Houston Design Research Grant: Urban Visions for Houston and the World

With its vast, complex, and diverse territory, Houston faces many of the environmental, architectural, and urban issues now affecting cities worldwide.

The goal of the Houston Design Research Grant (HDRG) is to promote quality design research for Houston-specific urban conditions that can also inform urban discourses and debates more broadly. This year, the grant does not have a theme and is instead open to a diversity of topics of the applicant’s choosing however, all applications must address Houston’s built environment, its history, present condition, and future development and show specific connections to architecture, design, and spatial thinking. Potential areas of research could include but are not limited to: design innovation, preservation, gentrification, climate change, affordable housing, environmental issues, public space, and urban transportation.  

The grant is open to university students and faculty in the United States looking to work on research projects that contribute to the improvement of Houston’s urban environments and urban life for all its citizens. Winning proposals in both categories (faculty and student) should demonstrate the potential to catalyze a Houston-based design project that is relevant both locally and globally.

The grant provides seed funds in the amount of 6,000 USD for further research and expansion of the topic for winning proposals from two categories (student and faculty) that demonstrate the potential to catalyze a Houston-based design project that addresses a broad array of urban topics, scales, and methodologies. In addition to funding aid, the winners from each category will receive recognition in our next issue of Cite magazine and will present their projects as part of Rice Architecture’s public programs in fall 2024. Last year’s winning proposals can be viewed here.

The deadline for submission is November 15, 2023.  
Review the grant packet and apply.

Applications and/or questions should be submitted by the November 15, 2023, deadline to: Carla Haskins, Director of Inclusion and Strategic Initiatives, Rice Architecture, carlah [​at​] rice.edu.

This grant is administered by the Rice University School of Architecture and is made possible thanks to a generous gift from The Mitsui U.S.A. Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc. (“Mitsui USA”).

All grant submissions will be juried by a panel of faculty and community members brought together through the Rice Design Alliance (RDA), the community engagement program of the school. Our community-oriented programs champion a multidisciplinary, research-based approach to design and urbanism as a way to improve our cities and the way we live in them. For more information about Rice Design Alliance, visit here.