Institutional
River Walk/San Antonio
2012
City of San Antonio – Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center Programming
Under its first programming IDIQ contract, Douglas Architects was hired by CoSA to lead the Building Program and Design Build Document effort for largest single building project in San Antonio’s history – that of the expansion and renovation of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
A building of that size and complexity has many users, stakeholders and neighbors, each with their own viewpoint and needs, as each group would be impacted by the design in a different way. DAI and its team of programmers, architects, master planners and engineers met with over two dozen businesses, agencies and city officials to glean from them their concerns, requirements, and operational needs, as well as inform them of the project’s direction. DAI’s team consisted of Broaddus Planning and Epstein (Chicago).
The findings were compiled into a 4-volume document that was given to the shortlisted Design Build firms for the development of their design submissions. The document served as a record of the process, a “basis of design” that “tested” the program against the site, as well as a road map for the myriad of issues identified by the team and which the Design-Build firm, tasked with developing final designs and construction of the new expansion, will need to address. The document was very well received by the City’s CIMS department, the Convention Sports and Entertainment Facility staff, as well as the Design Build firms because of the amount of information and the clarity it gave to the users.
