Rice University Campus Developments

[hindesky]

I see 4 of the temp classrooms at this location. Brick is going up on the Sid Richardson dorms.

[hindesky]

Rice University receives record $100 million gift to accelerate advanced materials research

 

By Hunter Marrow | 12:28 PM Sep 2, 2020 CDT | Updated 12:28 PM Sep 2, 2020 CDT

Marking the largest financial gift the school has ever received, Rice University and Robert A. Welch Foundation announced Sept. 2 a $100 million partnership focused on advanced materials research.

“Our shared goal is to make Houston the premier destination for material research in the U.S. and the world,” said Carin Barth, chairwoman and director for the Welch Foundation Board of Directors.

The partnership takes the form of The Welch Institute of Advanced Materials, which will use the donation to fund 10 years of work on the discovery, design and manufacture of materials with applications in new energy systems, sustainable water, space systems, telecommunications and more by combining Rice University's history of chemistry and materials science research with the latest in machine learning and artificial intelligence, according to an announcement from the foundation.

The institute will be located on the Rice University campus. It will be governed by an independent board of directors and advised by a scientific advisory board, according to the announcement.

Over the next 10 years, the institute will endeavor to attract top researchers from around the world to collaborate with the university’s faculty and scientific resources in researching and innovating with advanced materials—which include ceramics, glass, metals, composites, semiconductors and polymers—and their use in daily life. https://communityimpact.com/houston/bellaire-meyerland-west-university/education/2020/09/02/rice-university-receives-record-100-million-gift-to-accelerate-advanced-materials-research/?type=article&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_article

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

I wonder how they get the brick to look like this. They seem to be oriented out slightly. Planting trees around the Opera House.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

 

 

Rice University plans to build a new student center, which will largely replace the current Rice Memorial Center. 

International architecture firm Adjaye Associates will lead the project's design, according to an Oct. 30 press release. The firm has offices in Ghana, London and New York.

Houston-based Kendall/Heaton Associates will serve as executive architect, and Houston-based Tellepsen will provide preconstruction services. Currently, Rice aims to break ground on the project in the first quarter of 2022 and complete it in the fall of 2023. 

The project is moving forward thanks to a $15 million gift from the Brown Foundation, said Kathi Dantley Warren, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations. 

Rice plans to retain a few elements of the Rice Memorial Center, such as the chapel and the cloisters, but most of the RMC will be demolished. Adjaye Associates has designed a three-story, 80,000-square-foot structure that incorporates the functions of the RMC and adds a multicultural center and a rooftop auditorium. It will also incorporate a memorial to 10 Navy ROTC students who died when their transport plane crashed in 1953 and for whom the RMC is named. However, the design is very preliminary, said University Architect George Ristow.

Rice hosted a design competition to select the architect, which it normally does not do for a major capital project, Ristow said. The board of trustees’ Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee for Design narrowed down a list of candidates to three finalists to present concepts for the new facility, and a committee of Rice administrators and faculty, with input from the Rice Student Association and Graduate Student Association, selected Adjaye Associates.

“We could not be more delighted than to have a design architect of the standing of Sir David Adjaye and Adjaye Associates for Rice’s new student center,” said Rice President David Leebron. “Building on the insights of Rice graduates at his firm, Sir David’s competition submission reflected a deep understanding of the needs of our student community, including the need to support diversity and inclusion through a vibrant and prominent multicultural center that is a central element of this project. Sir David’s global perspective will, we are confident, result in a project that speaks not only to our community but to the broader world that increasingly sees Rice as a destination for global engagement and problem-solving."

 

Adjaye, founder and principal of the firm, was recently named the 2021 recipient of the Royal Gold Medal, an award selected by Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is the second winner to design a building for Rice; the first was James Stirling, who designed Anderson Hall. Adjaye Associates also designed the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.; Ruby City, an art center in San Antonio; the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, Russia; and the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, Norway.

“This is an important and inspiring project for Adjaye Associates, and we look forward to collaborating with Rice to imagine a new campus anchor point that engages its community in the most inclusive way possible," Adjaye said. “Responding to the architectural history of the university, the city of Houston and the region, the student center will come to embody its position at the heart of the campus, fostering catalytic connections between undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff activated in both the threshold and formalized spaces of the new building.”

By Olivia Pulsinelli  – Assistant managing editor, Houston Business Journal 

6 hours ago

[cityliving]

It’s sad when a private institution can spend loads of money on a ugly building and yet not have enough money to pay some of their professors  a decent salary for all the hard work that they do.

Edited October 31, 2020 by cityliving

[EllenOlenska]

I think the building is cool as hell and also that the treatment of adjuncts in the modern U is unjust. 

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

Not sure what the slab next to the temp classrooms is for.

[hindesky]

Sidewalk by the temporary tent classrooms is a take off of all the colors in Houston. A new mural by GONZO247.

 

[monarch]

^^^ love me some GONZO247!  this totally cool burgeoning artist epitomizes everything regarding our fair city of houston.  compassion... diversity... cool/sexy... bold... talent... and total brilliance... 

[hindesky]

Camarata Masonry calls this a sawtooth pattern. 

[zaphod]

Houston can always use more brick buildings, IMO.

[hindesky]

[HoustonBoy]

Why do St. Lukes's spires have scaffolding around them?

[hindesky]

18 minutes ago, HoustonBoy said:

Why do St. Lukes's spires have scaffolding around them?

Sharpen the needles  

 

but more likely a paint job.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

The sawtooth pattern on the bricks only extends to the first floor, it's kinda freaky looking and messes with your eyes while looking at it.

[hindesky]

The contractors were working furiously to get this done, Rice students are moving in on Tuesday according to a worker I talked with.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

Most of the fencing surrounding the project has been removed so I can get closer look at that sawtooth brick pattern. I talked with a student and he said they moved 2 weeks ago.

[hindesky]

Striping the parking lot.

[mkultra25]

On 1/31/2021 at 3:17 PM, hindesky said:

Most of the fencing surrounding the project has been removed so I can get closer look at that sawtooth brick pattern. I talked with a student and he said they moved 2 weeks ago.

 

 

 

[tangledwoods]

that is some harsh interior design for a residential project.... I can understand minimalism and exposed structure in public facing spaces but to do polished concrete floors with exposed ceilings in the residential area is pretty bleak.  White walls and white base make it look cold and borderline prison vibes (compare to UTHealth Continuum Of Care Campus For Behavioral Health).

And that bathroom... WTF  they couldnt afford to tile the floor?  I guess they spent all their money on the brick facade and ran out when it came to actual positive features for the building occupants.

Another great Rice project with Form >>>>> Function.

[Texasota]

These are dorms. Very nice dorms at that. Not sure what you were expecting.

[mkultra25]

As college costs have escalated to stratospheric levels, so have students' expectations of housing and dining amenities. The current Rice serveries full of chefs whipping up a wide variety of very good food are far removed from the cafeteria ladies who dished out countless portions of cheese eggs and mystery meat back in the 1980s. That said, given the age and condition of Old Sid, I doubt many Sidizens are going to be complaining about the spartan nature of New Sid. Also, there used to be a tradition of often-elaborate buildouts to further enhance residential rooms (particularly among engineering students). Assuming this is still the case, I have no doubt that the folks with such inclinations will regard the rooms at New Sid as merely a blank canvas rife with possibilities.