Facilities — VCU Rice Rivers Center

Public tours

Public tours are available on the second Thursday of every month, from 1 to 4 p.m. Call (804) 827-5600 or email rice@vcu.edu for more information.

The center's facilities and infrastructure support an array of research and educational activities. And for a state-of-the-science research building and overnight lodging for visiting scientists are underway.

VCU Rice Rivers Center educational building

The Walter L. Rice Education Building, situated on a bluff overlooking the James River, houses lecture and laboratory classrooms, a conference room and administrative offices, as well as an outdoor classroom pavilion.

The 4,900-square-foot education building was not only built at the highest level of green building standards, but is operated and maintained at the highest level of green building operations.

The award-winning building became the first LEED Platinum building in Virginia thanks to its array of features: geothermal heating and cooling, solar electrical power generation, sustainable building materials, a vegetated roof, advanced water recycling, rain gardens and landscaping with native species.

The Inger Rice Lodge

Our overnight lodge allows us to host top international ecologists conducting on-site research or multiday fieldwork excursions. Larger research projects boosts our body of research.

The facility provides accommodations for up to 22 visiting researchers, students and other groups to stay at the center for days or weeks.

Proper lodging greatly improves our ability to secure external funding for summer student programs that require overnight facilities. Building elements include bunk rooms and private sleeping accommodations as well as kitchenette, dining and meeting spaces.

Boat house and pier

The facility harbors VCU’s research boats, which give center researchers access to the James River. The center shares the two boat houses and six slips with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

An attached floating dock accommodates visiting boats and the loading of research equipment. River conditions are recorded by the pier’s continuous water quality monitoring equipment and published under our real-time data.