Two people lecturing to a crowd
HDRG 2022 Winners Lecture

Since 1999, Rice Design Alliance has awarded over $100,000 in grants to Houston-based architecture students and faculty from the leading architecture schools of the region, including the Rice School of Architecture, the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design at the University of Houston, the School of Architecture at Prairie View A&M University, and the Department of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University. 

With the generous support of The Mitsui U.S.A. Foundation, Rice Design Alliance relaunched the renamed Houston Design Research Grant in 2020 (formerly known as the Initiatives for Houston Grant) to more actively support research that can make a significant contribution to the Houston community through quality design thinking.

Starting in 2020, applications were expanded nationally to students and faculty looking to work on research projects of relevance to Houston’s urban environment. The grant now awards $6,000 each to a student and faculty winner who will be invited to present their project at a public lunchtime lecture at Rice Architecture and to publish their research in Rice Design Alliance’s Cite magazine.

Apply here!

 

 

The areas of study should have a critical focus on Houston’s built environment, its history, present condition, and future development.

In 2022, Rice Architecture HOME-OFFICE's Daniel Jacobs, and Brittany Utitng and Rice Architecture student Rae Atkinson were named the winners of the Rice Design Alliance Houston Design Research Grant.

2022 Grantees

Daniel Jacobs and Brittany Utting, Faculty Winner

HOME-OFFICE, Houston Texas

HOUSTON-VARIATIONS

Rae Atkinson, Student Winner

Master of Architecture, Rice Architecture

Carless Garages, Careless Spacesm and Everything in Between

2020 Grantees

De Peter Yi, Faculty Winner

Lecturer, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
The SRO Model in Houston: Adaptation, Transformation, Revitalization

Edward Liew, Shree Kale, and Anna Fritz, Student Winners

Edward Liew, Bachelor of Architecture, 2020, Rice Architecture
Shree Kale, Bachelor of Architecture, 2020, Rice Architecture
Anna Fritz, Bachelor of Architecture, 2020, Rice Architecture
Long Term Motel

Lene Sollie and Sebastián López, Honorable Mention

Lene Sollie, Master of Architecture, 2022, Rice Architecture
Sebastián López, Master of Architecture, 2022, Rice Architecture
Pragmatic Solutions for Affordable Housing in the Third Ward

2021 Grantees

Elizabeth Gálvez, Faculty Winner

Visiting Critic, Rice Architecture 

The Transgressive Kitchen: Collectivity and Food in Houston

Estefania Barajas, Student Winner

Master of Architecture, 2022, Rice Architecture

Tables in Deserts and Swamps: How Food Education Can Help Solve the Root of Rood Insecurity

2018 Grantees

Ernesto Alfaro

Lecturer, Rice Architecture
ICONS – Quilting / Mapping the Third Ward

Andrew Colopy

Assistant Professor, Rice Architecture
Accessory Dwelling Exhibition

2017 Grantees

David Costanza

Technology Fellow, Rice Architecture
CIRCUS - Interactive Chair Installation

2016 Grantees

Jae Boggess

Master of Architecture, 2016, Rice Architecture
Industrious Ruins

Rafael Longoria

Professor, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Third Ward Smart Choices

2015 Grantees

David Richmond

Bachelor of Architecture, 2015, Rice Architecture
Icehouse

Yigit Ergecen and Irmak Erman Eruz

Yigit Ergecen, Bachelor in Architecture, 2016, Rice Architecture
Irmak Erman Eruz, Master in Architecture, 2018, Rice Architecture
Potential of Small Living in the Inner Loop Single Family Houses

2014 Grantees

Gregory Marinic

Assistant Professor and Director of Interior Architecture
Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Fifth Ward Renaissance

Giovanni Peña

Undergraduate student in environmental design
Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Shaping the ‘Rurban’ Landscape

2013 Grantees

Gordon Wittenberg

Professor of Architecture, Rice Architecture
Linear Parks for Houston

2012 Grantees

Andrew Daley, Jason Fleming, and Peter Muessig

Master of Architecture, 2012, Rice Architecture
InHouse OutHouse

Donna Kacmar

Associate Professor, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Made in Houston

Bryony Roberts

Wortham Teaching Fellow, Rice Architecture
Lobby Urbanism: Converging Downtown’s Interior and Exterior Streets

2011 Grantees

Susan Rogers

Assistant Professor of Architecture and Director of the Community Design Resource Center, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Thick Infrastructure

Stephen Fox and Michelangelo Sabatino

Stephen Fox, Adjunct Lecturer, Rice Architecture
Michelangelo Sabatino, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Howard Barnstone Architect: Publication & Online Digital Access

Peter Stone and Kelly Barlow

Bachelor of Architecture, 2014, Rice Architecture
Emergency Core

2010 Grantees

Ross Weinert

Visiting Professor, Prairie View A&M
Enhancing Infrastructure: Highways and Energy

Melissa McDonnell

Master of Architecture, 2011, Rice Architecture
Urban Aeries

Robert Hadley and Samuel Jacobson

Robert Hadley, Master of Architecture, 2013, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Samuel Jacobson, Bachelor of Architecture, 2011, Rice Architecture
Make Houston Colorful?

Jorge Galvan

Bachelor of Science, 2010, Industrial Design Program, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Scavenge

2009 Grantees

Darren Preacely and Sharon Adams

Darren Preacely and Sharon Adams
Master of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy, 2010, Texas Southern University
Documenting Decaying Dreams

Tracy Catherine Bremer

Master of Architecture, 2011, Rice Architecture
Engulfed by Industry: Rethinking the Industrial-Residential Interface

Jessica Lauren Barnett, Rafael Morales, Maria Gabriela Oran, and Allison Parrott

Bachelor of Architecture, 2010, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Mad to be Saved: Finding Purpose for the Residual Space of Highway Intersection

2008 Grantees

Benson Gillespie

Master of Architecture, 2010, Rice Architecture
Sections Through a City

Lysle Oliveros

Master of Architecture, 2009, Rice Architecture
Houston Needs a Mountain

2007 Grantees

LaFayette Childs II and Marianne Do

Lafayette Childs II, Master of Architecture, 2007
Marianne Do, Bachelor of Architecture, 2008
Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
An Unhurried Tour of Houston’s Alternative Market Places

Jonathan LaRocca

Master of Architecture, 2007, Rice Architecture
Grow Local: Plotting a New Urban-Rural Interface in Houston

Heather Rowell

Master of Architecture, 2009, Rice Architecture
Exposing the Fifth: Alternatives for Houston’s Lost Elevation

2006 Grantees

Jean Daly, Katherine Dankberg, and Benjamin Regnier

Bachelor of Architecture, 2006, Rice Architecture
Urban Ecology of Houston

Donna Kacmar

Assistant Professor, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Accommodation in Houston: Beer, Burgers and Barbacoa

Thomas Colbert

Associate Professor of Architecture, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Documentation and Analysis of Prison Architecture In and Around Houston

2005 Grantees

Charles Tapley and Chula Ross Sanchez

Adjunct Faculty Members, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Green Roof

Rafael Longoria and Susan Rogers

Rafael Longoria, Professor of Architecture and Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Susan Rogers, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Director of the Community Design Resource Center, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Houston Hope: Strategies for Change

Heath West

Master of Architecture, 2007, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Deploying Exurbia

2004 Grantees

Marcus Miller Farr

Master of Architecture, 2004, Rice Architecture
Houston: (Green) Space City

William Charles Truitt

Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
No More White Space – Undeveloped Space of Northside Village

2003 Grantees

Philip Lee

Master of Architecture, 2003, Rice Architecture
Wet Life

Crystal Granger

Master of Architecture, 2004, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Architecture as Liberator: Houston’s Historic African-American Church Architecture

2002 Grantees

Taryn Kinney

Bachelor of Architecture, 2002, Rice Architecture
HIRes (Residual Highway)

Keith Krumweide

Wortham Assistant Professor of Architecture, Rice Architecture
Education Through Form: The Schools and Homes of Donald Bartheme

Patrick Peters

Associate Professor of Architecture, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Critical Making as Foundation Pedagogy

2001 Grantees

Rice Building Workshop

Nonya Grenader and Danny Marc Samuels
Co-Directors, Rice Architecture
The Extra-Small House

David Brown

Assistant Professor of Architecture, Rice Architecture
ROW: Trajectories through the Shotgun House

Ben Koush

Master of Architecture, 2002, Rice Architecture
The New Look: Modern Architecture in Houston

2000 Grantees

Celeste Williams

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Design, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Houston’s Disappearing Art Deco