A HOUSE BY RICE

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by David Gordon

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Since its conception in 1992, the Rice chapter of Habitat for Humanity has moved toward its goal of sponsoring and building a home in Houston. On Jan. 25, they will achieve that goal when construction begins on the Rice-Andersen House.

The house, funded by contributions from Andersen Consulting and other private donors, will be constructed in a community of Habitat homes in the Woodglen subdivision in northeast Houston.

The home is the result of cooperation between the Habitat chapter, the Rice Development office and the Department of Architecture. Each is responsible for a separate part of the process.

Twelve architecture students, ranging from sophomores to graduates, developed the house as part of a course focused on the design of housing for a low-income family.

Habitat Architecture Coordinator and junior architecture student Jane Kim helped to establish the class. It was taught by Visiting Professor Danny Samuels and Associate Professor Gordon Wittenberg.

The Architecture Department has a policy of allowing students to pursue an area of interest related to architecture if there is a faculty sponsor as well as enough students participating. However, the course is an elective and does not count toward the architecture major.

Kim saw the opportunity to help not only Habitat but also the architecture students.

"Sometimes we tend to get trapped in Anderson [Hall]," she said. "This is a way to get architecture students back into the community."

Originally the class developed two designs for the 1,100 square-foot three-bedroom home -- a two-story and a one-story.

The design that the class selected (see below) improves on the standard Habitat design. Unique to the Rice-Andersen house are space-efficient techniques that allow a large front porch and a back patio.

"We wanted to create an outdoor space where the family could be in touch with the community," Kim said.

The development office and Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho have thrown their support behind the project, contacting potential donors.

Andersen Consulting has donated $10,000 of the estimated $40,000 cost. Private donations and additional corporate donations are expected to make up the difference.

The Habitat chapter is coordinating the third part of the task, the actual construction of the house.

Chapter coordinator Kevin Murphy is hoping that support comes from all parts of the Rice community.

According to Murphy, the Alumni Association has reserved two days of construction. Sid Richardson College, the South Asian Society, Jones College, Lovett College, the School of Continuing Studies and the Class of '99 Unity Task Force have each reserved a day. The Rice Student Volunteer Program plans to include two trips to the site during its spring Outreach Day.

"We are hoping to fill as many days up with groups, such as residential colleges [and] departments," Murphy said.

Support has been strong, but without additional groups, Murphy thinks the house may fall behind schedule.

"We still need many more groups to sign up for a shift or a day if we're going to build this comfortably in 14 weeks," he said. The project is expected to take only 12 weeks, but Murphy has allowed a couple of weeks for unexpected delays.

After this project, the Rice chapter of Habitat for Humanity hopes to work with former President Jimmy Carter's Work Project, which helps build housing in cities throughout the nation. With the help of Work Project, Habitat for Humanity hopes to build 100 homes in the Houston area in one week.

Anyone who is interested in helping with either of these projects should contact the Rice chapter at habitat@rice.edu . More information can be found on the Habitat World Wide Web page, located at http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~habitat.

This item appeared in the Features section of the January 17, 1997 issue.

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