Founded in 1972 as part of the Dallas Community College District, the Richland campus was laid out on open land with a meandering stream through the center. It consists of rectangular buildings that are offset from each other or positioned perpendicular, creating a connected yet diffused arrangement that spreads along the banks of the stream (enlarged as a lake). The flat-roofed modern buildings have exposed concrete frames with brick infill walls, a material combination favored by O’Neil Ford. The complex massing of overlapping and cantilevered forms also suggests the influence of Louis I. Kahn.

Similarly, Sabine Hall Science Building (2010, Perkins+Will) uses brick and exposed concrete floor slabs, but the brick walls are expressed thickly and vertically rather than as skins for enclosing volumes. Horizontal louvered sunscreens project over first- and second-floor windows, counterbalancing the vertical brick walls. The long, two-story glazed lobby is animated by open stairs and projecting balconies.