2024 Associated Masonry Contractors of Houston Golden Trowel Excellence Award Educational Facility (College/University)

>>> The new Hanszen College at Rice University replaces an existing portion of the residential building, originally built in 1957, with a new five story, 56,000-SF stand-alone structure. The exterior of this structure is clad in St. Joe brick (the historical façade material typically selected for use on Rice University campus buildings), glazed thin brick, decorative tile, and textured plaster. The masonry scope on this project included 90,000 handmade St. Joe bricks in two different blends along with 4,700 SF of glazed thin brick in various colors. The running bond pattern of the St. Joe brick is accentuated with the glazed thin brick installed in a stacked soldier pattern beneath windows and balconies. The new residential college complements the surrounding buildings by including the large mortar joints commonly found on the campus, various grand archways, brick wing walls, exterior brick patios and a large brick corridor with its ceiling clad in tile that was salvaged from the original building.

Several aspects of the new building make it unique. The framing of the building is all in one plane but the veneer steps out 2 inches at each level as the building increases in height which created constantly changing cavity sizes as work progressed up the building, and required extensive engineering to ensure proper installation of the façade; there are returns in the façade details throughout that give the building a stacked 3-D look; and the incorporated archways needed various concealed lintel systems in order to work with the design.

Building this structure involved intense coordination with the general contractor, exterior sheathing contractor and the stucco contractor to ensure a harmonious blend of materials in the finished product. The project site was located deep within the Rice University campus with no permanent road nearby. Access to the site was via a temporary construction road pinned tightly between two of the campus Magisters houses. Distributing materials, workers, equipment on and off site for all trades was extremely challenging as there was not enough room for all trades to operate independently.