KEVIN DALY ARCHITECTS

Through a 2019 international design competition conducted by the Houston Endowment and competition organizers Malcom Reading Consultants (MRC), Kevin Daly Architects (kdA) in collaboration with Mexico City-based PRODUCTURA were selected to design the private foundation’s new home, the Houston Endowment Headquarters.

The Headquarters enables Houston Endowment, one of the largest private foundations in Texas, to relocate from its current offices in the city’s business district and embed itself within the community. The purpose-built headquarters creates a more accessible, welcoming base of operations where their work can continue to evolve and transform into the future.

The design competition committee unanimously selected Kevin Daly Architects with PRODUCTURA from among 120 designs submitted in the two-stage competition, securing the $20 million project’s commission with its ambitious goal of opening in 2022.

The winning design envisages an airy, elegant superstructure generously shaded by a large canopy within a grove of oak trees. The design is strongly connected to the site and context: the landscape and history of Spotts Park on the banks of Houston’s Buffalo Bayou. The new building, which is attuned to Houston’s demanding climate, is intended to be as welcoming as the shadow beneath a tree.

The intricate lattice of the sculptural roof canopy offers a sense of shelter to both the organization and the local community, encouraging the use of outdoor terraces, maximizing use of daylight within the building, and minimizing solar gain.

Interior spaces are conceived within public and private zones and are highly flexible, linked to the park through a series of exterior terraces, shaded by the canopy. The design promotes healthy working and offers welcoming engagement spaces that provide zones for convening and collaborating with the community.

The dynamic setting of the new Headquarters allows the Houston Endowment unprecedented engagement with individuals from the public, private, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors.

source: finn