By Richard A. Marini,Staff writerMarch 21, 2025 San Antonio Express News

Located in the shadow of what used to be the Mission Drive-In Theatre’s monolithic movie screen, the new World Heritage Center rises from the South Side neighborhood like a chocolate wedding cake, delicately encircled by a filigreed, black steel veranda.

Neither a museum nor a classic visitors center, the World Heritage Center intends not only to inform the city and the world about the UNESCO World Heritage Designation bestowed on the five San Antonio Missions, it also seeks to honor those who helped make it happen, both past and present.

“The idea for the World Heritage Center came from the community,” said director Colleen Swain. “We had a lengthy process of public meetings, and they told us they wanted us to tell the stories of the people and the legacies surrounding the Missions. We are sharing those stories of the community.”

Swain noted, for example, there are still families living in the area whose ancestors first owned land there more than 300 years ago. It is the stories of these and others that the center will tell.

To help tell these stories, San Antonio-based architecture firm Alta was enlisted to design a space that would be flexible, welcoming and bright, without the dark stuffiness that often dampens enthusiasm in traditional museums.

“The building was created so we can easily and regularly rotate out the exhibits,” Swain said. “If everything stays the same, no one’s going to come out a second time.”

The effort to keep things new and inviting can first be seen in the veranda, designed by artist Adriana Garcia. Although completely wrapping the outside of the 6,000-square-foot building, the metal structure is punctuated throughout with images, including a white heron, a spiritual bird native to the San Antonio River, the nopal (cactus), which represents the resiliency of the area’s indigenous peoples, and a repeating floral pattern inspired by mission frescos.

“The design speaks to the interweaving of cultures in this place,” she said. “The piece makes the building.”

It also allows dappled sunlight to infiltrate the center’s interior through the large windows that run along the perimeter.

“The veranda modulates the light coming in,” agreed Geof Edwards, Alta’s chief executive office. “It makes for a more pleasant space to be in.”

Because of these large windows and the fact that the center does not have museum-quality climate control, the planners decided to display only a small number of actual historical artifacts. Instead, they made 3D scans of artifacts from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Projected on motion-activated video screens located throughout the space, the images turn and pivot, providing a feeling of movement and life far different from the static exhibits in most museums.

According to Edwards, the building design embodies the crafts and local traditions of the community while still feeling like a modern structure.

Just to the right of the main entrance, for example, is a pierced-steel aedicula, or small shrine, that serves as a freestanding exhibition space to help tell the center’s story. The current exhibit highlights the many people — from Henry Guerra to Father David Garcia — who worked to preserve the missions and get the UNESCO designation in 2015.

While the structure is permanent, it was designed so the exhibitions within can be changed easily.

The pierced metal light fixture that runs the length of the ceiling was inspired by the work of architect and designer Isaac Maxwell as well as similar examples found Mexico and South Texas. The brick boveda ceiling, also known as a Catalan vault, is another traditional building style.

“When they built the boveda, these craftsmen who come from northern Mexico, they don’t use a framework and there’s no centering,” Edwards said, referring to the way bricklayers typically begin in the center of a form. “They just start on one side and work across. It’s kind of amazing.”

Even the flooring, an expanse of encaustic cement tile in rippling shades of subtly varied blue, provides a cooling appearance evocative of “blue hole”-type underground spring water.

Perhaps taking inspiration from farther afield, the art piece by Doroteo Garza over the front desk depicts deer, water and stars in a style reminiscent of the rock art found in Seminole Canyon pictographs.

Around the corner from the aedicula, the center takes an educational turn, with a display rail running along the gallery perimeter that tells the story of the missions along five trails: geography, history and architecture, spirituality, arts and culture, and food.

“The rail contains just enough information that you can say, ‘Oh, I’m really interested in that,’ and then you can do some research or go out and see it in person,” Swain said.

On circular platforms are displays of Indigenous clothing and other artifacts. These, too, can be periodically rotated out.

Officials hope the building will serves as the anchor of what is quickly becoming a cultural cornerstone of the South Side. In addition to the nearby Mission San Jose, there’s Mission Marquee Plaza (formerly the Mission Drive-In), site of regularly scheduled farmers and artisans markets and outdoor movie nights, the Mission public library and the Harvey E. Najim YMCA. Mission County Park is only one block away and, one block beyond that, is the Mission Reach of the River Walk.

“What we’re trying to do is create a community hub, to make it something the community wants to visit and developers want to connect to,” Swain said. “It’s all pretty exciting.”

https://www.expressnews.com/lifestyle/article/san-antonio-world-heritage-center-20224314.php