological Breakthroughs
The Autry C. Stephens Engineering Discovery Building comprises a seven-story laboratory research tower and a two-story student-focused pavilion. Images courtesy CO Architects.
Austin, TX — The University of Texas at Austin is home to several engineering programs consistently ranked among the nation’s top 10. Building on this momentum, a recent gift from the family of distinguished energy-sector alumnus Autry C. Stephens is funding the department’s under-construction Engineering Discovery Building.
The new Autry C. Stephens Engineering Discovery Building (ACS) is designed by Los Angeles-based CO Architects in association with Austin firm BGK Architects. The 210,000-square-foot facility will host two UT Austin departments: the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering and the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering. The ACS is the third engineering or science facility CO Architects has designed on the Austin campus and the latest of several UT Austin buildings by BGK.
“This project allows CO Architects to stretch our expertise in cross-disciplinary design,” says Phillip White, AIA, Associate Principal at CO Architects and ACS project manager. “The new research and teaching laboratories will encourage collaboration among UT Austin’s engineering schools, accommodate increasing enrollment, and attract top faculty and researchers.”
Located in UT Austin’s engineering precinct on the eastern edge of the campus, the ACS replaces a building that lacked connectivity among researchers, access to natural light, and contemporary common spaces. The site lies within a floodplain along Waller Creek, presenting both design challenges and opportunities. The design team addressed these conditions by elevating the building above potential floodwaters and capitalizing on its proximity to nature, with student study spaces placed along the building’s perimeter to provide views of, and access to, the creek. The project includes a redesign of the Mulva Courtyard, featuring artwork by renowned sculptor Maya Lin that will feature the night sky from the evening of the University’s founding.
Externally, the ACS is designed to complement the surrounding architecture through the use of materials consistent with the existing engineering complex. The building’s massing comprises a seven-story laboratory research tower and a two-story student-focused pavilion. Designed for flexibility, the tower accommodates up to 32 faculty researchers and 335 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. It houses research and teaching laboratories supporting work in novel biomaterials, petroleum and chemical synthesis, geomechanics, and computation. A pedestrian bridge connects the tower to an adjacent engineering building, while administrative offices for both departments are centralized within the ACS.
At the base of the building, the pavilion—which serves as the ACS’s social and academic core—overlooks the existing engineering courtyard and Waller Creek. It contains the primary learning spaces, including flexible classrooms, tutoring areas, and conference and meeting rooms. Its open, transparent design is intended to bring students and researchers into close proximity, encouraging collaboration and exchange. Abundant daylight enters through a double-height, skylit gallery that runs through the pavilion and frames views of the creek and surrounding landscape. The pavilion is clad in custom, fluted terracotta panels inspired by geosystems engineering research conducted within the school.
The building’s three primary research areas are Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering with a Biomaterials/Bioscience focus. Advanced-technology labs are designed to attract top undergraduate students and faculty, and to enhance research discovery. Facilities include a drilling simulator, a rock crusher, and dedicated hazmat rooms for gas and chemical storage. The architecture team worked closely with professors and researchers to create customized labs tailored to their specific research needs.
The ACS’s classrooms include general-purpose teaching spaces accessible to other UT Austin departments. The collaborative environment features study rooms, student lounges, tutorial spaces, technology-enabled meeting rooms, huddle rooms, open work areas, and public spaces for both casual and formal engagement among faculty, students, and staff. A new energy-research space supports collaborations and partnerships within the energy sector and with other research institutions. Currently under construction, the ACS is scheduled to open in fall 2026.
“This is a transformational moment for Texas Engineering,” said Roger Bonnecaze, dean of UT Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering, in a university announcement. “The Autry C. Stephens Engineering Discovery Building ensures we have facilities that match the world-class talent of our faculty and students. The resources and spaces will educate the next generation of engineers who will follow in Autry’s footsteps.” Stephens died in 2024, and the gift from The Stephens Greth Foundation solidifies his legacy at UT Austin, from which he received engineering degrees in 1961 and 1962 prior to founding Endeavor Energy Resources.
In addition to the design team of CO Architects (executive and design architect)and BGK Architects (associate and interiors architect), project partners include Vaughn Construction (construction manager), Shah Smith & Associates (MEP engineer), Datum Rios (structural engineer), GarzaEMC (civil engineer), Ten Eyck Landscape Architects and Lionheart (landscape architects), KGM Architectural Lighting (lighting designer), Buro Happold (sustainability consultant), Jensen Hughes (code consultant), SLR (acoustical consultant), and fd2s and CO Architects (environmental graphics).
CO Architects is nationally recognized for architectural planning, programming, and design in the higher education, science and technology, healthcare, and civic and cultural sectors, and works with leading institutions from coast to coast. CO Architects’ specialized expertise includes transformative schools of medicine and health professions, advanced research and teaching laboratories, and innovative clinical facilities on higher education, health care, and urban campuses. The firm has been nationally and internationally recognized with more than 230 awards for innovative design and project delivery, including the AIA California’s Architecture Firm of the Year Award.
