Students | Rice School of Architecture

Society

Rice Architecture Society is the voice of the Rice Architecture student body. With representatives from every studio, this group helps to shape the culture of the school while also providing a liaison between the students and the school’s faculty and administration.

Society’s main social and educational events include:

Weekly open studios: late-night social gatherings for the exchange of snacks and ideas
Mini-charrettes: short-term design competitions
Architectronica (fall) and ArchiArts (spring): university-wide parties
Society Pages: bi-monthly student publication in response to life in Anderson Hall
Materials Reuse: free digital and physical community-sourced resources

Society also helps organize and run the community Mini-Kitchen, wellbeing events, Ask the Dean panels, DEI lectures, student directory, and study breaks. Its hardworking, focused members collaborate closely with faculty, staff, Society-adjacent student organizations at Anderson (ARC, AGSA, NOMAS), and the Student Association at Rice University to build a culture of care and participation at Rice Architecture.

President: Abigail Jablon

Undergraduate Vice Presidents: Sofiia Barbirenko and Faith Chen

Graduate Vice Presidents (also known as AGSA): Andy Entis, Samed Kaya
Secretary: Alba Galarza

Treasurer: Sean Choi

Archimarket Coordinators: Titan Chen, Alba Galarza, Emma Liu, Kirstie Qian
Cruise Directors: Nicole Lee, Yang Wang, Justin Zhang
Curators: Norah Cichowski, Grace Xu, Kathy Xu
Ramp Coordinators: Norah Cichowski, Ayden Lalani, Katrina Lee, Emma Liu
Recess Coordinator: Titan Chen, Angela Hu, Katrina Lee
Special Committees Head: Jack Lu
Well-being Directors: Ethan Huang, Sydney Chang

Society Group Photo 2024/25

The Architecture Graduate Student Association

The Architecture Graduate Student Association (AGSA) represents the graduate student body at Rice Architecture. We complement Society by devoting our full attention to the needs of graduate students.

Our main activities are themed lecture series and discussions that bring us together with our faculty, professors of other Rice departments and, of course, events to connect with each other. We want to incentivize students to speak about their concerns and needs.

Our Mission Statement

To represent the graduate students of Rice Architecture and advocate for their interests and wellbeing on both the schoolwide and University level.
To provide a collective voice and support network for Architecture graduate students, and to facilitate open and thoughtful communication between RSA’s graduate students and the administration of RSA, including but not limited to faculty, staff, and the Dean of Architecture.
To foster a culture of inclusivity within Rice Architecture, and to work in tandem with Society to ensure that all students, regardless of their degree level, have a voice within the school.
To communicate with the university through collaboration with the university-wide GSA and to open avenues for engagement and collaboration with departments outside of the school of architecture.
To function as a resource for architecture graduate students regarding professional and personal opportunities.
To build and maintain relationships among students, professionals, alumni, and community members.

Co-Vice Presidents : Andy Entis, Samed Kaya

Faculty Lecture and Discussion with Sarah Nichols on her exhibition on concrete at S AM Swiss Architecture Museum.

National Organization of Minority Architecture Students Rice

NOMAS Rice is a student chapter of the larger professional organization that is the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), consisting of a vast network of student and professional chapters from all over the country.

NOMAS Rice is an inclusive collective of students of all racial, ethnic, national, religious, and gender identities. Our mission is to collaborate, learn, and share ideas to elicit success in individual and group endeavors. As a member, students get access to a wider network of professionals and students through NOMA who have an invested interest in students’ success.

NOMAS Rice aims to empower minority architecture students to foster justice and equity in communities of color through outreach, community advocacy, professional development, and design excellence. For more information or to get involved, please contact any of the individuals listed below.

Co-Presidents: Prea Davis and Razella Freeman

Treasurer: Manuella Gbossou

Secretary: Osvaldo Salgado

Social Media Chair: Roxanna Mendez

Outreach Chair: Alex Jamu

Social Events Chairs: Yassmine Boualam and Sarai Huaman

Professional Development Chairs: Ekene Emenike and Ivan Medrano

Club Advisor: Kristina Kennedy

Contextualizing Africa, NOMAS exhibition reception. Photo by Jason Chen, 2022.

Anti Racism Collective (ARC)

The Anti-Racism Collective, a student group of Rice Architecture, affirms the idea that a responsible architectural education must be actively anti-racist. While the school’s leadership works toward long-term and systematic changes, ARC highlights, develops, and acts upon the immediate anti-racist initiatives echoed by the student body. This lecture is one of series of student-led public events, allowing for a more inclusive set of dialogues and conversations within the school and more broadly, with the larger public, spanning multiple generations, topics and audiences.

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Tête-à-Tête: Rice Architecture Podcast Series

Tête-à-Tête is a student-produced podcast series that strives to highlight architectural discourse between Rice Architecture and the global architecture community. Each episode is intended to keep architecture enthusiasts, professionals, academics, and students informed of current happenings.

The podcast team works to foster and curate exciting conversations with a range of featured guests including lecturers, faculty members, alumni, students, and professionals. Listen to each episode through the menu below. Don't forget to subscribe to keep up with new releases!

Find us:
iTunes
Google Play Music
Spotify
Stitcher
SoundCloud

Contact the Tête-à-Tête team via email at archpodcast@rice.edu.

S7E4: An Interview with New Affiliates

Ivi Diamantopolou and Jaffer Kolb of New Affiliates join the podcast to discuss the challenges of representing certain projects that could take many different forms. We consider the role of reuse in their work, in addition to discussing the overall trajectory of New Affiliates over the past couple of years.

Visit new-affiliates.us to view more work by New Affiliates.

The interview was conducted by Lindsey Chambers and produced by the Rice Tête-à-Tête team.

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