Rice Architecture ranked among nation’s best

Rice Architecture has maintained its top-10 status for both undergraduate and graduate education in the latest DesignIntelligence rankings reported by Architectural Record.

Rice came in at No. 3 in the 2020 list of the “most admired architecture undergraduate programs,” behind Cornell, which remained on top, and the Rhode Island School of Design at No. 2.

The Rice graduate architecture program remained at No. 7 in the “most admired” list still topped by Harvard.

“I am very gratified that we continue to maintain excellence among our peers, a reflection of the collective effort of a distinguished faculty and the brightest and most talented students,” said John Casbarian, the Harry K. and Albert K. Smith Professor of Architecture who is serving as interim dean of the school. “This is all the more significant given the tiny size of both our undergraduate and graduate programs and change in the survey itself.”

The annual DesignIntelligence rankings are based on survey responses from hundreds of leaders at architecture firms who have had direct experience hiring and judging the performance of recent architecture graduates.

They reflect a change from previous years, when those surveyed were asked how well schools prepared their students for a future in the architecture profession. Now, participants are asked which schools they most admire for a combination of faculty, programs, culture and student preparation.

A group photo of Rice Architecture’s students, faculty and staff, taken at the start-of-semester meeting. The school retained its top-10 national rank for graduate and undergraduate education this year.