The American Airlines Robert L. Crandall Campus is a 258-acre campus located in Fort Worth, Texas. The new campus coalesces an existing set of training, museum, and administrative buildings and reorders their uses, together with 1,850,000 SF of new building construction and structured parking. Together, the new campus brings together nearly 12,000 people to create one connected campus for the entire American Airlines team.

The campus is divided into two distinct districts: a six-building corporate office complex and a dedicated hospitality, training, and call center facility. To minimize habitat destruction, the corporate office was constructed within the footprint of an existing structure. Surface parking lots in the campus core were redistributed to the site’s edges to reduce car dependency and create spaces for people. A multi-modal spine, dubbed the American Mile, connects the districts and provides safe, efficient cross-campus connections.

Various outdoor spaces sit within the native Texas landscape, including approximately 58-acres of woodlands and 8.3 miles of trails. A new pedestrian bridge over the Trinity River allows employees to move between districts without cars. Extensive walking trails and bike paths encourage outdoor activity, supported by 300 shared bicycles and free electric shuttles on car-free routes. These initiatives reduce pollution and enhance the workplace experience for employees, many of whom stay on campus for weeks during training.

A sustainable conservation strategy for the campus encompasses three key elements: preserving legacy trees and stone and replanting them in new compositions; controlling water through a courtyard recirculating detention pond system, planted rain gardens, and dry creeks; and utilizing a palette of native and adaptive planting that reflects the beauty and diversity of this endangered ecotone between the forest and the grassland.

The responsive landscape combines zones of curated gardens with expanses of native and restored Blackland prairie. The extremes of Texas weather required creative water management strategies such as permeable pavement and a connected roof drainage system. A series of dry creeks appear as natural planted vignettes in temperate weather and double as a natural filtration system that collects and controls runoff in high-impact weather conditions.

Building condensate is collected and deployed into courtyard water features. These ponds bring cool air into the courtyards between buildings, creating a comfortable environment for outdoor collaboration in tech-enabled work pods, as well as for socialization and recreation. By strategically locating workplace amenities in these temperate micro-climates, employees benefit from the positive impacts of nature on productivity and engagement. The water features complement dry creeks that manage stormwater during severe weather and provide serene, planted moments in drier conditions.

From the outset, the client prioritized habitat restoration and conservation as a design imperative. Pre-construction, mature specimen trees were identified, moved to an on-site nursery, and carefully reintegrated into the landscape during construction. Collectively, campus trees absorb over 83 tons of CO2 annually, which is equivalent to a household’s emissions over five years. Wildlife has also thrived in the restored habitats; despite the proximity to a busy freeway and an international airport, birds of prey regularly circle the site, and armadillos are often seen sunning themselves on the trails. A bobcat even established a den and raised her kittens within one of the employee courtyards, which was closed to ensure their safety. By integrating conservation strategies to enhance the workplace experience, the project elevates workplace standards while fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between human and environmental health.

Credits:
Pelli Clarke & Partners, Design Architect
Kendall Heaton Architects, Architect of Record
Gensler, Interior Architect
MEP Engineer, Blum Consulting Engineers
Lighting Designer, Quentin Thomas Associates
Irrigation Design, Dunaway Associates
Signage / Wayfinding / Graphics, DG Studios

1 Skyview Dr, Fort Worth, TX 76155