Designing Houston’s Double-Helix Landmark and $3B Construction: Q&A with Abbey Roberson, Texas Medical Center Planner
Abbey Roberson
HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is the largest medical complex in the world. Annually it performs roughly 180,000 surgeries and averages a birth every 20 minutes. As a cornerstone of Houston’s economy, TMC is home to some of the brightest minds in medicine, supports more than 106,000 employees and has about $3 billion in current construction projects. The Center encompasses approximately 50 million square feet of developed space and is now advancing the TMC3 initiative. To learn more about TMC’s activity—especially the planned 30-acre translational research campus—Realty News Report spoke with Abbey Roberson, Vice President of Planning at the Texas Medical Center. Roberson joined TMC in 2016 to lead planning efforts for TMC3 and to identify opportunities to enhance the broader campus. Before TMC, she spent 12 years at HOK across Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Houston leading planning and landscape architecture teams. She chairs the Houston District Council of the Urban Land Institute and volunteers with the Junior League of Houston. Roberson holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Texas A&M University.
Realty News Report: For newcomers to Houston, can you explain what TMC3 will be and how it will transform the Texas Medical Center?
Abbey Roberson: TMC3 is a 30-acre translational research campus designed to bring scientists, clinicians and industry partners together in more than one million square feet of research space dedicated to converting medical discoveries into commercial solutions. TMC3 will be a dynamic hub within the expanding TMC ecosystem, which itself covers more than 1,300 acres and ranks among the nation’s largest business districts. The project aims to encourage collaboration by physically connecting multiple institutions and by linking the northern campus—largely clinical care—with the southern campus, where much of the research activity occurs.
Beyond research, the mixed uses planned for the TMC3 site will support the development, benefit the existing TMC campus and surrounding neighborhoods, and serve the greater Houston community.
Realty News Report: Many people are curious about the campus’s double-helix feature. How did that idea develop and what will it look like?
Abbey Roberson: Although I wasn’t part of TMC during the initial concept work, the double-helix emerged through an iterative master-planning process. The form resonates with life sciences themes while creating a distinctive central spine that undulates across the TMC3 site both horizontally and vertically. This building shape produces a variety of collaboration spaces and open areas. We expect the helix—visible from the air when approaching Houston—to become an iconic symbol not only for the Texas Medical Center but for the city itself.
The helix’s ground level will feature plazas with restaurants, retail, commercial and entertainment spaces, designed to activate the campus day and night. The rooftop will include a world-class park designed by landscape architect James Corner, known for the High Line in New York City. Helix Park will rise about 60 feet above grade and will offer trails, gardens and green space.
Houston is experiencing a renewed focus on parks and public spaces. Providing attractive green spaces is essential to drawing top talent and supporting quality of life.
Realty News Report: We’ve heard covenant restrictions were eased to allow private, non-institutional development—hotels, multifamily and retail—near the TMC3 campus. Can you explain the rationale?
Abbey Roberson: Much of the land within TMC is governed by covenants that historically limited use to nonprofit entities supporting health, education and research. Those covenants helped ensure institutional priorities but also excluded certain for-profit activities from the campus.
TMC leadership and the Board of Directors recognized an opportunity to amend covenants on two properties to encourage private-sector co-location with researchers. These sites include the future TMC3 campus and the John P. McGovern Campus off Almeda (the former Nabisco factory), where TMC and member institutions are nurturing a growing life sciences ecosystem through collaboration with private partners.
For example, Johnson & Johnson has already made significant investments at TMC, including JLABS—a life sciences accelerator—and the Center for Device Innovation, a maker-space for medical devices. TMC3 is intended to accelerate translational research further as more private-sector partners become part of the TMC community.
Realty News Report: The Texas Medical Center is now the largest medical center in the world. What did the original planners get right, and what might they have done differently?
Abbey Roberson: TMC is exceptional in both scale and composition, and its incremental evolution over 90-plus years allowed member institutions to grow and adapt. We increasingly describe the campus as a medical “city” because of its sheer size—more than 100,000 people work here—and because it performs many city-like functions: providing parks and amenities, coordinating transportation, creating gathering spaces, and developing resilient infrastructure.
I commend TMC leadership for prioritizing investments in essential infrastructure—roads, utilities and flood protection—that enable continuous patient care and research operations. Those investments proved invaluable during Hurricane Harvey. After the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, TMC invested more than $50 million in upgrades that helped the campus remain fully operational during Harvey, keeping hospitals open and allowing staff to care for patients throughout the storm.
In hindsight, I would encourage earlier planners to have imagined a far greater scale and density for TMC in the 21st century. If they had foreseen development exceeding 50 million square feet by 2018, some decisions might have been different—but the incremental approach did allow continuous growth and adaptation.
Realty News Report: Approximately $3 billion in new construction is underway at TMC. Why is so much building happening now?
Abbey Roberson: TMC member institutions are among the most respected, cutting-edge healthcare and research organizations in the world. Each is committed to TMC’s mission of advancing health, education and research. The $3 billion in construction reflects necessary investments in the physical infrastructure that enables medical care, discovery and critical research. That growth supports patient care and scientific breakthroughs that ultimately relieve suffering and improve lives.
Realty News Report: As TMC continues to grow, what challenges and solutions do you anticipate?
Abbey Roberson: The campus’s growing density presents both opportunities and challenges. One of the largest opportunities is expanding multimodal transportation options for employees, patients, students and visitors. With more than 100,000 employees arriving each day, along with countless patients and visitors, TMC must pursue a comprehensive approach to mobility—coordinating light rail, buses, shuttles, pedestrian routes and bicycle infrastructure.
We work daily with member institutions, Houston Metro, TxDOT, the City of Houston and other partners to align transportation solutions and improve long-term access and circulation across the campus.
Realty News Report: You were recently named chair of ULI Houston. What must the city focus on to address major issues like flooding and transportation?
Abbey Roberson: Addressing major urban challenges requires bold, long-term thinking and close collaboration. Beyond transportation and flood risk, Houston must tackle affordable housing, economic diversification and resilience. No single person has all the answers, but Houston’s community includes many of the region’s brightest minds—when we collaborate, we can develop effective, forward-looking solutions.
