An architectural ‘jewel’ for the city
Houston Endowment decides on design team for its new HQ
Houston Endowment, the $1.8 billion philanthropic institution founded in 1937 by developer and entrepreneur Jesse H. Jones, has selected a team to design the group’s new headquarters, culminating a monthslong competition that attracted local and international firms vying to create Houston’s next architectural landmark.
Los Angeles-based Kevin Daly Architects, along with Productora of Mexico City and TLS Landscape Architecture of Berkeley, Calif., won over the selection committee with their design of an airy glass building set amid a grove of oak trees and sheltered by a latticed rooftop canopy.
The building, expected to cost $20 million to construct, is planned for a 1.5acre site near the intersection of Memorial and Waugh, north of Buffalo Bayou and overlooking Spotts Park.
The competition, which launched in June, sought proposals for a 40,000square-foot building that would offer a well-planned workplace in a structure that would be “visible, but not showy.” It would take into account the Endowment’s mission, Houston’s climate and its urban location bordered by Buffalo
Bayou, Montrose and the Houston Heights.
The Daly-led proposal bested 120 other teams comprising 354 individual firms from 22 countries.
“Kevin Daly and Productora’s proposal is incredibly ambitious and exciting for Houston” said Guy Hagstette, vice president of parks and civic projects for the Kinder Foundation and a member of the selection committee. “The presence of this building on the brink of a hill overlooking Spotts Park is going to be real jewel. It will become a landmark for Houston.”
The winning team had a “strong sense of Houston’s DNA,” said Ann Stern, president and CEO of Houston Endowment, which announced the winner Thursday morning.
The design, which will evolve as the project progresses, envisions a steelframed canopy with photovoltaic panels sheltering the building. The interiors were designed with public and private workspaces and connectivity to the adjacent park through a series of exterior terraces shaded by awnings.
Hagstette said part of the design’s allure is its simplicity, which he compared to the Renzo Piano-designed building that houses the Menil Collection in Montrose.
“The Menil has has such presence in large part because of its simplicity and use of materials,” Hagstette said.
‘Good balance’
Kevin Daly said his team considered the Houston climate, the environment surrounding the site and the Endowment’s influential, yet modest, image.
“The characteristics of it being translucent and visible and accessible were really important,” he said.
“I think our team had a good balance of familiarity with Houston and totally bringing fresh eyes to the project,” said Daly, who went to graduate school at Rice University in the 1980s.
The competition to design the building, which was organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants, was conducted as a two-step process. In August, four teams were shortlisted. The other finalists were teams led by Deborah Berke Partners, Olson Kundig and Schaum/Shieh Architects, a Houston firm.
“They were all so completely different and each beautiful in their own way,” Stern said of the final proposals. “They all got really energized by the site itself. The terrain is a little bit raised so you have views of the park and downtown.”
Spotts Park, a hilly space across Memorial from Buffalo Bayou, has trails, a playground and tennis and basketball courts.
Portions of the park are well used, but it doesn’t have an easy pedestrian connection to Buffalo Bayou.
Eventually, the design team and the Endowment may work with the city and stakeholders on possible improvements to the park, including the planting of trees.
Parks and greenspaces, Stern said, have “always been one of the pillars of our strategic priorities.”
Part of the selection committee’s process, she said was to study the teams’ previous work.
Daly Architects’ recent designs include the UCLA Ostin Basketball Center and affordable housing developments in Santa Monica, Calif. and northwest Arkansas.
Productora is known for the design of the Teopanzolco Cultural Center in Cuernavaca and the Teotitlan del Valle Community Center in Oaxaca. TLS recently completed the Railroad Park in Birmingham, Ala. and the first phase of the Boulder Civic Area.
The design team also includes Transsolar and Arup, as well as Houstonbased Kirksey Architecture, which will serve as the architect of record. A local construction firm will be selected.
Selection process
Maria Nicanor, executive director of the Rice Design Alliance at Rice University’s School of Architecture, said that from the engineers to the two main architecture firms, the team represents a well-rounded mix of companies that will bring experience and experimentation to the project.
Nicanor, who served on the project’s architect advisory committee, specifically highlighted Productora, a young Mexican firm that has become known for its collaborative work style.
“They’re kind of pushing that message that it’s not just about the individual architect anymore but a group of architects,” she said.
The selection committee was chaired by Endowment board member Joseph C. Dilg, and included Endowment Chair Jesse H. Jones II; Hagstette of the Kinder Foundation; Ann Stern; Tom Forney, president and CEO, Forney Construction; Alex Washburn, principal, DRAW Brooklyn; Meejin Yoon, principal, Höweler and Yoon Architecture; and Malcolm Reading.
Each shortlisted team will receive an honorarium of $50,000 for their design work, and a digital gallery of all the finalist schemes is expected to be published by the end of the year.
The Endowment, one of the largest private foundations in Texas, provided $75 million in funding last year to 221 organizations. It supports such civic efforts as the arts, education, transportation and public spaces.
In addition to his work as a builder, Jones was one of the early owners of the Houston Chronicle. He transferred the ownership in 1937 to the Endowment, which owned it until Hearst purchased the company in 1987.
In an announcement Thursday, Dilg said the architectural columns designed for the building echo those at downtown’s Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, named after the Endowment’s founder.
The new building, which could open in 2022, will go up in the 3600 block of Willia Street on land that was once home to a YWCA. It will house the Endowment’s staff of approximately 30 people, who will relocate from 16,000 square feet in 600 Travis, the downtown skyscraper formerly known as JPMorgan Chase Tower.