Designs Revealed to Turn a Former KKK Building in Fort Worth Into an Arts Centre
Architecture practices Studio Barnes and Ch_studio have unveiled designs to convert a 1920s building in Fort Worth, Texas — once used by the Ku Klux Klan — into a 35,000-square-foot (3,251-square-metre) arts and culture centre called the Transform 1012 Center for Arts and Community Healing (Dezeen).
The building sits between Fort Worth's Historic Northside neighbourhood and its downtown. The KKK vacated it in 1927. After that, a local department store bought it, and from 1946 to 1999 it housed the Ellis Pecan Company (Dezeen).
Now the plan is to fill those three levels with programming for local cultural and arts groups: a theatre, makerspaces — shared workshops with tools and equipment — classrooms, dance spaces, a bar and cafe, and an outdoor amphitheatre. The design team includes Studio Barnes, Ch_studio, GFF and landscape architecture practice JIMA Studio, with architect Germane Barnes among the leads. Transform 1012, the nonprofit behind the project, selected the design team in November 2023 (Dezeen; The Architect's Newspaper).
The approach is adaptive reuse — repurposing an existing building rather than demolishing and rebuilding. The design preserves the brick facade and other historical elements while reorganising the interior. According to Dezeen, the project seeks to confront the site's past rather than erase it (Dezeen).
Transform 1012 describes the effort as a reparative justice initiative, reclaiming a former KKK auditorium as community space (The Projects Group). The estimated cost is US$70 million (The Projects Group). As of August 2025, the nonprofit had begun clearing trash from the building, marking the early phase of construction (Fort Worth Report).
The project has drawn local media attention in recent weeks. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram published a report on the plans in July 2026 (Fort Worth Star-Telegram), and Dallas Morning News architecture critic Mark Lamster published a piece defending the transformation on 18 August 2026 (Dallas Morning News).
The designs land at a moment when the building is moving from planning to physical work — debris out, new walls eventually in. For the surrounding neighbourhoods, that means a structure long associated with a hate group is on track to become a place for performance, making and gathering.
