In June 2019 the Houston Endowment, one of Texas' largest philanthropies, launched an international competition soliciting designs for a new headquarters, receiving over 120 initial team entries comprising 354 individual firms from 22 countries. From these submissions, four teams were shortlisted and asked to create detailed concept designs for the project. In November the Selection Committee announced that the KDA-led team, which includes Mexico City-based Productora, TLS Landscape Architecture, Arup, Transsolar and local Houston firm Kirksey Architecture, was the unanimous winner, securing the fast-track commission set to open in 2022.

The new Headquarters will enable Houston Endowment to relocate from its current offices in the city’s business district to a 1.5-acre site in Spotts Park near the banks of the Buffalo Bayou. KDA’s winning design is strongly connected to the site, conceived of as an airy and elegant superstructure generously shaded by a large canopy within a grove of oak trees, and successfully met the Endowment’s stated initiative: to provide the philanthropy a “more accessible, welcoming base from which to work”.

Praised as a dynamic response to Houston’s architectural and landscape tradition, the Selection Committee compared KDA’s concept to Houston architectural landmarks Jones Hall and Renzo Piano’s Menil Collection, citing the slender, rhythmic columns and a successful “meditation between the outside landscape and the interior experience.”

“This is a hugely energizing moment for the Houston Endowment,” said Endowment President Ann Stern in the official announcement. “The new building will help us reach out to new audiences and better communicate the work we do every day with our community partners. We are excited this effort is publicly underway.”