Architecture Expertise: The Human Handprint

Each project is unique: If we were artists, we’d be portrait painters.

Few people build a building just to build a building — they build it to do something more. Overland’s unique framework and process helps our clients realize their mission from a holistic perspective. We help them discover the Embedded Potential™ of their project.

In collaboration with the client and guided by the following tenets, we discover a distinct mission statement that becomes the constitution for the project — a standard to measure project design against.

Five digits organize the Human Handprint™

The “Why” of the project

Together, we articulate the vision through project goals, mission statement and principles that guide future design decisions.

Expanding possibility through innovation and inspired Inquiry™

Researching context and precedent sets the stage for new ideas and holistic integration of art, nature and narrative into a cohesive experience.

Ensuring design celebrates people, place and locale

Cultivating connections at multiple levels ensures an authentic design response and creates richer understanding, appreciation and value for the project context.

Designing for maximum performance and efficiency

We honor all of the resources of the project (environmental, financial and operational) and create solutions that ensure high performance across all project priorities.

Promoting human vitality through design

Incorporating strategies to support physical, mental and (often spiritual) health with spaces that provide clean access to light, air and water and facilitate both productivity and rejuvenation.

The “Why” of the project

Together, we articulate the vision through project goals, mission statement and principles that guide future design decisions.

Expanding possibility through innovation and inspired Inquiry™

Researching context and precedent sets the stage for new ideas and holistic integration of art, nature and narrative into a cohesive experience.

Ensuring design celebrates people, place and locale

Cultivating connections at multiple levels ensures an authentic design response and creates richer understanding, appreciation and value for the project context.

Designing for maximum performance and efficiency

We honor all of the resources of the project (environmental, financial and operational) and create solutions that ensure high performance across all project priorities.

Promoting human vitality through design

Incorporating strategies to support physical, mental and (often spiritual) health with spaces that provide clean access to light, air and water and facilitate both productivity and rejuvenation.

Laity Lodge Cedar Brake

Leakey, Texas, USA

Positioned along the emerald waters of the Frio River within the steep limestone canyon walls of the Texas Hill Country, Laity Lodge is a retreat center like no other. Founded in 1961, the mission of the Lodge is to reinforce guests’ connection to themselves, each other, and the divine through deep and meaningful experiences with the natural world. A new set of buildings was added to the existing campus and a number of new site features were added to further reinforce the Lodge’s mission. Inspired by the intimate scale and natural features of the site, the design team’s primary goal was to create a place that could not be built anywhere else, for anyone else.

Ultimately, the story of this project is about connecting people and place. The majesty of the natural landscape is experienced in both overt and subtle ways. The buildings are tucked within the aromatic cedar forest, forming pockets of space scaled to the size of natural clearings. Courtyards, porches, and breezeways create microclimates and offer a variety of spaces both in scale and quality for people to gather and enjoy each other’s company. For more contemplative experiences, curated views of landscape are framed from interior writing desks. Finally, the project is fully embracing the goals of land stewardship as solar panels are being installed to make the project fully net zero energy.

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Baylor University Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation

Waco, Texas, USA

The nationally ranked Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, part of the recent campus master plan developed by Overland, focuses around an expansive new commons parkland, which activates previously underused university property to create a new, vibrant area of campus. The Hankamer School of Business is the heart of the business campus. Built upon a century of Baylor ethics, values and academic rigor, the Hankamer Business School is visionary in its approach and design – a nexus of innovation, integration and collaboration to inspire, educate and cultivate future business leaders and global citizens.

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Unlocking the Embedded Potential™ is what we do.

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The Human Handprint™

Each project is unique: If we were artists, we’d be portrait painters.

Five digits organize the Human Handprint™

The “Why” of the project

Together, we articulate the vision through project goals, mission statement and principles that guide future design decisions.

Expanding possibility through innovation and inspired Inquiry™

Researching context and precedent sets the stage for new ideas and holistic integration of art, nature and narrative into a cohesive experience.

Ensuring design celebrates people, place and locale

Cultivating connections at multiple levels ensures an authentic design response and creates richer understanding, appreciation and value for the project context.

Designing for maximum performance and efficiency

We honor all of the resources of the project (environmental, financial and operational) and create solutions that ensure high performance across all project priorities.

Promoting human vitality through design

Incorporating strategies to support physical, mental and (often spiritual) health with spaces that provide clean access to light, air and water and facilitate both productivity and rejuvenation.

The “Why” of the project

Together, we articulate the vision through project goals, mission statement and principles that guide future design decisions.

Expanding possibility through innovation and inspired Inquiry™

Researching context and precedent sets the stage for new ideas and holistic integration of art, nature and narrative into a cohesive experience.

Ensuring design celebrates people, place and locale

Cultivating connections at multiple levels ensures an authentic design response and creates richer understanding, appreciation and value for the project context.

Designing for maximum performance and efficiency

We honor all of the resources of the project (environmental, financial and operational) and create solutions that ensure high performance across all project priorities.

Promoting human vitality through design

Incorporating strategies to support physical, mental and (often spiritual) health with spaces that provide clean access to light, air and water and facilitate both productivity and rejuvenation.

Laity Lodge Cedar Brake

Leakey, Texas, USA

Baylor University Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation

Waco, Texas, USA

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