Why Rice

We are the smallest professional degree program situated within a top research university, allowing individual attention with the breadth of study afforded by a major university.

Located in the nation’s fourth largest city, Rice University is a leading research institution committed to fostering a strong intellectual environment for the next generation of leaders and thinkers. Rice Architecture’s small, five-to-one student-to-faculty ratio encourages a close-knit community that provides both undergraduates and graduates with thoughtful instruction, particularly in the studio setting.

 

The school’s position within a top tier university allows us to draw extensively from other disciplines to forge new territories of speculative practice, as demonstrated by our faculty’s leadership role with Rice’s environmental studies interdisciplinary minor; our cross-listed courses with other schools and departments, particularly humanities, business, and engineering; and our collaborations with the other arts groups on campus and in the city.

 

Our Offerings

Preceptorship

Rice Architecture coordinates with top-ranked architecture firms from the US and abroad to provide our B.Arch. students with a yearlong paid practicum between their fourth and fifth years of study. Preceptorship ensures that our students gain firsthand exposure to the full scope of professional practice.

Studio-based education: innovative practice

At Rice Architecture, design is the central focus for testing architecture’s multiple facets. The design studio synthesizes the practical, aesthetic, cultural, and theoretical concerns integral to any design project.

Student to faculty ratio is small

The student to faculty ratio in the school is five to one; the ratio in the university is six to one. We see that ratio as one of our most compelling assets: we are committed to assisting every student in articulating their own project.  

Open Communal Spaces

MD Anderson Hall’s central space can be sectioned off with sliding barn doors or opened up to create one giant space. Our building’s spatial flexibility accommodates lectures, reviews, meetings, classes, receptions, and even Architectronica, a media-saturated dance party organized by students every fall.

Examine Our World

At Rice Architecture, we insist upon architecture’s relevance in the world. Our strong history/theory sequence teaches close readings of architecture, while always placing those readings within myriad contexts, ranging from the political to the physical. Our numerous electives provide advanced opportunities for students to deepen specific lines of research.
NearFutures

Imagine New Worlds

We teach our students to examine the world around them, to focus on relevant issues, to critique with intelligence, and then to propose new models that will themselves be closely examined.  

After Graduation

Thanks to our unique preceptorship program as well as our talented alumni, Rice Architecture has a remarkable reputation among top offices across the world. Our graduates are recognized to be smart, articulate, talented, and well-prepared. We expect every one of our students to engage the world of the school, the world of architecture, and the world at large. 

That means our graduates are ready to work with others, while also being prepared to lead. Our graduates find jobs all across the globe, mostly in architecture but also with magazines, museums, consulting firms, universities, planners, and even with law firms.
44

States where alumni currently work

34

Countries where alumni are practicing

 

171

Alumni own their own practice

70%

Give to Rice

 

Where they are working
  • Apple Inc.
  • Architecture Research Office
  • Architecture Plus Information
  • Bjarke Ingels Group: BIG
  • CAZA Architects
  • Continuum Architects + Planners
  • Ennead Architects
  • Gensler
  • HOK
  • HR DESIGN DEPT
  • Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects
  • Michael Maltzan Architects
  • Michael Hsu Office of Architecture
  • Mork Ulnes Architects
  • Schaum/Shieh
  • Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
  • Studio Gang
  • Westfield Architects & Preservation Consultants
  • XDGA

The above list is a sample of offices that have employed recent Rice Architecture B.Arch. and M.Arch. graduates. Our preceptorship firms hire graduates as well as employing our students between their fourth and fifth years.

WOMH-rendering4
White Oak Music Hall, Houston, Texas, by Shaum/Shieh, cofounded by Associate Professor Troy Schaum

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