UH Law Center opens new $93M building

When University of Houston Law Center students arrived for classes in August, they were greeted by a brand new, $93-million dollar campus.

The new law school facility, which replaced four previous buildings, was decades in the making — ever since it became apparent that the campus, which made extensive use of basements, was situated above an underground spring, said the law school’s dean, Leonard Baynes. That, plus flood damage during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, led the law school’s leadership to ask alumni and the state legislature to pull together to scrap the old campus and build anew.

“People are excited,” Baynes said. “I think a lot of people thought it wouldn’t happen during their lifetime.”

Now, classrooms and offices with sweeping views of downtown have replaced the leaking basement space that relied on artificial light. A spacious lobby welcomes both students and people receiving free legal services. Faculty, once scattered throughout four buildings, have been united on two floors of the new campus. The law center also has new amenities, including a lactation room, a medical privacy room, showers, lockers, student lounges, a meditation room and an outdoor terrace.

Natalie Thurman, one of the lead architects who designed the John M. O’Quinn Law Building with the firm Shepley Bulfinch, said she hoped it would make students, staff and clients feel connected. The building is named for the late plaintiff’s lawyer and UH law alum.

“The main story of the building is it’s really connecting community,” Thurman said. Communal spaces encourage interactions between those in the building, and views of downtown reinforce their relationship to the city.

The 180,000-square-foot building will serve the same number of students as the four buildings that had previously made up the law school campus. It also features a grassy valley that will detain water during heavy rains and serve as a green space for students when the weather is dry.

The Law Center includes rooms named for other alumni, including state Sen. Royce West and personal injury lawyer Ezequiel Reyna, people whom Baynes said show the diversity of the school’s alumni and “send a message of inspiration” so that “students can see themselves in their predecessors.” The third-floor study bar is named Len’s Landing, an homage to Baynes. rebecca.schuetz@chron.com twitter.com/raschuetz