Dedication, Precision, Family and Fun: Overlay Office's Abigail Coover on an Attitude About Design and Practice

By Julia Gamolina

Abigail Coover, founder and director of Overlay Office has been building as an architectural designer and project manager in New York City, San Francisco and beyond for over eighteen years. Abigail received her Masters of Architecture from Yale. Her work and writings have been published in the New York Times, Wired, Metropolis, Tarp, and Project and exhibited at The Druker Gallery, the A+D Museum, the Yale Architecture Gallery, One Night Stand, and the New York Center for Architecture.

Abigail is also a co-creator and editor of suckerPUNCHdaily.com, a website that reviews the work of contemporary artists, architects, and designers who offer the stunningly unexpected. Abigail has previously taught architectural design as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and as a critic at the Yale School of Architecture. She currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Pratt Institute. In her interview, Abby talks about high-low culture, a framework for collaboration, and what architecture can be, advising those just starting their careers to like their work and who they work with.

Tell me about your foundational years - what did you do a lot growing up? Where did your family live?

I grew up in the suburbs of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. As an only child, I spent a lot of time hanging out with my parents and their friends. From them, I gained a love of both art and popular culture - I saw Tina Turner in concert when I was five years old. Many of them also worked as advocates for people with disabilities, including my father. This mashup of high and low culture mixed with a deep desire to help others whenever possible has a huge resonance in my current work with endeavors like Suckerpunch and Design Advocates.

I spent my high school years hanging out in the art room developing photos and dabbling in painting and towards the end, combining the two into multimedia compositions. When I was applying to college, I knew that I was too practical to go to art school, so I thought of architecture as a potential compromise between my love of art and a professional career. I had no idea what I was getting myself into or how much I would love architecture from the moment my first class started at the University of Virginia. My high school art teacher said that I would hate architecture. He was wrong.

House Offset. Photography by Ryan Lahiff, Courtesy Corcoran. 460 7th Avenue, Apt 1, Brooklyn.

House Offset. Photo by Ryan Lahiff, courtesy Corcoran.

What did you learn about yourself in studying architecture?

I learned that I could work harder than I ever thought was possible and that I also had an incredible drive to do so. The first class that I walked into blew my mind - it was everything that I had hoped it would be and more. I also learned that I am a total design nerd and love drawing. At that time we still drafted everything by hand. I only started working on the computer toward the end of my undergraduate career. There is still not much more that excites me than a beautifully crafted and layered drawing, whether it is hanging in a gallery or buried in the center of a CD set. The translation from two to three dimensions is critical to our profession and the way that we communicate. This translation has been the focus of my more recent academic research on the 2.5D and the way that it is designed and articulated.

How did you get your start in the field?

My first internship was at William McDonough + Partners in Charlottesville, Virginia. I worked there throughout most of college building models and learning about the professional side of architecture. From there, I moved with a few friends to Berkeley, California. I worked at a small firm, AD Architects. The co-founder of the company, Newell Arnerich, taught me that I could figure things out. He gave me a tremendous amount of responsibility and pushed me into designing and managing projects head first. I would pour over old drawings and projects to understand everything from how the project was managed to how to think about and draw material interactions. He also instilled in me that architectural practice does not need to operate 24 hours a day and that deadlines can wait when necessary. Family and fun were a part of our practice as much as dedication and precision. These are priorities that are still incredibly important to me in both life and practice.

“I really wanted to find my own voice within the design community, while at the same time setting up a framework to allow for and encourage collaboration with a myriad of different potential partners. In that moment Overlay Office was born. I see Overlay as not just a name, but an attitude about design and practice.”

— Abigail Coover

Tell me how Overlay Office came about.

After graduate school at Yale, I moved to Brooklyn, New York with my now husband and frequent collaborator, Nathan Hume. I worked for small firms for a few years and also started teaching after sending out a few portfolios cold. I had an apartment renovation fall into my lap and took the plunge and started my own practice with Nathan - Hume Coover Studio - and we also launched the website Suckerpunch. For ten years, I had a number of formal partnerships with Nathan, a contractor, some friends from college, and in 2018 I realized that I really wanted to find my own voice within the design community, while at the same time setting up a framework to allow for and encourage collaboration with a myriad of different potential partners. In that moment Overlay Office was born. I see Overlay as not just a name, but an attitude about design and practice. One of Overlay’s many definitions is a type of process/technology that allows multiple originals or images on the same output page. I see this as being core to our work, representation and style. While I may be setting the tone for Overlay, we are all in this together - employees, colleagues, partners, contractors, clients - and we are all on the same page.

Tell me also about Design Advocates. What a wonderful initiative.

When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, I really did not know what to do or think. Construction was halted in New York and Overlay’s work and revenue was in limbo. That first week, thanks to an Instagram prompt from Michael Chen, I hopped on one of my first Zooms with a group of friends who are also founders of their own independent design firms. During this call, Design Advocates was born. We started off with pro bono projects to immediately help our communities with designs for things such as Open Restaurants and Public Schools. At the time, when Overlay’s work was slow, Design Advocates was in demand and there was something amazing about being able to do something during a time when we all felt so helpless. It was also invaluable to connect with friends on projects on a daily basis and find our way through that uncertain time together.

Now, Design Advocates is evolving into a bigger non-profit organization with over 100 volunteers and projects all over the country. It is amazing what one phone call can do to change our lives as designers and also those of our communities.

Design Advocates, Kopitiam. Photo by Alan Tansey, courtesy of Design Advocates.

Photo of Abigail and her children at Restorative Ground opening, pictured with Lindsay Harkema and her child. Courtesy Overlay Office.

Where are you in your career today? What is on your mind most at the moment?

I feel like I am in a good place - I have a lot happening, but I thrive on the energy that being busy and productive creates. We have some exciting projects in the office and just moved into a new storefront space in Red Hook, Brooklyn that we are currently designing.

Something that has been on my mind and that I am hoping to write and think about more sometime soon is how a work of architecture can be like a pop song in both energy and structure. Pop songs are fun, light and enjoyable and they have a clear, reliable and repetitive composition that is easy for people to understand, but also composed of many layers, instruments and effects. They are catchy and they often resonate in your mind long after the last note. I feel like architecture can take on these qualities in terms of accessibility to the public and the pure joy of experience.

“Pop songs are fun, light and enjoyable and they have a clear, reliable and repetitive composition that is easy for people to understand, but also composed of many layers, instruments and effects. They are catchy and they often resonate in your mind long after the last note. I feel like architecture can take on these qualities in terms of accessibility to the public and the pure joy of experience.”

— Abigail Coover

Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How did you manage through a disappointment or a perceived setback?

I have struggled with my mental health since I was a teenager. It is a challenge that will be with me the rest of my life and it ebbs and flows across time. It is something that I manage and have learned so much from, but at the same time, it can rear its ugly head at the most inopportune times. The architectural profession is plagued by the reputation of being a bunch of crazy hard workers who spend long nights staring at lines on a page. While it is a demanding profession, it is not all encompassing and can be incredibly rewarding and enjoyable. When these moments pop up, I try to be as communicative and honest about them as possible and have been fortunate to receive consistent support from my family, friends and collaborators. It is something that has been taboo for so long that so many of us are dealing with. It is important to recognize this tendency in the design profession and its exacerbation from long nights and too much caffeine. It is a conversation that I try to have when I can and hope to encourage those around me to have it as well.

Who are you admiring right now and why?

I am admiring my collaborators - the women of WIP Collaborative, the volunteers at Design Advocates, my amazing team at Overlay Office and the contractors and fabricators that I work with closely in the field. All of these people teach me so much on a daily basis about what architecture can be, but also about life and friendship and how those things can also be a part of a professional relationship. I had my third child this summer and was at the opening of our Restorative Ground project with WIP Collaborative two weeks later with my newly expanded family in tow. I do not know if a work/life balance exists, but their coexistence is possible with support of your family and colleagues.

Capable Cubs. Photo by Alan Tansey, courtesy of Overlay Office.

What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And, what does success in that look like to you?

I would like to bring beautiful and thoughtful design to as many people as possible. There is no reason why good high design has to be contingent on cost.

We are finishing our first residential development project, House Offset, as both designer and developer. Through this project, I have proven to myself something that I have thought about for a long time. Spaces and materials can feel incredibly high-end while still being built on a reasonable budget. Creative uses of volume and materials and close collaboration with contractors and fabricators can create fantastic results.

Development is becoming a core part of our practice. Not only does it act as an economic wheel for innovation and creativity in the office, but it also enables us to do pro and low bono work on collaborations like Design Advocates and WIP Collaborative. Now that we have our first development project under our belts, we hope to invigorate our communities through both these collaborations and also direct investments to design projects in the public realm in the neighborhoods where we are creating homes. Development in New York City is inevitable and it does not need to be evil - we are researching models such as worker-owned development in another fruitful collaboration with re:Building NYC that brings together workers, architects, educators, labor organizers, scholars, activists, development professionals, and students. I am currently teaching an advanced undergraduate studio at the Pratt School of Architecture where we are designing not only buildings, but the alternative processes that generate them.

Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?

Architecture is a serious endeavor, but it is also incredibly rewarding and fun. Enjoy your work and the people that you work with. For both emerging women and men in the design industry, remember that you can create your own projects and initiatives - do not just sit back and wait for them to come to you.