Rice University Cambridge Office Building and Garage

The Rice University Cambridge project included a six-story mixed-use building introducing a new scale to a mature campus district defined by live oaks, an alee of cedar elms, and buildings of many vintages. Within the building are offices, meeting rooms, classrooms, a classroom lab, huddle rooms, and break areas. The seven-floor, 159,000-square-foot cast-in-place parking garage has over 500 parking spaces, including spaces for electronic cars and golf carts. The garage houses a secured bike rack storage area and the mechanical and maintenance spaces for the building. To preserve the University’s existing aesthetic, the garage was disguised with leaf images on large plastic scrims made of lightweight, breathable poly mesh in an aluminum framing system.