Campus of Rice University
The campus of Rice University is located on a heavily wooded 290-acre (120-hectare) plot of land on South Main Street in the Museum District of Houston, Texas.
It is located east of Rice Village, a retail district, south of Boulevard Oaks and Southampton, west of the Texas Medical Center, and north of Southgate.
Founded in 1912, the university has been developed in a relatively uniform Mediterranean Revival style, emphasizing light brick facades, quadrangles, archways, and decorative columns.
[2] After Lovett's selection as president in 1908, the Institute's leadership began searching for a contiguous plot of land up to 300 acres (120 hectares) in size on the outskirts of Houston.
[3] Through the deal and subsequent land exchanges, the Rice Institute had acquired 278 acres (113 hectares) fronting the west side of Main by 1910.
[1] The early construction of the university was funded by the sale of timber interests on a 47,000-acre (19,000-hectare) piece of land in Louisiana owned by the Rice estate.
[4] Rice's campus is a heavily-wooded 285-acre (1.15 km2) tract of land located close to the city of West University Place in the museum district of Houston.
In recent years, new facilities have been built within the vicinity of campus, but the bulk of administrative, academic, and residential buildings are still located on the original plot of land.
This rectangular road is bisected by Alumni Drive, which begins at Rice Boulevard along the northwestern edge of campus and passes by Dell Butcher Hall, the Recreation Center, the RMC, the Jones School, the Baker Institute, and Wiess College before ending at Main Street.
[2] Influenced by the campuses of southern Europe, many of Rice's buildings are Mediterranean Revival in style,[2] with sand and pink-colored bricks, large archways and columns acting as architectural motifs.
Noteworthy exceptions include the glass-walled Brochstein Pavilion,[7] Lovett College with its Brutalist-style concrete gratings, the eclectic-Mediterranean Duncan Hall, and the modern Moody Center for the Arts.
The Central Quadrangle lies to the west of Fondren Library, anchored by Brochstein Pavilion, a coffee shop and meeting space.
[13] Each residential college, with the exception of Sid Richardson, possesses its own quadrangle, which provides a dedicated outdoor social and recreational space for members.
[14] The north-south axis contains the John and Anne Grove, a wide decomposed granite promenade covered by a thick canopy of cedar elm and oak trees.
[17] Both complexes are served by the university shuttle system, and Rice Village Apartments (which is a LEED-certified green building) discourages car use by providing new residents with a free bicycle.
[32] The Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation & Wellness Center, opened in 2009, is a 103,000-square-foot (9,600 m2) facility featuring a 9,000-square-foot (840 m2) weight and cardio room, multipurpose fitness and dance rooms, indoor and outdoor basketball, racquetball and squash courts, a soccer and hockey arena, an Olympic-size competitive swimming pool, a recreational pool, and offices for counseling and wellbeing services.
