Rice University Cambridge Office Building and Parking Garage

Rice University Cambridge Office Building and Parking Garage

Houston
Texas

Walter P Moore’s decades of experience on the historic Rice University campus enhanced our ability to address significant traffic, and parking and drainage issues on the university’s first above-ground parking garage. The 450-car garage sits alongside a 60,000 SF administrative office space.

Services included site and drainage design, public utility relocations, pavement and traffic signal design, and improved campus accessibility at one entrance. We utilized BlueBeam Studio, a real-time, online editor program where documents are accessed simultaneously and interactively by multiple parties. This program allowed the design team to coordinate much more efficiently.

Responding to the university’s aesthetic sensitivity, the team was able to conceal the unsightly water meter behind the building. By decreasing the amount of impervious cover on site, stormwater runoff was reduced significantly. Redesign of the Gate 3 entrance and its connection to the campus loop road included the addition of a left turn lane out of the campus to help ease congestion.

When the builder hit a live water main during construction, we helped develop a temporary solution that maintained water to the campus while a permanent solution was designed. This significantly reduced the downtime for other campus facilities.

Connecting to a very shallow storm sewer required a grading design that directed overland stormwater runoff away from the building and to the existing storm drains. Walter P Moore’s knowledge of the campus enabled us to design a solution to avoid detention during construction saving costs and minimizing the impacts to live oaks around the site.

Our long history on the Rice University campus allowed us to anticipate issues during the design and develop quick responses during construction that met the university’s high expectations for quality, address their significant aesthetic sensitivities, and meet budget and schedule goals.