Unconventional Students at Rice 2021: Harish Krishnamoorthy finds his approach to architecture

A dean’s personal touch sealed the deal when it came to Harish Krishnamoothy deciding on attending Rice in 2017.  

“Rice had the most personalized welcome to me,” he said. “The dean of the architecture school at the time, Sarah Whiting, who is amazing, she actually contacted me by email, and she said we would love to have you, and if you have any questions we could even set up a call.”

While the mix of art and science in architecture appealed to the now-senior from India, the underappreciated skill of writing has brought Krishnamoorthy the most joy.  

“What was really interesting is how people approached architecture and how people described it,” he said. “I was really interested in how buildings were discussed in things outside of architecture, how they’re shown in literature, how they’re shown in movies, how people that are not architects talk about buildings and how we can talk to people who don’t understand architecture.”

Krishnamoorthy also talked about finding value in different parts of Rice Architecture outside of the studio.

“I was more involved in a lot of different parts of the schools, in terms of the student side of organizing events, and being a part of the architecture society’s student body and working on these sorts of committees,” he said.

All of the experiences combined to help Krishnamoorthy find his own approach to architecture.  

“I came into the school thinking I knew what architecture was, and then came out with a pretty different understanding,” he said.