Rice Architecture alumnus Kevin Daly (M.Arch. ’85), of Kevin Daly Architects, in association with Rice Architecture Cullinan Visiting Professor Wonne Ickx, of Mexico City-based PRODUCTORA, and TLS Landscape Architecture were named the winning team for the Houston Endowment Headquarters International Design Competition on Nov. 7.
The team was selected from 120 entries in a two-stage competition for the $20 million fast-track project, due to open in 2022. The three other shortlisted teams were led by SCHAUM/SHIEH Architects, Deborah Berke Partners, and Olson Kundig.
“From what I have seen published of their proposal, this will be a significant addition to Houston’s list of important contemporary architecture. Their connection to Rice Architecture makes it all the more gratifying,” said John J. Casbarian, interim dean of Rice Architecture and the Harry K. and Albert K. Smith Professor of Architecture.
The new Headquarters will enable 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.
According to the Houston Endowment, the winning design concept envisages an airy, elegant superstructure generously shaded by a large canopy within a grove of oak trees. The proposal is strongly connected to the site and context: the landscape and history of Spotts Park.
Ann Stern, president and CEO of the Houston Endowment said: “We wanted to bring outstanding architecture to Houston to complement Houston’s notable architectural wonders, and this design successfully communicates openness and transparency while also providing a tranquil and inviting presence.”
Kevin Daly Architects is an award-winning Los Angeles-based practice that interweaves technological innovation with new approaches to sustainability and urbanism to produce environmentally and socially responsive architecture. Recent projects include the UCLA Ostin Music Building, the Backyard BI(h)OME, and the Berkeley Global Campus. He has also taught design studios at Rice.
Ickx, who joins Rice Architecture for the spring semester, will conduct a graduate option studio and present a lecture as part of the Rice Architecture Spring 2020 Lecture Series.
In 2006, Ickx founded his firm PRODUCTORA with Abel Perles, Carlos Bedoya, and Victor Jaime. The firm has been awarded by the Architectural League of New York with the Young Architects Forum (2007) and the Emerging Voices (2013). In 2016, the firm received the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize for emerging architects at the IIT in Chicago, and in 2018 the Oscar Niemeyer Prize for Latin American Architecture.