News Release
DENVER — Design Workshop, an international landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm, will join Texas A&M University on October 28 to break ground on the Aplin Center, a landmark facility in College Station that reimagines how students learn by blending education, community, and place. The center will be a hub for experiential learning in hospitality, retail, and food and nutrition sciences, advancing Texas A&M’s commitment to hands-on innovation and interdisciplinary education.
“We’re honored to collaborate on a project that redefines how landscape architecture supports learning, community, and campus identity,” said Robb Berg, President of Design Workshop. “The Aplin Center’s outdoor spaces will be designed to foster connection, showcase innovation, and reflect the spirit of Texas A&M.”
A defining element of the work Design Workshop is doing is the preservation and relocation of four mature live oak trees, an effort that helps to ensure these iconic specimens continue to shape the site’s character for generations to come. Around them, the team is designing welcoming seating areas and flexible gathering spaces designed to honor natural heritage while creating dynamic spaces for learning and collaboration. By elevating tree preservation to a central design driver, the project illustrates how landscapes can both honor ecological history and shape the future of campus identity.
Approved by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, the three-story, 211,724-square-foot center will serve as both a new gateway to campus and a national model for interdisciplinary education. The Aplin Center will feature teaching labs and real-world venues for viticulture and enology, fermentation, coffee roasting, product development, sensory evaluation, meat and food science, and hospitality operations, demonstrating how education can extend beyond classrooms into active, applied environments.
Design Workshop is collaborating with Pickard Chilton, DLR Group, and Hines on this project.
Founded in 1969, Design Workshop is an internationally renowned design firm specializing in landscape architecture, urban planning, and strategic services with seven studios in the U.S. and projects spanning the globe. Our work focuses on the intersection of art, community, environment, and economics to increase social equity and create places of meaning and resonance. For additional information follow us at @designworkshop on LinkedIn and Instagram.