Nelson Byrd Woltz is redesigning Rice University's academic quad

Rice University's central quadrangle, unveiled at the start of the fall 2024 semester, now has a new look. Thanks to a landscape design by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW), the space has been modernized for contemporary academic life. The contract builds on NBW's track record in Houston, having redesigned the city's Memorial Park, the Rothko Chapel grounds and the landscape for the upcoming Ismaili Center.

The axial views of the previous version of this important space were first conceived as part of the school's master plan, issued in 1910 prior to Rice's opening in 1912 and designed by Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson Architects. Over time, the campus grew while the treeless expanse of the Academic Quadrangle remained fixed in time. For years, it featured a diagonal wish path that allowed students to walk across the lawn and get to class on time.

NBW began the schematic design with a deep dive into the history of the campus and the Texas climate. More than 24,000 new plants have been installed around the Quad, all carefully selected to feel at home in Houston: species-appropriate Echinacea purpurea, Salvia farinacea “Henry Duelberg” and Penstemon tenuis abundant and reflect the school's blue brand color. There are also 90 new trees on the site that will provide shade as they mature. The vision is that students will one day see a connected canopy of leaves as they walk the curving paths beneath the intertwining branches. These will join the live oak trees on campus that were planted in the early years of the school, shaping the experience of moving through the eastern portions of campus.

NBW's design transformed the diagonal into an ellipse and added additional curves that snake across the site. At the center of the new space, a paved outdoor community room provides space for meetings and gatherings, as well as two mirrored shade structures and benches in front of the Fondren Library.

In addition to serving as a place for learning and reflection, NBW's new quad represents a larger story about Rice University itself. The former courtyard featured a statue of the school's founder, William Marsh Rice, placed on a railing in 1930 Stone base in the middle of the room. In 2019, the school began a process of self-reflection, which included the creation of the Rice University Task Force on Slavery, Segregation, and Racial Injustice. The history and presence of the Rice statue was taken into consideration since Rice himself was a slave owner. A 2021 report said the academic quad needed “bold change.”

In this update, the school has “recontextualized” the Rice statue: It now stands at ground level in the southeast corner of the Quad.

Other campus elements also characterize the new stone and masonry, such as the colonnade of nearby Lovett Hall, whose influence astute observers can see in the new design of the exterior paving.

By removing linear hedges, the quadrangle was further opened up for events. The new version accommodates gatherings of up to 3,000 people and is the historic site of the school's graduation ceremonies.

Beyond formal events, the Quad was designed for daily student engagement. The central terrace area uses the base on which Rice's statue once stood to: Inspired by Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park, the world's oldest purpose-built platform for free expression, the granite base now represents the school's commitment to open discourse the campus and “student-led initiatives,” a statement said. (The old pedestal also contained Rice's remains, which have now been moved to a cemetery.) The stone is engraved with a phrase from JFK's “We Choose to Go to the Moon” speech, which he gave at Rice Stadium in 1962.

The arches of NBW's new quadrangle challenge the linearity of the Rice campus's early buildings and its typical avenues. They are expected to provide a new set of livable outdoor spaces, but time will tell whether their multilayered symbolic gesture translates into greater freedoms for students and the causes they support, today and tomorrow. For now, this significant overhaul is a physical expression of Rice's ambitious commitment to a more equitable future.