AT&T Center
Bexar County / Spurs, Sports, and Entertainment

There are no better examples of our Athletic Facilities Planning and Design and Assembly Facilities Planning and Design that our work on the original design, and subsequent renovation of the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

Alta Architects worked together with the Project Manager, Owner’s Representative and the Architecture Firm 360 Design Group to produce a very complex set of design and construction documents to refurbish the Bexar County Community Arenas AT&T Center. Alta was a member of the original architectural design team for the new arena for the National Basketball Association’s San Antonio Spurs. This multi-purpose event space accommodates over 18,000 spectators and features a full complement of stadium and club seating, luxury/corporate boxes, food service facilities, meeting rooms and athletic conditioning facilities. Apart from its primary function as the home for the NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs, the AT&T Center is a community arena that serves as a venue for concerts, ice performances, convocations, conventions and the annual San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Originally built at a cost of $175 million, the indoor multi-purpose arena was financed by county-issued bonds supported by a hotel-occupancy and car rental tax, with an additional $28.5 million from the Spurs. Ground was broken in August 2000, and the facility was completed in November 2002. The center is a complex in the fullest sense, providing a flexible-use venue for public events. It seats 18,500 for basketball, 13,800 for ice hockey, 19,000 for concerts and convocations. Each year it hosts the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo. It has showcased megastar talents such as the Rolling Stones, Cher, Beyoncé, Prince, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga. In shaping the interiors for this major spectator venue, Alta Architects recognized the AT&T Center as a unique opportunity to celebrate the vibrant character of San Antonio’s blended Mexican-German-Tejano influences and the festive food traditions of South Texas. The multi-colored décor of concession areas is reminiscent of the lively atmosphere of Mexican mercados and an indoor-outdoor phenomenon found in South Texas, the neighborhood icehouse. This special feature of popular culture exemplified the casual communal South Texas spirit from the 1920s onward, when icehouses were air-conditioned spots for neighbors and families to gather for talk, music, food and dance.

Location:
San Antonio, Texas

Project Owner:
Bexar County, Spurs, Sports and Entertainment

Construction Cost:
$175 Million

Size:
750,000 sqft

Scope:
New Construction

Completion Date:
Fall 2002

Firm’s Responsibility:
In association with Ellerbe Becket and Lake Flato Architects.

Services:
Full service architectural and interior design services

Consultants:
Sports Facilities: Stafford Sports, LLC
Project Manager: Project Control of Texas
MEP: Ellerbe Beckett, Goetting & Associates, Curtis Neal & Associates
Structural: Ellerbe Beckett, Jaster-Quintanilla & Associates
Civil: Pape-Dawson Engineers
Landscape: Rialto Studio
Geotech: Raba Kistner
Audio Visual: WJHW
Telecom: Thompson Ross & Associates

Contractor:
Hunt Construction Co.

Design Awards
– Award; San Antonio AIA, 2004
– Metal Architecture Design Award, 2004
– San Antonio Downtown Alliance, 2003

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