San Antonio releases renderings of new World Heritage Center at former Mission Drive-In theater
Dunaway Associates
The forthcoming World Heritage Center will feature depictions of native plant and animal life.
The city of San Antonio has shared renderings of its forthcoming World Heritage Center, a $9.6 million project located at the site of the South Side’s former Mission Drive-In theater.
The center will serve as a gateway to the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes four of the city’s five Spanish frontier missions.
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The forthcoming World Heritage Center will serve as a gateway to the South Side’s Spanish frontier missions.
The city’s Historic and Design Review Commission approved a certificate of appropriateness for the structure on Wednesday. The center is expected to open in spring 2024.
The World Heritage Center will feature 10,000 square feet of indoor-outdoor exhibit and meeting space and also will complete the walking trail at Mission Branch Library, TV station KSAT reports. The building includes depictions of native plant and animal life important to the area’s indigenous peoples.
“The water bird represents life, one of the many that is supported by the riverway,” KSAT reports, citing a design document detailing aspects of center. “The nopal is to represent the resilience of the people who made a life here in these lands, one that flowers and also provides sustenance.”
Dunaway Associates
The new structure will cost the city just shy of $10 million.
According to the city’s website, funding for the center comes from the 2017-2022 bond and a large donation from the Tricentennial Commission for art, design enhancements and interpretive elements.
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