SHSU Turns 9,737 Sq Ft of Walls into a Collaborative Classroom Space

At a Glance

Sam Houston State University (SHSU) wanted every room at The Woodlands Center to work as a collaborative classroom. With Karsten Interiors, Smarter Surfaces turned 9,737 sq ft of standard wall into one surface that students and staff can write on, display work on and project onto.

About SHSU and Karsten Interiors

Sam Houston State University runs The Woodlands Center as a campus for classes, group work and staff sessions. The university continues to shift toward flexible, technology-ready rooms that support active, group-based study.

Karsten Interiors is a commercial fit-out specialist. Across its project portfolio, the team sets out to create multifunctional, collaborative spaces, and it delivered this project as part of its wider campus fit-out program at SHSU.

Challenge in Classroom Collaboration

Rooms at The Woodlands Center needed to switch between writing, presentations and displays of work, often within one session. The standard answer was three separate products on three separate walls.

• A whiteboard on one wall, a pinboard on another and a projector screen on a third left little room for anything else.
• Each board and screen needed its own fixings and fitting steps, which added time to the campus program.
• Three products per room raised the fitted cost across a project of this size.
• Groups had to move between walls, or even rooms, to write, review notes and present.

Solution with 3 in 1 Walls in Classrooms

Smarter Surfaces recommended 3-in-1 Wallpaper to Karsten Interiors. One wall covering that does the job of three products. Smarter Surfaces supplied the wallpaper and supported the specification.

• Students and staff write directly on the wall with dry-erase markers.
• The magnetic surface holds printed notes, plans and reference sheets beside the written work.
• The same wall acts as a projector screen, so no separate screen is needed.

With one product in place of three, the walls carry no fixed boards or mounted screens. The full wall area stays usable, from end to end.

Sonia Bueno from Smarter Surfaces said, "Karsten Interiors came to us with a clear brief: collaborative rooms that adapt to how people actually work, without three sets of hardware on every wall. Across 9,737 sq ft at SHSU's The Woodlands Center, the 3-in-1 Wallpaper lets their team do more with each room while keeping the fit-out efficient."

The Process: A Fit-Out Within the Campus Timeline

Karsten Interiors installed 91 rolls of 3-in-1 wallpaper alongside its scheduled campus work. The covering applies directly to prepared walls, so existing rooms changed without the structural work that fixed boards or mounted screens can require.

• Smarter Surfaces and Karsten Interiors matched the product to the brief for flexible, collaborative rooms.
• The team prepared the existing walls in classrooms, conference rooms and collaborative rooms.
• Karsten Interiors hung the wallpaper across full wall runs across 9,737 sq ft within the center, corridors included, as part of the wider fit-out.
• The SHSU classrooms' multifunctional walls were ready for immediate use, with the fit-out kept within the project timeline.

Paul Toohey from Karsten Interiors said "We wanted spaces that flex from teaching to meetings to presentations. Specifying one surface that writes, pins and projects meant we could hand over more capable rooms while cutting installation time and cost compared with fitting separate boards and screens."

Better Classroom Collaboration

The project turned 9,737 sq ft of plain wall into multifunctional walls, with four clear outcomes for SHSU and Karsten Interiors.

• Full walls, corridors and previously unused wall runs now work as surfaces for group work.
• One product replaced three, which removed several separate fitting steps.
• The single-surface specification cost less than a comparable multi-product setup.
• A group can brainstorm on the wall, display reference material beside its notes, then project onto the same wall, all without a change of room or equipment.

Why Multifunctional Walls in Classrooms Matter

Higher education continues to shift toward adaptable, technology-ready rooms that support group work. Collaboration in the classroom now happens across writing, displays and presentations, often in one session, and the walls need to keep up.
The SHSU project shows how one surface can replace three. For universities, that means more flexible rooms for students and staff. For fit-out contractors like Karsten Interiors, it means a cleaner install, fewer products to source and lower cost across large campus programs.

Plan Your Own Collaborative Classroom

Want one wall that writes, displays and projects? Talk to the Smarter Surfaces team about 3-in-1 Wallpaper for your classrooms, lecture rooms or campus fit-out. We can help with specification, coverage and samples for projects of any size.