San Antonio Museum of Art leaders, looking to reshape the former brewery campus downtown, recently announced they have selected the architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron to lead the effort.
Selected following an extensive search, the Switzerland-based firm was chosen for its innovative approach to art museum design, expertise in adaptive reuse and exceptional work with cultural institutions, according to a statement from the museum known as SAMA.
A SAMA spokeswoman said it was too early in the master planning process to confirm the overall project cost or describe any plans to raise additional funds. In 2023, the museum reported total net assets of almost $79 million.
“This project is a transformative opportunity to develop a visionary blueprint for SAMA’s 13-acre campus, enhancing the visitor experience and strengthening our connection to the community,” said Executive Director Emily Ballew Neff.
Neff has led the 43-year-old institution since early 2022. She previously served as executive director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, where she led a move into a new building designed by Herzog and de Meuron.
Founded in 1978, the firm lists among its 200 cultural projects the Tate Modern in London, where they transformed the former Bankside Power Station into a leading art destination and the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, a space for visual and performing arts.
Other notable projects include the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Küppersmühle Museum in Germany, the Caixa Forum in Madrid, de Young Museum in San Francisco and the Walker Art Center Expansion in Minnesota.
For the San Antonio project, Herzog and de Meuron will collaborate with the architecture firm Page, which has offices in Austin and San Antonio, and has completed work at Hemisfair, the San Antonio Botanical Garden and two local hospitals.
The San Antonio museum houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman, as well as Asian, art in the southern United States, according to the museum’s website.
It also has a significant collection of Latin American art, from the Ancient Americas to the present.
The museum has been housed in the E. Jungenfield and Co.-designed Lone Star Brewery complex since 1981, following a $7.2 million renovation of the derelict former brewery buildings, which closed in 1917.
Located near the Pearl at 200 West Jones Ave., the museum sits on the northern edge of downtown where the Pearl and other new residential and commercial redevelopment has rapidly changed the character of the River North neighborhood.
In 2021, the CPS Energy board conveyed to the museum an adjacent 1-acre parcel of surplus land. Museum staff said at the time the land would create more space for storage of the museum’s collection of nearly 30,000 objects and for exhibition space to display collections and touring exhibitions.
In early 2023, CPS Energy sold for $29.5 million the larger piece of its property next to the museum to a group owned by the McCombs family. The group later received the state Legislature’s approval to create a municipal management district for a mixed-use development at the site.
“We are excited to be part of the momentum in our fast-growing neighborhood,” stated Edward Hart, board of trustees chair at the San Antonio Museum of Art. “As stewards of the last remaining green space along the Museum Reach and owners of the largest property adjacent to the river, this master plan will serve as a critical roadmap, enabling us to create a more vibrant, welcoming space for the community to enjoy.”
The goal of the redeveloped campus plan is to integrate the museum’s unique location along the San Antonio River and its historic brewery buildings “while addressing the evolving needs of the city’s residents and visitors,” said a statement. That includes prioritizing accessibility, enhancing storage facilities and improving outdoor spaces.
“We are thrilled to collaborate on defining an inclusive, sustainable and forward-looking vision for [the museum], which takes full advantage of its generous outdoor spaces, its landscape, its impressive historic buildings and its wide-ranging art collection,” said Ascan Mergenthaler, Senior Partner of Herzog and de Meuron.
The master planning process also calls for gathering community input “to ensure the final campus plan reflects the diverse voices of San Antonio,” said the statement.
