Construction @ rice
Good as Gold This year, Rice University is going for the gold.
Not only did the campus welcome the largest freshman population in university history, but it also is housing around 150 of them in two new residential colleges that outshine the competition in energy efficiency and innovation. In the near future, Duncan College is expected to go where only a handful of other college dormitories have gone before by earning gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Rice also will apply for LEED gold certification for McMurtry College. The opening of McMurtry and Duncan colleges — respectively the 10th and 11th residential colleges at Rice — marks only the second time since 1971 that the university has added new colleges. With 324 beds each, they are Rice’s largest residences and have equalized the student populations on the north and south sides of the campus, with each side now capable of housing approximately 1,400 students each. Fresh Faces At the beginning of the fall 2009 semester, Duncan and McMurtry each welcomed 75 freshmen, as well as students from the two south colleges that are currently under renovation. McMurtry College’s population was rounded out with 236 students from Will Rice College, while 226 Baker College students moved into Duncan. Most are slated to return to the south side of campus when renovations are completed this fall, but several Will Rice and Baker students will stay on at the new colleges as part of a group of 350 current Rice sophomores and juniors who were invited at random to populate Duncan and McMurtry in the coming academic year.
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The new Duncan and McMurtry students are in the process of forming their own college traditions — such as drafting constitutions, designing crests and hosting social events — by studying those of the other nine colleges. These responsibilities also include selecting the masters, resident associates, college coordinators, college officers and O-Week coordinators who will begin serving in fall 2010. Sister Colleges Packed with thoughtful, sustainable details, the colleges are mirror images of each other with only a few exceptions. Both are built with the wood-molded St. Joe brick that hallmarks the Rice campus, although in slightly different colors, and both feature cypress siding on the first floor. However, the iconography at Duncan College will have a sustainability focus, and Duncan houses a classroom finished with green materials and furnishings and will feature displays to help teach Rice students about sustainable living. The colleges also differ in the design of their masters’ houses — which were planned to be identical until the design of Duncan’s house was altered to save a 52-inch live oak — and in the design of each commons. Though they were built of similar materials, the Duncan College Commons was constructed in a traditional rectangle, while the McMurtry College Commons’ circular shape was inspired by the prospect of accommodating arena theater. Sustaining a Lifestyle With features such as thick walls, double-paned windows, efficient lighting and smart thermostats, the new residential colleges are two of the most energy-efficient buildings on campus and reflect Rice’s commitment to environmental responsibility. “We estimate that these colleges will use half as much energy as they would have if they had just been built to the minimum code,”