Esperanza Hall is a three-story, 81,600-square-foot academic building designed to support the continued growth of Texas State University’s Round Rock Campus. The first floor includes a 100-seat tiered lecture hall, general classrooms, study and lounge areas, conference rooms, vending, and flexible gathering spaces that support both instruction and student interaction. The second and third floors are currently shell space reserved for future academic expansion. Planned build-outs include a student learning commons and faculty offices on the second floor and science laboratory space on the third floor, allowing the building to accommodate new programs as the campus continues to grow.

Gonzalez Shah Smith provided MEP/FP engineering services for Esperanza Hall, including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection design. GSS coordinated with the project team to develop building systems that support the facility’s classrooms, lecture hall, collaborative student spaces, and future academic build-outs. The systems were planned to serve the building’s immediate needs while providing flexibility for the future student learning commons, faculty offices, and science laboratory spaces.

The eight-story, 228,000-square-foot Law and Education Building includes classrooms, laboratories, a law library, faculty and administrative offices, collaboration spaces, and a moot courtroom. Designed to support programs in law, health sciences, and engineering, the facility creates a multidisciplinary environment where students, faculty, researchers, and industry partners can connect and collaborate. As the first of five planned buildings for Texas A&M–Fort Worth, the facility anchors a broader investment in education, workforce development, research, and economic growth for Fort Worth and the surrounding region.

Gonzalez Shah Smith provided MEP/FP engineering and building commissioning services for the Law and Education Building. GSS designed and commissioned the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems supporting the facility’s classrooms, laboratories, law library, faculty and administrative offices, collaboration areas, and moot courtroom. Working closely with the broader project team, GSS helped coordinate the building systems required to support the facility’s diverse academic programs and multidisciplinary learning environment.

The new plant encompasses 13,000 square feet of interior-conditioned space and an additional 13,000 square feet of exterior equipment area. Built one foot above the island's recorded storm-surge level, the structure was engineered for long-term coastal durability, with materials selected specifically to withstand the region's salt-air environment.

To ensure every component performed to its design intent, GSS led a rigorous commissioning process that verified functionality, efficiency, and system integration within the broader campus network.

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For the TAMU Galveston Central Utility Plant, commissioning was integral to project completion. During the commissioning process, our team tested the operation and functionality of the campus cooling and heating systems so that the TAMU Galveston campus could be confident that the buildings could be cooled and heated efficiently.

David Hall, P.E.

Commissioning Agent, GSS

From the early phases of construction to final verification, the GSS commissioning team emphasized performance, collaboration, and sustainability as guiding principles.

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We helped the team successfully complete the project through our commissioning process, bringing the new plant online while minimally affecting the existing plant.

Jaime Gutierrez

Commissioning Agent, GSS