Texas Architecture and Design Market Update 2026

Texas is strong in hospitality, with a number of expected hotel openings in 2026, plus new convention centres, leading to even more demand in this sector. Texas is also seeing an increase in Data Centres and other IT systems and infrastructure buildings, and there is steady growth in health and education projects, and the higher education sector, especially labs. Job seekers are looking for companies with a commitment to sustainable practice and roles closer to home.

Sector buoyancy

Texas is one of the busiest markets in the US for hospitality projects. Dallas leads the country for expected hotel openings in 2026 and with both Austin and Dallas redeveloping their convention centers over the next several years there is expected to be a knock-on effect in hotel development and construction.

Data centres and mission-critical campuses are very strong (in Austin, San Antonio, West Texas and El Paso), large hyperscaler and AI-infrastructure investments are driving a multi-year pipeline. Texas is a primary target for new builds in this sector.

There is steady growth in institutional and public sector projects (including healthcare, higher-education and civic) statewide, especially in Dallas Fort Worth and Houston

Federal, state and local spending and replacing/modernising public facilities keep this work resilient.

Also, competitive higher education institutions are looking to improve their research campuses resulting in more lab projects.

In demand roles and skills

Increased competition for projects has seen a notable increase in demand for people with business development responsibilities. Principals who can win work, proposal managers, business development and marketing folks. Often with specific project type experience.

Sustainability, energy-modelling, building-performance experts are required to meet tighter codes, ESG goals and resilience requirements.

Data Center, mission-critical architects and MEP coordinators are needed, specialists who understand power, cooling and redundancy requirements.

Healthcare, specifically medical planners and project architects who can deliver large-scale hospital projects.

Challenges

Firms are struggling to fill mid-senior level project management talent without inflating salary structures.

Delays in commercial workplace and multi-family projects are causing project pauses and unreliable cash flow forcing firms into layoffs and hiring freezes.

Demand for job seekers with proven data centre and lab project experience is making time-to-hire longer and impacting ability to deliver projects.

Job seeker priorities

Job seekers are looking for firms with stability and those who focus on project types that are historically more stable.

Architecture job seekers are increasingly looking at a firm’s commitment to sustainable practices before deciding to join.

The increased traffic in Texas since the population boom has meant job seekers are often more interested in roles closer to home. Particularly with those firms with in-office workplace policies.