Rice University Campus Developments

[mkultra25]

Rice approves new visual and dramatic arts building

 

So, Visual and Dramatic Arts will get a new building, but it seems pretty clear that they intend to remove the Media Center before construction of the new building has even been funded. Temporary relocations of the affected departments and faculty are inevitable if they opt to erect the new building on the same plot of land the Media Center currently occupies, but there's no reason to fast-track the demo until the plans are a lot farther along. 

[mkultra25]

9 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Rice University awarded grant for 'mass timber' building on campus

 

"Rice's proposal is for a five-story, 50,000-square-foot student housing building on its campus."

 

Not to crap on what seems to be an innovative method of construction, but it seems like buildings that date back no further than the 1950s/1960s are fast becoming architectural red-headed stepchildren on the Rice campus. The Rice Memorial Center, built in 1958, is slated for demolition and replacement, with only a small portion of the existing structure to remain. Sid Rich is barely outside the 1950s/1960s era, going up in 1971. And now what I assume is the "New Section" of Hanszen College, built in the mid-1950s, is on the chopping block. I suppose the trend started with old Wiess College, razed over the winter break between 2002 and 2003 after having stood since late 1949. 

I've wondered if there's a tacit age threshold before a campus building is considered untouchable - kind of the higher ed version of a historic designation. Baker College is certainly there, being one of the oldest buildings on campus and the first residence hall. And Lovett Hall goes without saying. The earliest buildings were built in the 1910s, but very few followed in the 1920s, and none as far as I can tell in the 1930s and early-to-mid 1940s (understandable, given the economic and political realities of that era). From the late 1940s on, the postwar building boom was on as the Institute grew into a University. Perhaps many of the buildings that arose during that boom have simply reached the end of their useful lifespan, but I prefer to think otherwise. 

[Texasota]

The Brochstein isn't going anywhere. Admittedly a small building.

[hindesky]

The roads around the new Music Hall.

 

 

Front side of the Music Hall.

 

 

 

Not sure what this construction is.

 

 

 

Sid Richardson area has construction fence up and some work has started. http://www.anslowbryant.com/portfolio/higher-ed

 

 

 

Social Science building.

 

[Ross]

On 9/4/2019 at 7:36 PM, mkultra25 said:

 

Not to crap on what seems to be an innovative method of construction, but it seems like buildings that date back no further than the 1950s/1960s are fast becoming architectural red-headed stepchildren on the Rice campus. The Rice Memorial Center, built in 1958, is slated for demolition and replacement, with only a small portion of the existing structure to remain. Sid Rich is barely outside the 1950s/1960s era, going up in 1971. And now what I assume is the "New Section" of Hanszen College, built in the mid-1950s, is on the chopping block. I suppose the trend started with old Wiess College, razed over the winter break between 2002 and 2003 after having stood since late 1949. 

I've wondered if there's a tacit age threshold before a campus building is considered untouchable - kind of the higher ed version of a historic designation. Baker College is certainly there, being one of the oldest buildings on campus and the first residence hall. And Lovett Hall goes without saying. The earliest buildings were built in the 1910s, but very few followed in the 1920s, and none as far as I can tell in the 1930s and early-to-mid 1940s (understandable, given the economic and political realities of that era). From the late 1940s on, the postwar building boom was on as the Institute grew into a University. Perhaps many of the buildings that arose during that boom have simply reached the end of their useful lifespan, but I prefer to think otherwise. 

Sid Richardson doesn't meet any ADA regulations, as each of the elevator landings serves two floors with staircases. That makes it unsuitable for modern student housing. It's also not really suited for renovation due to the layout of the rooms and construction techniques. Wiess was demolished because it was falling apart from structural issues related to soil conditions. The RMC isn't a super usable space either, with a weird basement layout to make things worse.

[mkultra25]

21 hours ago, Ross said:

Sid Richardson doesn't meet any ADA regulations, as each of the elevator landings serves two floors with staircases. That makes it unsuitable for modern student housing. It's also not really suited for renovation due to the layout of the rooms and construction techniques. Wiess was demolished because it was falling apart from structural issues related to soil conditions. The RMC isn't a super usable space either, with a weird basement layout to make things worse.

 

Yeah, I forgot about ADA regulations. That is the same reason the President's office was moved from its longtime Lovett Hall location to Allen Center - it wasn't feasible to retrofit elevators to Lovett Hall, so if you wanted to see the President, you had to climb several flights of stairs. Given the notorious unreliability of Sid's elevators, if there'd been elevator landings on each floor, the decision to build a new Sid might well have been accelerated by a few years. 

 

That is the first I've heard about structural issues at Wiess being caused by soil conditions. I'd be interested in any additional info you have on that - was it the usual Houston curse of moisture-related swelling and shrinking of clay soil eventually causing foundation damage? Legend has it that Wiess was intended to be temporary housing from the outset, but it always seemed quite solidly constructed for temporary housing. 

[Ross]

1 hour ago, mkultra25 said:

 

Yeah, I forgot about ADA regulations. That is the same reason the President's office was moved from its longtime Lovett Hall location to Allen Center - it wasn't feasible to retrofit elevators to Lovett Hall, so if you wanted to see the President, you had to climb several flights of stairs. Given the notorious unreliability of Sid's elevators, if there'd been elevator landings on each floor, the decision to build a new Sid might well have been accelerated by a few years. 

 

That is the first I've heard about structural issues at Wiess being caused by soil conditions. I'd be interested in any additional info you have on that - was it the usual Houston curse of moisture-related swelling and shrinking of clay soil eventually causing foundation damage? Legend has it that Wiess was intended to be temporary housing from the outset, but it always seemed quite solidly constructed for temporary housing. 

I've seen a reference to the soil issues somewhere, but can't find it. There's a reference on this page https://facilities.rice.edu/construction/the-first-100-years that says the building suffered from rapid deterioration in the 1990's, and was demolished after New Wiess was built.

[mkultra25]

On 9/8/2019 at 4:10 PM, Ross said:

I've seen a reference to the soil issues somewhere, but can't find it. There's a reference on this page https://facilities.rice.edu/construction/the-first-100-years that says the building suffered from rapid deterioration in the 1990's, and was demolished after New Wiess was built.

 

An interesting series of photos taken after Old Wiess had been vacated, prior to its demolition:

 

wiess college: abandoned 

[CraftA365]

We've heard that old Sid will be used as Graduate student housing, for as long as it remains habitable. 5-6 years was the estimate. Then it will be torn down, no plans yet for what might be built in its place. Also this building-

is the new Will Rice magister's house. The construction needs to be completed on this before construction on new Sid can begin, because old Will Rice magister's house is in the way of the new Sid construction. (I'm a parent of a current Rice student)

Edited September 10, 2019 by CraftA365

[hindesky]

Roads around the Music Hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social Science building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sid Richardson work looks to be underground utilities.

[Highrise Tower]

 

[Triton]

On 9/10/2019 at 4:43 PM, CraftA365 said:

We've heard that old Sid will be used as Graduate student housing, for as long as it remains habitable. 5-6 years was the estimate. Then it will be torn down, no plans yet for what might be built in its place. Also this building-

is the new Will Rice magister's house. The construction needs to be completed on this before construction on new Sid can begin, because old Will Rice magister's house is in the way of the new Sid construction. (I'm a parent of a current Rice student)

Thank you for your post and welcome to the forums!

[CaptainJilliams]

16 minutes ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

 

 

That's great and all, but someone should've told them that this year is 2019.

[Houston19514]

On 9/21/2019 at 4:54 PM, CaptainJilliams said:

 

That's great and all, but someone should've told them that this year is 2019.

 

The topping out occurred September 26, 2018.

[CaptainJilliams]

1 hour ago, Houston19514 said:

 

The topping out occurred September 26, 2018.

 

But as the Instagram post confirms, they are raising the final beam on the 26th of this year.

 

I don't know if I've ever heard of a topping out celebration occurring exactly 1 year after the fact, seems either wrong or bizarre 🤔

[Houston19514]

19 hours ago, CaptainJilliams said:

 

But as the Instagram post confirms, they are raising the final beam on the 26th of this year.

 

I don't know if I've ever heard of a topping out celebration occurring exactly 1 year after the fact, seems either wrong or bizarre 🤔

 

I don't know what's up with that Instagram post, but according to Rice University, the last large steel beam in the building . . . was put in place on September 26, 2018, and that signed banner even makes a cameo appearance in Rice's 2018 story. Also, the building behind the banner looks like the status of construction a year ago.  The building does not look anything like that today.  http://construction.streaming.rice.edu/rumpac/rumpac.html

Edited September 24, 2019 by Houston19514

[htownproud]

Pouring the new roads/driveway for the performing arts center this morning

Edited September 27, 2019 by htownproud

[rechlin]

From last week:

 

[hindesky]

Not sure when the tower crane came down on the Music Hall. 

[hindesky]

I spy a tower crane base for the Sid Richardson building. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social Science building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music Hall main entrance.

Edited October 20, 2019 by hindesky

[Highrise Tower]

Corner of Dryden & Travis.

 

 

 

[htownproud]

Several big pieces of the tower crane were being delivered this morning near Sid Richardson.  

[bobruss]

On 10/2/2019 at 8:34 PM, rechlin said:

From last week:

 

Rechlin, all of your drone photography has been such a nice addition to our network of fine photographers. I always enjoy seeing a project from a birdseye view and the last couple of months you have given us some great overviews of many interesting areas of town. Thanks and keep up the great work. Much thanks!

Edited October 26, 2019 by bobruss

[rechlin]

23 hours ago, bobruss said:

Rechlin, all of your drone photography has been such a nice addition to our network of fine photographers. I always enjoy seeing a project from a birdseye view and the last couple of months you have given us some great overviews of many interesting areas of town. Thanks and keep up the great work. Much thanks!

 

Not from a drone but from a Southwest 737, but thanks!

[hindesky]

Met the tower crane operator for this project, she was there while they were assembling her crane. She was also one of the operators on the Blossom Hotel project. 

Edited October 27, 2019 by hindesky

[Highrise Tower]

3 hours ago, hindesky said:

Met the tower crane operator for this project, she was there while they were assembling her crane. She was also one of the operators on the Blossom Hotel project. 

 

It’s her birthday.

 

 

 

[Ross]

On 10/20/2019 at 7:12 PM, ekdrm2d1 said:

Corner of Dryden & Travis.

 

I never realized that there was a continuation of Travis South of Rice University. That's a long way from the closest section to the North.

[hindesky]

11 sections on the tower crane at the Sid Richardson project, no need to jump this tower crane. Got to meet with the tower crane operator who works for Baker Concrete.

[

Edited October 28, 2019 by hindesky

[hindesky]

The tower crane operator I had the opportunity to meet while they were getting ready to assemble her tower crane. She works for Baker Concrete.

[cspwal]

23 hours ago, rechlin said:

 

Not from a drone but from a Southwest 737, but thanks!

really big drone