The Rice Design Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of architecture, urban design, and the built environment in the Houston region.
We invite all who are interested in learning more about Willow Waterhole Park and the Charrette to join us on Saturday, July 24 at 10 a.m., at the park for a site visit. We will be meeting on Ricecrest, just south of South Willow. Please click on the map below to enlarge:
Directions from Houston: From Loop 610, exit S. Post Oak Rd. and take a Right onto S. Willow Road.
We hope you will join us!
Please join the Rice Design Alliance in celebrating the publication of Cite 82, a special issue on 60s and 70s sites of counterculture.
Tuesday, July 20, 6 – 7 pm
Canopy on Montrose
3939 Montrose
RSVP: rda@rice.edu or 713.348.4876 by Friday July 16
WHAT: 2010 Rice Design Alliance Design Charrette, “Awakening Willow Waterhole” Reception
WHEN: Monday, August 9, from 6-8 pm.
WHERE: Rice University, School of Architecture, Anderson Hall (Building 4)
6100 Main Street (Off Entrance 1).
On July 7, RDA’s current young professionals group “RDA Partners” unveiled its highly anticipated new name “rdAgents” with a festive launch party at St. Arnold’s Brewery. Notified by covert invitations calling all young professionals interested in art, design, and architecture to attend this unnamed RDA event, dozens of young professionals turned out to celebrate the successes of RDA Partners, and usher in the fresh and dynamic new group.
“RDA Partners accomplished many amazing things,” says rdAgents’ Chair Catherine Callaway. “Our hope in re-branding the group is to have greater clarity, fresh aesthetic, and ultimately, an even higher level of energy to continue producing the quality events for which RDA is so well-known.” With the mission of uniting vibrant young professionals from diverse careers and backgrounds who champion the built environment in Houston, RDA’s young professionals wanted a name that evoked individuals playing an active role in their professional futures and that of Houston’s. As a network of individuals invested in Houston, rdAgents are just that: individual agents of change who take it upon themselves to make a collective difference by joining together. With their fingers on the pulse of today’s evolving state of design, rdAgents nimbly reflect the knowledge and resources enabling them to highlight fresh talent, advocate design, and build meaningful relationships among each other and the local community through their events.
rdAgents provides an opportunity to enhance any young professional’s level of RDA membership with the addition of exclusive invitations and discounts to rdAgents events, along with networking and design enrichment. Exciting upcoming events include “Awakening Willow Waterhole” on August 7—this year’s design charrette focusing on maximizing the potential of The Willow Waterhole Greenway Project, and Cultured Cocktails at Boheme bar on August 12, where a portion of bar proceeds for the evening go towards rdAgents.
Please join rdAgents, RDA’s new young professionals group, for a night of fun and networking with “Cultured Cocktails” at Boheme on August 12, where a portion of the proceeds will benefit rdAgents. Cultured Cocktails, hosted by Spacetaker and Boheme, hosts a different local arts group each week for a special happy hour. Please come to continue celebrating the launch of rdAgents, meet new people interested in art, architecture and Houston’s built environment and learn more about RDA’s young professionals group.
Where: Boheme located at 301 Fairview
When: August 12 from 5-10 PM.
Interested participants can download an application here.
WHAT: 2010 Rice Design Alliance Design Charrette, “Awakening Willow Waterhole”
WHEN: Saturday, August 7, 2010, 8:00 am- 4:00 pm. Reception will be held
Monday, August 9, from 6-8 pm.
WHERE: Rice University, School of Architecture, Anderson Hall (Building 4)
6100 Main Street (Off Entrance 1).
In 1992, Rice Design Alliance held a national design competition called “Heart of the Park” for Houston’s Hermann Park, which eventually led to a master plan that culminated in what the park is today. This year, RDA’s 2010 annual design charrette—a gathering of people for an intensive day of brainstorming and design—will focus on maximizing the potential of The Willow Waterhole Greenway Project, a 279-acre greenspace featuring six detention lakes, designed to reduce flooding along Brays Bayou. While the exact goals of the charrette will not be revealed until the day of the competition, August 7, overarching objectives include transforming the park from a disjointed neighborhood space into a more cohesive, natural community space. The charrette will conceptualize measures to make the park a more sophisticated nature preserve, while maintaining characteristics that make the park a welcoming area for various forms of wildlife.
The rdAgents of the Rice Design Alliance invite interested parties to participate in the juried competition. An entry fee of $20 for RDA members and $30 for non-members will cover breakfast, lunch, and refreshments at day’s end. The competition is open to architects and non-architects, designers, individuals or teams of up to five.
** Jurors for the competition will announce the winning designs at the evening reception, open to the public on Monday, August 9, 2010. **
Interested participants can download an application here.
WHAT: 2010 Rice Design Alliance Design Charrette
WHEN: Saturday, August 7, 2010, 8:00 am- 4:00 pm. Reception will be held
Monday, August 9, from 6-8 pm.
WHERE: Rice University, School of Architecture, Anderson Hall (Building 4)
6100 Main Street (Off Entrance 1).
In 1992, Rice Design Alliance held a national design competition called “Heart of the Park” for Houston’s Hermann Park, which eventually led to a master plan that culminated in what the park is today. This year, RDA’s 2010 annual design charrette—a gathering of people for an intensive day of brainstorming and design—will focus on maximizing the potential of The Willow Waterhole Greenway Project, a 279-acre greenspace featuring six detention lakes, designed to reduce flooding along Brays Bayou. While the exact goals of the charrette will not be revealed until the day of the competition, August 7, overarching objectives include transforming the park from a disjointed neighborhood space into a more cohesive, natural community space. The charrette will conceptualize measures to make the park a more sophisticated nature preserve, while maintaining characteristics that make the park a welcoming area for various forms of wildlife.
rdAgents of the Rice Design Alliance invite interested parties to participate in the juried competition. An entry fee of $20 for RDA members and $30 for non-members will cover breakfast, lunch, and refreshments at day’s end. The competition is open to architects and non-architects, designers, individuals or teams of up to five.
Jurors for the competition will announce the winning designs at the evening reception, open to the public on Monday, August 9, 2010.
The Rice Design Alliance 2010 gala will honor and celebrate Houston engineer and Executive Director of the Harris County Public Infrastructure Department, Arthur L. Storey, Jr. Art Storey has played an integral role in Houston’s built environment, leading projects that have changed the landscape of the county and opened vast stretches of green space to its residents. Some of Storey’s most significant contributions have involved transforming the county’s bayou systems from “mere drainage ways maintained with mowing machines and heavy equipment, to waterways that play multiple roles in Houston’s urban fabric,” according to Kevin Shanley, president of the SWA group and a partner with the flood control district on several bayou improvement projects.
Storey led collaborative efforts to implement trail systems along many of the county’s bayous, including Sims and Buffalo; to substitute softer materials for the solid concrete linings to help maintain bayous’ natural curvature; to plant trees along the waterways; to begin an environmental group while he was Executive Director with the Harris County Flood Control District; and to change county policy regarding bayous. Storey is credited with not only making Houston’s bayous more efficient and beautiful community spaces, but also with transforming the county’s governmental infrastructure, making his work a benchmark model for future flood damage reduction projects on local, regional, and national levels.
Though best known for his innovations at the flood control district between 1989 and 1998, Art subsequently made other significant contributions to the built environment since becoming County Engineer and Executive Director of the county’s Public Infrastructure Department. Under his leadership, the county’s downtown complex has acquired three new courthouses, two new jails, and a new jury assembly center and plaza. The reconstruction and renovation of the historic 1910 courthouse will be completed next year. In all of these projects, LEED principles and historic values have been respected. Storey also led the development of new options and standards for low-impact development in county subdivisions, redevelopment areas, and roadways.
For these contributions, Art has previously been recognized by Rice University with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007, as a Houston-area Engineer of the Year in 2002, and by the dedication of Arthur Storey Park in 1997 and of Storey Lake in Mercer Gardens in 2009.
Gala Chairs: Norma and David George
Underwriting Chair: Doug Combes
Auction Chair: Mary Beth Woiccak
Environment: PGAL
WHAT: 2010 Rice Design Alliance Gala
Honoring Arthur L. Storey, Jr.
WHEN: Saturday, November 13, 2010, 7p.m. until midnight
WHERE: Hilton Americas-Houston, 1600 Lamar
To purchase a table or tickets please click here.
Prices are as follows:
$10,000 Underwriter
• Underwriter table for 12 with V.I.P. Gala seating
• Invitations for 12 to an exclusive Underwriters-Only Auction Preview Cocktail Party on November 13, from 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
• Invitations for 12 to Gala Underwriters Party
• Special recognition at the Gala
• $3,000 Corporate Underwriter Sponsorship for one year
• Recognition at all 2010 RDA programs
• Special recognition in each of four 2010 issues of Cite
• Ten Individual RDA memberships to offer to clients and friends
$5,000 Benefactor
• Gala table for 10 with priority seating
• Invitations for four to Gala Underwriters Party
• $1,500 Corporate Benefactor Sponsorship for one year
$3,000 Patron
• Gala table for 10
• Invitations for two to Gala Underwriters Party
If you are interested in purchasing individual tickets, the prices are as follows:
$5,000 Ticket Underwriters
• Two priority seats at a V.I.P. Gala table
• Invitations for two to an exclusive Underwriters-Only Auction Preview Cocktail Party on November 13, from 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
• Two invitations to Gala Underwriters Party
$500 Ticket Benefactors
• Priority seating for one at the Gala
• One invitation to Gala Underwriters Party
$1,500 Ticket Sponsor
• Reserved seating for four at the Gala
$75 YP* Late Night Ticket
• Drinks, dancing, and delectables for Young Professionals* 35 years and younger, from 9:30 until midnight
$65 rdAgents Late Night Ticket
• Drinks, dancing, and delectables for Young Professionals 35 years and younger who are rdAgent members.
Since 1989 the Rice Design Alliance gala has recognized individuals and institutions that have made exceptional contributions to architecture and design in Houston and Texas. These include Gerald D. Hines, George and Cynthia Mitchell, Warren S. Bellows, Jr., Stanley Marcus, Raymond Brochstein, Herbert Wells, Sadie Gwin Blackburn, and Phoebe and Bobby Tudor. It is anticipated that over 1,000 architects, design professionals, engineers, contractors, developers, and RDA members will attend.
Rice Design Alliance is pleased to announce that Blaine Brownell, alumni of Rice University and founder of Transstudio, will speak at this year’s fall lecture series, “A Material World.” Brownell is considered to be one of the preeminent research scholars on materiality in architecture and design, having written the Transmaterial book series, (2006-2010) and an online material catalog.
According to the New York Times’ story “In Search of Better (and Greener) Building Blocks,” Brownell was in charge of researching materials for the high-profile Jones Plaza renovation in Houston’s Theater District in 1999 and became frustrated by the lack of information and appropriate application of innovative materials.As Brownell says about the state of materials in design and architecture:
Despite the best intentions, material selection in architectural practices is often conducted hastily and in the service of checking boxes on sustainability scorecards. The new “materialism” has become a hyper-technological consideration in both practice and academia…Sadly, in the process of embracing so-called green design, building information modeling, and digital fabrication, we seem to have forgotten our belief in architecture as a tool for social and cultural change.
Motivated by technological advancements in materials and environmental concerns, Brownell began Transstudio blog and Transmaterial.net, both of which serve as virtual databases to house information and research on material applications—like natural paints that prevent mold and bacteria growth or building panels made out of wheat straw and grass—and emergent environmental building strategies.
Brownell earned a B.A. in Architecture with a Certificate in East Asian Studies at Princeton University in 1992, and a Master in Architecture from Rice University in 1998. He has been published in over forty design, business, and science journals, and has lectured widely in North America, Europe, and Japan. He was selected for a “40 Under 40″ award by Building Design & Construction magazine in 2006, and Transmaterial 1 was nominated for an International Book Award by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2007.
As part of PBS’s Blueprint American Screening Tour campaign, the Rice Design Alliance, together with The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is pleased to host the screening of the film, Beyond the Motor City, on Thursday, June 17th at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Beyond the Motor City examines how Detroit, a grim symbol of America’s diminishing status in the world, may come to represent the future of transportation and progress in this country. The film explores how America’s historic decisions to invest in highways and automotive infrastructure has come, in many cities—and particularly in Detroit—at the expense of accessible metro transit systems, sustainable development, historic preservation and urban vitality. While focusing on the hard lessons learned in Detroit, the film also offers the hope that America’s largest cities are now uniquely poised to shine a spotlight on—and to offer sustainable and cutting-edge solutions to—our nation’s transportation obstacles.
A panel discussion will immediately follow the film. Camilo Parra of the AIA Houston Urban Design Committee will moderate. Panelists include Robin Holzer of the Citizens Transportation Coalition, David Robinson of the City of Houston Planning Commission, Jeff Taebel of the Houston-Galveston Area Council, and Christof Spieler, member of the the Houston Metro Board.
Where: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Brown Auditorium Theater, located on the lower level of the Caroline Wiess Law building at 1001 Bissonnet.
When: Thursday, June 17th at 7 pm.
