Breaking new ground

Breaking new ground

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

The Feb. 1 groundbreaking for Rice’s newest graduate student residence provided tangible evidence of progress toward important goals of the university’s Vision for the Second Century (V2C) and demonstrated how at Rice, unconventional wisdom is not limited to the classroom or laboratory.

TOMMY LAVERGNE

Representatives of Rice, the city of Houston and neighboring businesses and residents break ground Feb. 1 on the new Rice Village Apartments, a 137-unit, 238-bed graduate student residence located at 2410 Shakespeare St.  Pictured, from left, are Tim Douglass, chief of staff for Houston City Council member Anne Clutterbuck; Karen Wagner, board member of Morningside Place Civic Association; Paula Sanders, Rice’s dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies; Mark Ditman, director of Housing and Dining at Rice; Nikil Gheewala, president of Rice’s Graduate Student Association; Aubrey Mendonca, president of Rice Village Alliance; Adria Baker, director of Rice’s Office of International Students and Scholars; and Rice project manager Russell Price, assistant vice president for facilities.

When it is completed and fully occupied in the spring of 2009, Rice’s second university-owned graduate student residence will house an estimated 12 percent of the graduate student population.  The 137-unit, 238-bed facility helps to fulfill several of the aims of the V2C, including increasing Rice’s commitment to the university’s research mission and strengthening graduate and postdoctoral programs by helping the university recruit high-caliber graduate students.

At Rice’s first graduate apartment building on Bissonnet Street, international graduate students make up two-thirds of the resident population — twice the percentage of international students in Rice’s graduate student body campuswide, so the Rice Village Apartments should also help make progress toward the V2C goal of Rice becoming a more international university.

The project also serves as a showcase for an approach to design and construction which reflects unconventional wisdom literally from the ground up.  After many months of close collaboration with neighboring businesses and residents, the city of Houston, and the city’s parking and planning commissions, Rice created a design with the following features:

Attractive

The design restricts building height, maximizes green space, places parking off street and out of sight, and incorporates brick accents and quality stucco construction.

Affordable

Rent at the Rice Village Apartments allows students on limited stipends to live in close proximity to their university.

Convenient

The location, three blocks from Rice University and one block from the Village, encourages residents to walk and bike to the campus and to area recreation and shopping destinations.  Daily shuttle service reduces demand for resident and visitor parking at the site, provides neighbors a free ride to Rice for public events, and brings Rice students, employees and visitors to the Village, increasing business without the need for more parking and without increasing traffic on area streets.

Sustainable

In addition to the trip-reduction benefits resulting from the project’s close proximity to campus, the building itself is designed and will be built to LEED standards, minimizing construction waste and improving operating efficiency.  Reduced on-site parking demand also means less paving, allowing more green space and preserving street trees, which in turn reduces flooding, downstream water pollution and heat island effects while improving air quality.

The Rice Village Apartments are expected to be ready for partial occupancy by January 2009 and full occupancy by March 2009.