Throughout Houston, live oak trees extend their gnarly branches and evergreen leaves over sidewalks and lawns, providing welcome shade in a hot, humid climate. Having gone to graduate school at Rice University in Houston, Kevin Daly was familiar with the trees and the protective canopy they provide. So when his Los Angeles–based firm kdA and collaborators at Mexico City–based Productora entered an international competition for a new headquarters of Houston Endowment, they immediately saw the horizontally spreading branches of the trees as an inspiration. “From day one, we saw a canopy as a critical part of our design, an autonomous element hovering above the building,” says Daly.

Founded in 1937, Houston Endowment is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the city, focusing on funding for arts and parks, civic engagement, and public education from pre-K through high school. For many years, its offices were in the I.M. Pei-designed JP Morgan Chase Tower downtown, which offered great views of the city but gave it no public face. “Everyone knew them,” says Daly, “but no one knew what they looked like.” With help from Malcolm Reading Consultants, the endowment organized a design competition in 2019 that attracted 120 entries from 22 countries. A short list of four firms—kdA, Deborah Berke Partners, Olson Kundig, and Schaum/Shieh—presented their schemes in early 2020.