PETER RICE humanist - analyst - engineer Many engineers are seen as straight-forward people, who analyze and calculate. But sometimes there are exceptions. One was Ove Arup, but Peter Rice is an exceptional runner-up on that list. His approach to engineering had a great similarity to Arup’s as seen in his goal for everything being in the benefit for human kind. Peter Rice was a senior partner of Arup, Piano & Rice Associates and Rice Francis Ritchie (RFR). But under his coworkers and collaborating architects namely remember him for his humanistic approach to engineering.
TEXT: ILKE BROERS Peter Rice (1935) was born in Dundalk, Ireland
competition with a design the French initially
Arup declined the assignment for La Villette,
and spent his entire childhood there. After he
did not want. The three did have the support of
after which RFR picked it up. For the project,
began studying aeronautical engineering, which
president, Georges Pompidou, to build their idea
the engineers and designers were faced with
he found uninteresting, he switched to civil en-
of a ‘human machine’. The engineering solutions
the problem of the support system for the glass
gineering at Queen’s University in Belfast. After
for the architectural issues were also not the
façade. Francis, with his design background,
he received his engineering degree, he spent
most common, but they fitted the concept. For
mentioned that engineers do not understand
another year at the Imperial College in London
instance the articulated joints; the span of the
that glass is a flexible material. This gave Rice
before joining Arup in 1956.
beams was 50 meters, but this would cause a
a eureka moment; if that was the case, they
momentum that was too big. Rice did not talk
did not need a supporting structure, they could
His first project was immediately a big one:
the architects out of the idea of this huge span.
use cables. These days, this cable glass support
The Sydney Opera House. At Arup he worked
He went along and designed the articulated
system is a standard in the engineering world.
for three years with a small team on the Utzon
joints. Although being of great significance, it
shells, before moving to Sydney with his family.
was not until much later that this was recog-
Multiple architects and engineers who worked
He was supposed to work as assistant engi-
nized. Martin Francis, Rice’s partner in his later
with Rice, described him as a rare creature. He
neer to Ian MacKenzie, until after one month
firm RFR, mentioned that Rice once said: “No-
had a drive for exploration and doing new or
MacKenzie fell ill and was hospitalized. This left
body will realize what you have done until many
different things, and had a degree of the philo-
Peter Rice in charge as on-site engineer, at the
years afterwards.” Francis felt this was also the
sophical side Ove Arup also had, which showed
age of 28.
case with Rice himself.
in his goal for everything being in the benefit of mankind. He wanted to know how people re-
The next big project, for which he is most
The Museum of Science & Industry at Parc de la
spond to his structural buildings when they were
widely known, was the Centre Pompidou. In
Villette was one of the initial reasons for Rice to
completed. Next to that, he always took time
1971, the French Government announced a
start his firm RFR in 1977, with Martin Francis
to talk about art, life and feelings, before going
competition for an art complex in the center of
and Ian Ritchie. Rice was also partner at Arup,
into the nitty-gritty of the structural design.
Paris. In this highly conservative France, Richard
but was given the freedom to start his own
Rogers, Renzo Piano and Peter Rice won the
company, which put him in this unusual position.
In 1991, Rice found out he had an aggressive brain tumor and not much longer to live. In his last year, next to writing his book ‘Peter Rice: An Engineer Imagines’, he was also awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. He was the second engineer ever to receive this award, the first being Ove Arup. The architects who loved to work with him, put his name forward for the award, which they did to recognize his contribution to the advancement of architecture. Rice found this to be a great honor. He eventually past away at the young age of 57 in 1992.
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PETER RICE