November 18, 2016

LMN wins ULI award for San Antonio arts center with a ‘shimmering veil'

Photo by Andy Crawford [enlarge]

The Spanish-style Municipal Auditorium was renovated and expanded.

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San Antonio won a 2016 Global Award for Excellence from Urban Land Institute.

Seattle-based LMN Architects was the design architect and Marmon Mok Architecture of San Antonio was associate architect, according to a press release from LMN.

The center was completed in 2014.

A 26,000-square-foot Spanish Colonial-style Municipal Auditorium, built in 1926, was renovated and the historic facade was retained. Another 157,000 square feet were added.

The center has two performance spaces: a 1,768-seat main performance hall and 231-seat flat-floor studio theater. There is also a new lobby and support facilities.

LMN said the new and old components were integrated in a “grand, unifying design gesture.”

The center has a porous, shimmering metallic veil that is designed to celebrate San Antonio's cultural life. The veil begins at the River Walk, and rises through irregular sheer planes to form an architectural presence.

The jury noted that the center created a world-class performance venue that connects with San Antonio's famed River Walk.

The $150 million project is one of 11 globally that won in the ULI program, which considers design, construction, economics, planning and management. Here are all the winners: http://tiny.cc/2db0gy/.

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts developed the San Antonio project, which is certified LEED New Construction silver.

The center won a 2016 Honor Award and a Mayor's Choice Award from the San Antonio Chapter of the AIA, and a 2016 AIA Washington Council Civic Design award of merit.

Here is the team: The Projects Group, project management/owners representation; Sussman Prejza & Co., interior design/environmental graphics; Fisher Dachs Associates, theater consultant; Akustiks, acoustical consultant of record; Walter P. Moore of Dallas with Alpha Consulting Engineers, structural engineers; Timmons Design Engineers, mechanical/plumbing engineer; TTG, electrical engineer; Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design, architectural/specialty lighting design; Stantec, technology and electronic security consulting; Rialto Studio, landscape architect; and Linbeck Zachry Joint Venture, construction manager and contractor.

LMN won the 2016 American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award.