San Antonio Museum of Art Announces Campus Plan

Internationally renowned firm Herzog & de Meuron selected to lead the project.

San Antonio, TX – February 11, 2025 – The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) is thrilled to announce that Herzog & de Meuron, a world-renowned architectural firm, has been selected to create a comprehensive campus plan that will shape the Museum’s future growth and redefine the visitor experience. 

Following an extensive selection process, Herzog & de Meuron was chosen for their innovative approach to art museum design, expertise in adaptive reuse, and exceptional work with cultural institutions. Their impressive portfolio includes globally celebrated projects such as 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, where they meticulously restored historic interiors while creating a dynamic space for visual and performing arts. The firm was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize (USA) in 2001.

The campus plan will thoughtfully integrate SAMA’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. The plan will prioritize accessibility, enhance art storage facilities, improve outdoor spaces, and foster a sustainable, community-centered environment.

“We are excited to be part of the momentum in our fast-growing neighborhood,” said Edward A. Hart, Board of Trustees Chair at 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.”

Herzog & de Meuron’s campus plan will also consider the Museum’s role within the broader context of San Antonio. Positioned as a critical node along the River Walk, SAMA links vibrant downtown San Antonio to the south with the revitalized Pearl district to the north. The firm aims to amplify the charm and significance of the Museum’s historic nineteenth-century brewery buildings, designed by E. Jungenfield and Co., and their intimate outdoor squares, ensuring these spaces remain integral to the museum experience—a hallmark of Herzog & de Meuron’s work worldwide.

“This project is a transformative opportunity to develop a visionary blueprint for SAMA’s thirteen-acre campus, enhancing the visitor experience and strengthening our connection to the community, said Emily Ballew Neff, The Kelso Director at SAMA. “We are also deeply grateful to CPS Energy for their generous conveyance of our final acre, which greatly supported our growth and broadened our impact.”

With over four decades of experience, Herzog & de Meuron has completed more than two hundred projects among them cultural institutions, such as art museums, artist studios, exhibition spaces, and concert halls across the globe. 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.

“We are thrilled to collaborate on defining an inclusive, sustainable and forward-looking vision for SAMA, 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, Herzog & de Meuron.

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Herzog & de Meuron began their work in the United States in 1998 with a project in California. In 2004, they established a permanent office in New York, followed by a San Francisco office in 2021. For the SAMA project, their Austin-based team will collaborate with Executive Architects Page of Austin and San Antonio to combine local insights with their global expertise.

“Our approach for the SAMA campus plan will begin with listening to and learning from the museum staff and board, its members and the neighboring community in order to gain a clear understanding of the unique character, qualities, and future potential of the institute,” said Simon Demeuse, Partner, Herzog & de Meuron.

The planning process will include opportunities for community input to ensure the final campus plan reflects the diverse voices of San Antonio and that SAMA continues to grow and thrive as the only globally facing art museum serving the region. The project’s initial phase begins this February with completion anticipated by the end of June 2025. 

###

About the San Antonio Museum of Art 
The San Antonio Museum of Art serves as a forum to explore and connect with art that spans the world’s geographies, artistic periods, genres, and cultures. Its collection contains more than 30,000 works representing 5,000 years of history. Housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery on the Museum Reach of San Antonio’s River Walk, the San Antonio Museum of Art is committed to promoting the rich cultural heritage and life of the city. 

About Herzog & de Meuron 
Herzog & de Meuron is an international architectural practice based in Basel, Switzerland. Established in 1978, the practice is led by the two founders together with the Partners and the CEO. Today, an international team of over 500 collaborators is engaged in a wide range of projects across Europe, the Americas and Asia. The main office in Basel works in tandem with studios in Berlin and Munich, Paris, London, Hong Kong, New York, and San Francisco.

Art spaces have been a pillar of Herzog & de Meuron’s body of work from the beginning. From over 150 of their cultural projects, “art spaces” are projects specifically tuned to work for the art and the artist, for the curator and the public. The projects follow no set style, each individually questioning the perception, presentation and production of art in distinct ways.

Awards received include the Pritzker Architecture Prize (USA) awarded to Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron in 2001, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal (UK) and the Premium Imperiale (Japan), both awarded to them in 2007, the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (USA) in 2014, and the Louis I. Kahn Award (USA) in 2023.  

 
###