Oklahoma Baptist University was building an engineering program less than a decade old. Its academic facilities needed to reflect the program’s ambitions and give prospective students, families, donors, and industry partners a clearer picture of what OBU was developing.
Thurmond Hall presented an opportunity to make that investment visible.
The university had completed the building’s first floor approximately five years earlier. Now it was ready to address the second and third floors, bringing the older academic building into closer alignment with the engineering program’s current direction.
The question is what the institution needs this investment to accomplish, and how the building can support those priorities.
Color Works Design completed the upper-floor renovation in July 2026, providing interior design, FF&E, project management, and custom art. The assignment brought together academic use and program identity, along with recognition for the donors and industry partners supporting OBU’s engineering program.
Working with an existing investment
The first floor established a design context that Color Works needed to consider.
OBU wanted the renovated upper floors to complement the earlier work while presenting a more current environment for its engineering program. Matching the first floor exactly would have limited the new design direction. Ignoring it would have created an unnecessary disconnect within the building.
Color Works developed the second- and third-floor interiors around that relationship.
The project also required a balance between technical academic spaces and the areas students use throughout the day. Laboratories supported the curriculum, while common areas and lounges, plus focused study spaces, provided settings for work outside scheduled instruction.
Those spaces formed part of the university’s recruitment presentation. Prospective students could see the facilities associated with their coursework alongside the places where they would study and collaborate, or simply spend time between classes.
Giving the engineering program a recognizable identity
The custom art program provided some of Thurmond Hall’s most distinctive design elements.
Color Works skipped conventional engineering graphics and incorporated actual industrial components and references to different engineering disciplines.
Former runway lights became part of the interior environment. In a corridor, airplane-inspired lighting references the movement and experience of flight, turning a circulation area into an expression of the program’s technical focus.
Another installation combines multiple motherboards into one continuous artwork. The individual circuit boards retain their recognizable components, while the larger composition draws attention to the connections and systems that make technology function.
A custom wallcovering profiling women in engineering introduces another dimension of the profession. The installation recognizes women whose contributions helped shape engineering and gives students and visitors visible examples of the range of individuals working in the field.
Color Works balanced these technical references with wood-slat walls and other organic materials. The contrast gave the interiors a distinct academic identity while maintaining an environment suitable for everyday use.
Each feature serves a different purpose, but together they communicate the character of OBU’s engineering program through the building itself.
Designing for the time between classes
The FF&E plan addressed how students would occupy Thurmond Hall beyond scheduled laboratory and classroom instruction.
Focused work-study areas provide places for individual concentration. Common areas and lounges accommodate group work and informal interaction.
The distinction matters in an academic building where students move between technical instruction, independent work, and collaboration throughout the day.
For OBU, these spaces also contribute to the experience prospective students encounter during campus visits. The building can show the university’s academic facilities and provide a fuller picture of the environment surrounding the program.
Color Works selected furnishings and developed layouts around those intended uses, giving different areas recognizable functions while keeping them tied to the building’s overall design.
Making institutional support part of the building
OBU also wanted Thurmond Hall to recognize the donors and industry partners contributing to its engineering program.
Color Works developed two installations that address those relationships differently.
The donor wall incorporates actual industrial gears, with individual pieces ranging from a few pounds to nearly 100 pounds. The composition connects financial support to a recognizable engineering principle, where individual components contribute to the operation of a larger system.
The material choice gives the recognition a direct relationship to the academic program. It also creates a permanent feature within the building instead of relying solely on conventional donor signage.
Color Works designed both the gear wall and the motherboard installation, then partnered with a local artist who fabricated each piece. The Color Works team developed the concepts and compositions, and the artist brought them to life as finished, built artwork. That design-and-fabrication partnership turned two original concepts into permanent features that give Thurmond Hall much of its character.
The industry partner wall addresses a different requirement. Color Works designed the recognition system to accommodate additional organizations as the university develops new relationships.
That provision was important for a growing program. OBU needed a way to acknowledge existing partners while retaining the ability to expand the display without redesigning the entire installation.
Both features give the university visible places to recognize external support. Their design also connects those relationships to the engineering education taking place throughout Thurmond Hall.
A facility investment with several responsibilities
The Thurmond Hall renovation required Color Works to develop an environment appropriate for a growing academic program while working within an existing building and respecting an earlier phase of improvements.
The project also called for design decisions that served different institutional interests.
The study areas and lounges support everyday student use. The engineering-specific artwork gives the program a recognizable identity. The donor and industry partner installations provide dedicated recognition for the organizations and individuals supporting its development.
These features give OBU a completed environment it can use in academic programming, campus visits, and conversations with its external supporters. The university’s longer-term recruitment and advancement outcomes remain separate measures of the investment’s performance.
For Color Works, the project illustrates how a defined renovation scope can address several institutional priorities through the decisions the team made within the building.
When a university is investing in a growing program, the design should reflect where that program is headed and what it needs from its facilities.
Planning an academic renovation or facility investment? Color Works Design works with educational institutions to connect design decisions with academic use, institutional priorities, and project execution.
