Planning for stewardship of historic resources and sustainability should go hand and hand. Taking a long view of resources results in a better understanding of the realities of sunk costs, embodied energy, maintenance requirements, and on-going utility - especially in regard to social performance value. Our approach begins by evaluating the performance of assets in the context of social and economic development objectives. We will work with you to find solutions that are creative, wise and attainable. Examples of completed services include:

Photo Credit: Peter Hellberg

Seaholm Power Plant - Austin, TX

Working in collaboration with Herndon, Stauch & Associates, Laurie led historical research about the City of Austin's landmark art deco style power plant as part of the process to identify character-defining features and understand the operational components of a large and complex site on the Colorado River waterfront.

In the early stage of the project, she helped the developer client to understand the applicability of federal tax credits for rehabilitation and to investigate a variety of programming alternatives.

Photo Credit: Mitya Ku

Autry National Center - Los Angeles, CA

As part of the Overland Partners team hired to complete a facility program and concept design following the creation of the Autry National Center from the merger of the Museum of the American West and the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, Laurie was engaged in a number of tasks. In additional to helping to confirm guiding principles, she interviewed museum staff and evaluated the two existing museum sites and facilities, providing specific expertise about conservation standards and operational requirements for museum environments.

She worked with the client and client's representative to understand an evolving business plan. She worked closely with the large design team to assimilate all programmatic objectives into a single guiding document, including space calculations, functional objectives and sustainability strategies. She continued to interface with the architectural team as they transformed the preliminary program into architectural concepts.

Photo Credit: dimnikolov

Pioneer Museum - Fredericksburg, TX

In collaboration with Overland Partners | Architects, Laurie led three major initiatives on behalf of the Pioneer Museum: the development of a Master Plan, a Condition Assessment Report and an Interpretive Master Plan. All were part of a process to reimagine the role of the museum as it expanded its site, committed to stewarding relocated historic buildings. The Master Plan determined the need for restoration of existing buildings as well as new additions to the site and the Condition Assessment undertook a topline inventory and identified conservation priorities for the Museum's vast holdings of artifacts.

The interpretive strategy focused on connecting the unique story of 19th century settlement in the Texas Hill Country by a German Colony with Fredericksburg's thriving and fast changing culture -- in the process expanding dialogue on what it means to be a pioneer and as well as what it means to be a museum in the 21st century.