The architects have presented the building as a machine for the production of art. Each space, closed or open, interior or exterior, has a purpose in this process: to do, think, discuss, experiment and innovate, everything happens under one roof.
Every wall and space can become a surface or area for the art exhibition. The boundaries between disciplines, creators' spaces and exhibition spaces are blurred. As the arts evolve, Sarofim Hall will evolve as well. The studios and facilities are designed to protect against obsolescence by encouraging students to think about their work areas according to their artistic needs.
Description of project by Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Houston, TX - Rice University’s new home for student art will be named Susan and Fayez Sarofim Hall, and will be designed by a team with a deep appreciation for the arts at Rice and in Houston. Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s design team, led by Rice alumnus Charles Renfro, has been chosen for Sarofim Hall following a national competition.
With architecture honoring the legacy of the former Rice Media Center and Art Barn, the new Sarofim Hall will be an inventive take on the prefabricated building, incorporating exhibition areas, labs, studios, shops, faculty offices and other facilities serving as collaboration points for artists across mediums.
“I am excited to see DS+R's extraordinary artistic vision and unique understanding of our campus culture and history shape the design of this important new facility,” said Rice President David Leebron. “The building anchors one of our key departments, Visual and Dramatic Arts, and completes the arts district of our campus that we envisioned. It is designed with the potential for additional expansion as we seek to grow the department’s achievements and recognition under its new chair, Bruce Hainley.”
The building nods to the Art Barn and Media Center, which were commissioned by Houston arts patrons John and Dominique de Menil in 1969 when they founded the Institute for the Arts at Rice, with a dramatic advancement of the ubiquitous Butler building, the mass-produced, pre-engineered metal structures that became popular following World War II.
The striking design for Sarofim Hall frees the steel frame from its skin, transforming a hermetic building into an extroverted mini-campus, welcoming students, faculty and the general public into its protected exterior spaces to engage with the arts at Rice.
The building functions as a machine for the production of art. Every space, enclosed or open, indoors or outdoors, serves a purpose in this process: making, thinking, discussing, experimentation and innovation all happen under one roof. Every wall and niche can become a surface or area for the display of art. The boundaries between disciplines, maker-spaces and exhibition spaces are blurred.
Renfro recalls long walks across campus between classes for architecture, painting and photography during his undergraduate days. “Cross-disciplinary discourse is a hallmark of the arts in the 21st century, but it has been difficult at Rice since its facilities are scattered all over campus,” Renfro said. “Sarofim Hall will not only bring these programs together for the first time, but also facilitate experimentation and collaboration between disciplines through the use of open, transparent, indoor/outdoor and public-facing space.”
Before becoming a partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) in 2004, Renfro graduated from Rice in 1989 and received his Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University in 1994.
DS+R’s vision for Sarofim Hall incorporates a glass-lined pedestrian ArtStreet that bisects the four-story structure and acts as a new entrance to the university, welcoming the public to witness what’s happening inside the new space. It will be situated adjacent to the Moody Center for the Arts and a short stroll from the Shepherd School for Music’s Alice Pratt Brown Hall and the newly constructed Brockman Hall for Opera.
“This design opens the Rice campus to the city of Houston in an amazing new way,” said Dean of Humanities Kathleen Canning. “What also makes it really exciting is that this is a building that is not meant to encapsulate and contain the arts as they are today; this is a building that will foster open, flexible spaces for the arts of tomorrow.”
As the arts evolve, Sarofim Hall will evolve, too. The studios and facilities are designed to guard against obsolescence by encouraging students to fashion their work areas according to their artistic needs. “The building shell is thought of as a piece of infrastructure: simple, durable and timeless, while the insides can transform as needs change,” Renfro said.
Once completed, Sarofim Hall will complement the robust curriculum championed by Hainley, one of the country’s leading art critics and educators. When Hainley takes over in January, he will lead one of the most visible departments on campus. VADA serves over a quarter of undergraduates at Rice each semester, and Niche recently ranked the university No. 4 in the U.S. for art majors.
“With DS+R helming the design of a building that will provide a flexible space for new thinking around the making of contemporary art and performance, Rice will be poised to activate dynamic interdisciplinary as well as interdepartmental collaborations, mindful of the tradition of aesthetics and social justice that the de Menils began locally. Soon the new building will allow a vital humanities department to resituate itself and the arts as central to the university, making for one of the most compelling sites of invitation to the greater community of Houston,” Hainley said.
University Architect George Ristow said the potential to activate outdoor plaza and working art spaces is particularly exciting, especially in dialogue with the Moody Center for the Arts directly next door. “What’s really unique about the site for this project is the history of the former Art Barn and Media Center buildings — two simple yet iconic metal buildings whose significance cannot be ignored”.
DS+R’s initial concept for the new building cleverly weaves the symbolism of that history with the scale, materiality and porosity of the broader campus fabric. With the building being at the outward-facing perimeter — and at an entrance into campus that has evolved into one of the most active and dynamic access points — it will undoubtedly have a different kind of visibility beyond the hedges that will be leveraged as a new and unique gateway to the Rice arts corridor,” said Ristow.
