Evolve House

Transcend Architecture enters the Complete the Community Competition

This July Travis Hicks, Morgana D'avila, and summer intern Henry Quillin chose to enter Complete the Community: A Housing & Urban Design Competition . The competition was organized by the Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Houston) and the City of Houston with Council Member David W. Robinson. The intent of this competition was to solicit conceptual designs that can be accessible and beneficial to the affordable housing landscape of Houston. The areas of study for the competition focused in on Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner's initiative, “Complete Communities,” which aims to revitalize five of Houston’s under-resourced communities: Acres Homes, Near Northside, Second Ward, Third Ward, and Gulfton.

All housing entries were designed to address the climate of the Gulf Coast region, home maintenance and material life span, energy effciency, meet LARA guidelines, and the social, economic, and environmental implications to its surroundings all for a cost of less than $180,000.

second ward

Houston, TX

The east end of Houston's Second Ward neighborhood was the team's chosen study area their design entry, although it may transfer well into other Houston neighborhoods if needed. Most homes in this area are single story bungalows with front porches and fenced in yards bustling with everyday family life. Many of these bungalows have been added on to with additions and even second stories in what may have been in a d.i.y. coordinated by the homeowners. 

EVOLVE HOUSE

Taking the homeowner expansion into consideration, the home focuses on a design that's not only integral aesthetically to the neighborhood, but is made future home additions the homeowner may need.Hinting at these additions in it's form, the team also estimated the initial cost of making the base design structurally adequate for such expansions. To protect the homeowners and reduce those structural costs when the time arises. 

On August 21, City Council Member David Robinson recognized all competition winners at the City of Houston Council meeting with Mayor Sylvester Turner in attendance. All wining entries may be viewed at AIA Houston Chapter's website here.

CONGRatulATIONS, TRANSCEND TEAM !

San Mateo Episcopal Church recovery from Hurricane Harvey

Ever since hurricane Harvey damaged 4 of their 5 buildings, the small parish of San Mateo Episcopal Church continued their services in an open-air tent. That following October, they approached Transcend Architecture to assist them in documenting the condition of the existing conditions, guide them through the building codes and local ordinances, and provide design ideas for specific spaces in an effort to make the church more functional.

A familiar scene for much of Houston building after hurricane Harvey.

Transcend architects and volunteer staff working on their plan to help San Mateo Episcopal Church get back into dry & safe buildings.

Snapshots of construction documents to acquire building permits.

August 2018 with permits in hand San Mateo Episcopal Church can begin their renovations.

Stay tuned for updates to progress photos...

Unveiling Progress

Towards the end of last month Agape Development hosted a well attended unveiling of this endeavor and collaboration. Agape Development gained some generous donations to kick-off this project, which will allow Agape to continue furthering their work in the community.

Support Transcend Architecture, Support the Community

If you would like to help support this Transcend Architecture project you may do so by visiting our Donations page.

To make a donation for construction materials or services for this project please contact Transcend Architecture directly via phone or by visiting our Contact page.

For more information about Agape Development and their mission please visit their website at agapedevelopment.org

NEW PROJECT SELECTED: AGAPE DEVELOPMENT

Transcend Architecture is very excited to announce our project with Agape Development the organization that brings hope and transformation to Houston’s Third Ward through economic, emotional and spiritual development.

The Transcend Architecture team unanimously selected Agape Development as our next project.  We started with a site visit and meeting some of the Agape team. We were invited to view the presentations prepared by Susan Rogers studio from University of Houston Architecture School with many interesting schemes that lead to great discussions. Jose and Morgana measured, photographed, and drew the existing buildings, and Chris conducted interviews to begin establishing a program. Our first charrette was well attended, with Alex, Alice, Chris, Cameron, Danica, Diana, and Joe coming together to brainstorm and produce schemes for development.

Project Site in Houston's Third Ward Neighborhood (Google Maps screenshot)

Meeting of the minds in our first charrette for Agape Development. #architecture #hou

A post shared by Transcend Architecture (@transcend_arch) on Mar 22, 2017 at 12:01pm PDT

The second charrette had Mike, Jose, John C., Alex, Alice, Chris, Danica, Diana, Cameron, Suzanne and Joe coming together this time with Kirk Craig of Agape. We began with an imaginative exercise complete with post-it notes, music, and interpretive dance. Then three teams presented different schemes to Kirk. He selected a favorite, offered a few tweaks and we were off to the races.

Agape Development's Co-founder & Executive Director, Kirk Craig, critiquing the various plan schemes.

There was great teamwork in moving the project from sketches to real plans and renderings. Suzanne and Alex contributed the Vectorworks plans for the new and existing buildings. Joe modeled and rendered the project as Mike added color and texture to the plans and put together boards for Agape’s upcoming fundraiser. Rock with Thomas Printworks printed and delivered the presentation boards.

Sneek peek of Transcend Architecture's proposed design.

We met with Bautex Systems, who have a competition to award ICF forms to the winning project. This is an exciting opportunity that John B. and Karen are pursuing, and it promises additional connections that may benefit Agape as well as future Transcend Architecture clients.

Throughout the process, Morgana has been documenting and posting our efforts to Instagram and Facebook.

We look forward to working with Transcend Architecture partners from the previous project and developing new partnerships to fulfill our mission to promote human unity and dignity through architecture, service, and education.

Prison Entrepreneurship Program: Update

Prison Entrepreneurship Program has successfully moved into their updated and expanded office space! Thank you to all that have worked together with Transcend Architecture and contributed your time and resources to make this new space a reality.

“I could not visualize just what a tremendous change the new office floor plan and design would make for PEP,” said Kristie Wisniewski, PEP’s Chief of Staff. “Our office had a crowded, outdated look to it, and the new space gives us additional staff work areas as well as meeting and training areas for the staff and graduates.  It has made a huge difference.”

We are excited about the success of our first project and all the great collaboration. We look forward to working with all of you and those that would like to join us on our next Transcend Architecture project.

Our First Project

Transcend Architecture is excited to announce its first project. Our mission: promoting human unity and dignity through architecture, service, and education. We are working in partnership with the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, a Houston based nonprofit organization that connects the nation's top executives, entrepreneurs, and MBA students with convicted felons.  They are in need of additional office and training space, and while they have the financial resources for rent expense, they cannot afford the design and the finish out of their new space.

The drawings are close to completion and we have an estimate for construction. All design, project management, estimation and supervision fees have been donated, along with the carpet, tile and concrete.

$113,437 is needed to complete the construction of this project. Please help us bridge the gap by making a donation on our "Donate" page or Home Page. 

Thank you for your help.

                                          Demolition Plan and New Floor Plan for the PEP Program 

We are incorporated!

Transcend Architecture is a local 501(c)(3) (pending) non-profit organization devoted to promote human unity and dignity through Architecture, Service and Education. We are now officially incorporated in Houston, Texas.

We are a group of designers with the desire to dedicate our skills to the service of our community. The goal is to make architectural design and construction services accessible to organizations in need, through partnerships and support from other professionals related to our field. We provide pro-bono design and management services for projects in the greater Houston area.

If you are a charitable organization in need of architectural services to further advance your group, we would like to hear from you!