HOUSTON — Rice University has announced plans to redesign its Academic Quadrangle. The announcement was made Monday and work is expected to begin this fall. Renderings are expected to be released this spring. Rice held an invitational competition last summer to determine the design partner to help with the design plans. The “internationally renowned landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz” was chosen to lead the project, Rice said in a release.
The university’s Board of Trustees picked NBW’s plan, which it said: “aligns with aspirations to enrich student experience, foster inclusivity and celebrate Rice’s evolution and values while respectfully recognizing the founding gift of William Marsh Rice.” The Quadrangle The centerpiece at the Rice University Academic Quadrangle, which is flanked by Lovett Hall and Fondren Library, is the Founder’s Memorial.
The Quadrangle has been the site of commencement ceremonies, among other things. “The need to recontextualize the Academic Quadrangle became apparent during several years of conversations regarding its focal point, the Founder’s Memorial, given the founder’s history as an owner of enslaved people,” the university said in a release.
Just to be clear, since the article did not name him, the founder of Rice University is William Marsh Rice, an outstanding Yankee transplant white man who came from very humble beginnings to become one of Texas’ Wealthiest Men.
