Rice University campus tour: Lovett Hall, the colleges and the Skyspace

Rice University opened in Houston in 1912 as the Rice Institute, founded with the fortune of William Marsh Rice, and took its present name in 1960. Its campus is a green, walled-off rectangle of brick arcades and live oaks a few kilometres southwest of downtown, with a park, a museum district and one of the world's great medical complexes on its edges. This guide explains how the campus is laid out, what its landmarks are, and how student life is organised around the residential colleges.

The shape of the campus

Rice sits on about 120 hectares (300 acres), nearly all of it inside a single loop of hedges and oak trees. The main entrance on Main Street faces east, and the campus unfolds westward from there along one long axis: Lovett Hall, the Academic Quad, Fondren Library, then a second run of lawns and quads behind the library. Science and engineering are mostly on the north side, the residential colleges are split into a north group and a south group, and the stadium and playing fields fill the western end. A shaded path of roughly three miles (about 4.8 km) circles the campus and is a favourite Houston running route.

Lovett Hall and the Academic Quad

Lovett Hall was the first building, originally the Administration Building, and is named for the founding president, Edgar Odell Lovett. The Boston architects Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson drew the first campus plan and gave the hall its distinctive look: rose-coloured brick, marble columns, and a mix of Mediterranean and Byzantine detail that later buildings have echoed ever since.

The arch through the middle is the Sallyport. New students walk through it during their first week, and by tradition they do not pass through again until the day they graduate. Beyond it lies the Academic Quad, framed by arcaded buildings on both sides.

Fondren Library

At the far end of the quad stands Fondren Library, the university's main library since 1949. Just behind it, the glass-walled Brochstein Pavilion is a café and a popular meeting place, set in a grove of trees between the library and the newer quads to the west.

How the residential colleges work

Every undergraduate at Rice belongs to a residential college. The system began in 1957 with four colleges (Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen and Wiess) and has grown since, in the tradition of Oxford and Cambridge and of the houses and colleges at Harvard and Yale. Students are assigned to a college before they arrive and remain members for their whole time at Rice, whether or not they live in its buildings every year.

Each college has its own dining commons, quad, traditions and student government, and much of the social life of the university runs through them rather than through fraternities or sororities, which Rice does not have. The best-known tradition is Beer Bike, held every spring: a day of relay bicycle races between the colleges that draws most of the campus out to watch.

Science, engineering and Duncan Hall

The north side of campus belongs to the sciences and engineering. Keck Hall, the old Chemistry Building, is the one with the tall brick tower. A few steps away, Duncan Hall is a deliberate contrast: a postmodern building of the 1990s by the British architect John Outram, with striped brickwork outside and a brightly painted ceiling in its main hall.

Music, art and the Turrell Skyspace

At the western end of the central axis is the Shepherd School of Music. On the lawn beside it sits James Turrell's "Twilight Epiphany" Skyspace, completed in 2012: a grass-covered pyramid with a thin white roof that seems to float above it. At sunrise and sunset, a slow sequence of coloured light plays across the roof while the sky shows through an opening in the middle. Viewing arrangements vary, so look at the university's pages for the current schedule. Nearby, the Moody Center for the Arts holds changing exhibitions.

Rice Stadium and sport

Rice Stadium opened in 1950 and is far larger than a university of this size would normally need. It was here, in September 1962, that President John F. Kennedy gave the speech in which he said "We choose to go to the Moon". The stadium has also hosted a Super Bowl. Rice's teams are the Owls; basketball and volleyball are played at Tudor Fieldhouse and baseball at Reckling Park.

The neighbourhood around campus

Hermann Park: directly across Main Street, with a lake, gardens, an outdoor theatre and the Houston Zoo.
Museum District: a short walk or light-rail hop to the north, including the Museum of Fine Arts and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Texas Medical Center: the dense cluster of hospitals and research institutes along the south-east edge of campus, where many Rice students volunteer or do research.
Rice Village: a few blocks west, a low-rise district of cafés, restaurants and shops that serves as the students' high street.

Visiting the campus

The grounds are generally open to walk through, and the main sights are all outdoors or in public spaces. Like most American universities, Rice typically offers tours and presentations for prospective students through its admission office; what is available changes through the year, so check the university's official visitor page for current details.

Getting there and around

By air: Houston has two airports, George Bush Intercontinental to the north and William P. Hobby to the south-east. Hobby is the closer of the two.
By light rail: METRORail's Red Line runs along the eastern edge of campus and links it with downtown, the Museum District and the Medical Center.
By car: Houston is a driving city. Visitor parking on campus is in marked lots and garages; follow the signs from the numbered entrances.
On foot: the campus is flat and compact, and its core can be crossed in about fifteen minutes.

Where families usually base themselves

Texas Medical Center and Museum District: the closest hotels, many within walking distance or one rail stop.
Rice Village and West University: quieter and residential, handy for restaurants.
Downtown: a direct light-rail ride away, with the widest choice.

Good to know

Houston is hot and humid from late spring to early autumn; mornings are the comfortable time to walk.
A sensible route runs from the main entrance through the Sallyport, past Fondren Library to the Skyspace, then back along the north side.

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Cover photo: Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons