Quantcast The Rice Thresher
College Media Network

the Rice Thresher

The Student Newspaper of Rice University since 1916

South College plans finalized

Catherine Bratic

Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: News
  • Print
  • Email
  • Page 1 of 1
The first residents of Duncan and McMurtry Colleges will not be a new generation of freshmen. Rather, they will be Baker College and Will Rice College students relocated from their own colleges during the south college renovations, Facilities, Engineering and Planning Project Manager Kathy Jones said.

The renovations to the south colleges will begin next May and finish in August 2010. Over this 14-month period, the "new" wing of Will Rice will be replaced, Baker's tower will be removed, a new wing of Baker will be constructed along the inner loop, the seventh and eighth entrances of Baker will be handed over to Lovett College, and a new servery will be constructed between Will Rice, Sid Richardson and Lovett colleges. A total of 82 beds will be added to the south colleges in the project, Jones said.

Hopkins Architects is designing the buildings for the projects. Matthew Taylor, Adviser to the Dean of Undergraduates, said they are making sure the new additions blend in with their surroundings.

"One of the important parts of the architects' vision for the buildings is that they be of a scale that matches the buildings that are already there," Taylor said.

This will include choosing a brick color similar to the ones used in the current Baker and Will Rice buildings.

The servery, in contrast, will take on more of a modern feel, Jones said.

"I would characterize it more like the [Brochstein] Pavilion almost," Jones said.

In addition to improving the quality of each building, Taylor said the renovations will also give each college a clearly-defined quadrangle.

"What this ultimately achieves is a clear delineation of the space of each college," Taylor said.

Though it is still in the planning stages, the renovation will include big changes to Sid, which include tearing down the current Sid commons and constructing a new one adjacent to the new Will Rice, Sid and Lovett servery, Taylor said.

Other construction projects on campus are continuing as planned despite week-long delays imposed by Hurricane Ike, Susann Glenn, FE&P Director of Communications said.

"I think the biggest issue we had post-Ike was getting a return to the normal work force that we had on campus," Glenn said. "On some projects we had ... 200 people on site one day, and then the next day 17 people came, because most people were dealing with their own issues."

Despite the hurricane, the new Recreation Center is still on schedule and is set to open next August. The building will have two basketball courts, racquetball courts, a competitive pool, an extended weight room and multiple-use gyms among its services. The Rec Center will also house the Wellness Center, which is currently located next to Brown College.

As part of the Rec Center's design, the wood from the Autry Court basketball court will be reused on the walls of the new Recreation Center, FE&P Project Manager Joe Buchanan said.
Page 1 of 1

Article Tools


Comments from unregistered users are subject to editor approval. Log in or register now to post a comment immediately.

Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1

great news

posted 10/20/08 @ 7:53 PM CST

It's great to see the ball finally start to get rollin...! :)

Post a Comment

  • NOTE: Email address will not be published

Type your comment below (html not allowed)

  I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Comments will never be removed or edited because of the commenter's ideology or viewpoint. However, comments with excessive profanity, that steer too far off topic, that are libelous or that resort to personal attacks are subject to removal. Comments made on the Thresher Web site may be republished in the Thresher's print edition, and may be edited for brevity or clarity.

In This Issue

Advertisement

Poll

Which bowl game do you think the football Owls will be selected for?
Submit Vote

View Results

This Week's Front Page

Download Print Edition PDF

Advertisement