Light and Inspiration
The new Cannady Hall extends Rice Architecture’s space for learning and creativity.
Winter 2025
By Tracey Rhoades
The newly completed William T. Cannady Hall is an eye-catching, two-story, 20,000-square-foot building designed for teaching, design, research and public engagement. Connected by an aerial walkway (that also serves as a “pinup” studio for students’ work) to Anderson Hall, the building’s modern, flexible construction is a model of sustainable design. Its terra cotta façade complements Rice’s historic brick architecture and preserves the expansive oak tree that shades the SI and Susie Morris Lounge.
Named for William T. Cannady, the lead donor and professor emeritus of architecture, the spacious addition features a large fabrication studio, a public gallery that spans two floors and a collaborative, open space for students and faculty to work on design projects. The fabrication lab enables students to create prototypes, models and new types of three-dimensional work. The gallery space, awash with natural light, provides a place for exhibitions.
“Cannady Hall is more than a building; it embodies our commitment to sustainability, learning and the future of architecture discourse,” explains Igor Marjanović, the William Ward Watkin Dean of the Rice School of Architecture. “It will be a place where ideas for the future are imagined and explored — a space that will empower generations of architects to leave their mark on society.”
The two-year project, designed by the Zurich-based Karamuk Kuo Architects, was formally dedicated Dec. 5, 2024.