Building Impact

Guest co-hosts Dyami Luster along with Siboney Díaz Sánchez, Architects at Overland, turn the mic around and interview Building Impact co-hosts, Angelica Mata and Sydney Aschbacher, to hear their insights and takeaways after leading a full season unpacking the Human Handprint.

As a precursor to this season's final episode, featured guests Rick Archer, CEO and Founding Principal at Overland, along with Joel Albea, Associate Principal, join Building Impact co-hosts Angelica Mata and Sydney Aschbacher to share thoughts in reflection about the full season and its focus of the Human Handprint. A special season finale episode is now available on your favorite podcast app!

The results of building a corporate environment that can excite and educate visitors about products and services while providing a nurturing environment for their employees can be monumental to the success of an organization. This episode features guest Tim Blonkvist, Founding Principal and Chairman of the Board at Overland, along with Brady Dietert, Architect and Project Manager, who discuss how the spaces at the Grand Cheese Corporate Home Office cultivates comfort, health, and happiness for employees, visitors, and the surrounding communities.

The places we design are brought to life by those who inhabit them. Design outcomes that improve the fit between people and environment require a focus on diversity, environment-behavior, human sensory systems, medicine, and public health to ensure that spaces that can improve well-being for all people. This episode features guest Sandra Montalbo, Sustainability Designer, along with Amelia Brackman, Architectural Designer and Overland Art Program member, who dive into the fifth and final component of The Human Handprint methodology, Well-Being.

The greatest success of a project can be found in its effectiveness in building community—a balanced relationship between people and their environment. This episode features guest Adam Bush, Associate Principal and architect, along with Helena Zambrano Macias, architect and Sustainability Coordinator at Overland, who discuss how Overland employed sustainability goals related to ecosystem, energy, water, and building materials to design a campus reflective of the twenty-first-century workplace while honoring heritage, values, and traditions for the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University.

Architecture transcends the physicality of a building. In practice, it should foster healthy, balanced relationships between people and their environment. These designs are adaptable, economical in operation and able to accomplish as much as possible with the fewest resources. This episode of Building Impact features guest John Byrd, Senior Architect and Project Manager, along with Ben Rosas, Designer at Overland, who dive into the fourth component of The Human Handprint methodology, Stewardship.

Within the scope of architecture, relationships help realign the natural environment with people and to connect them to place and culture. This episode features guest Charles Schneider, Senior Architect and Project Manager, along with Tamra Collins, Architect and Director of the Art Program at Overland, who discuss the influence of a variety of relationships on design and architectural projects.

Relationships are eternal. They transcend time and space. Architectural spaces catalyze connections to their physical landscapes, cultural landscapes, and communities. This episode features guest Becky Rathburn along with Madison Smith, both Senior Principals at Overland, who dive into the third component of The Human Handprint methodology, Relationships.

Inspiration can be found in many forms and promoted through the use of strategic tools. This episode features guest Daniel Carpio, Director of Technology, along with Michael Monceaux, Associate Principal at Overland, who discuss how Overland employs cutting-edge technologies, including virtual reality, to push the boundaries of design and inspire project teams, clients, and communities.

Aspirations take shape when motivated. Inspiration pushes the boundaries of design by holistically considering elements such as logic and order along with spatial experience, aesthetics, integration of art and nature, craft, and opportunities for education. This episode features guest Bob Shemwell, Senior Principal, along with Fernando Ortega, Senior Architect at Overland, who dive into the second component of The Human Handprint methodology, Inspiration.

What is more aspirational than the goals to end child abuse and close the doors of your own organization? This episode features ChildSafe President and CEO, Kim Abernethy, and two project members from the Overland design team—Senior Principal, Michael Rey, and Senior Architect, James Lancaster. We discuss the aspirations of ChildSafe—San Antonio’s leading child abuse prevention education and treatment center—the design solutions born out of those dreams, and the impact on all involved in the project.

To understand the possibility of a project, identified and clearly defined aspirations must be established in the beginning as an objective filter of fundamental agreements that will shape future design decisions. This episode features guests Samantha Whitney Schwarze, Associate Principal and Urban Design Lead along with James Andrews, Principal Architect at Overland, who dive into the first component of The Human Handprint methodology, Aspiration. What does it entail? How is it articulated? What is it’s significance within and beyond the scope of architecture?

The most widely used symbol of measurable human impact is the carbon footprint, which may seem negative as a quantification of the damage we do to the Earth. As a counterpoint, Overland developed the Human Handprint, a methodology used to measure the positive impact of which we are capable. This episode features guest Ana Calhoun, Manager of Research and Innovation at Overland, in discussion about what the Human Handprint entails and it’s significance beyond the scope of architecture.

In this pilot episode of Building Impact, co-hosts Angelica Mata and Sydney Aschbacher discuss the origins of the podcast, stories emerge from intentional work, and what’s in store for the season ahead.