The Alamo Master Plan Management Committee has released detailed renderings of a proposed new plan for the Alamo Complex. The committee is comprised of representatives from the Texas General Land Office, the City of San Antonio, and the Alamo Endowment. The team is led by George C. Skarmeas, AIA, of the Philadelphia-based firm Preservation Design Partnership. Previous projects include restoration work on the U.S. Supreme Court Building and the Virginia Capitol.
Archaeological research conducted in the summer of 2016 helped to provide a basis for the plan. The site has often been criticized for failing to represent the true historic identity of the Alamo, as it began to lose historic integrity after General Santa Ana’s troops were ordered to destroy as much of the mission as possible. The new Master Plan aims to restore the historic site and highlight the mission as a place where indigenous families lived, worked, and worshipped for centuries.
“San Antonio quite literally grew up around this former mission — it’s the physical and spiritual heart of our city,” describes San Antonio Councilman Roberto Treviño, AIA. “This plan presents a spectacular vision and strategy for achieving something we’ve been trying to do for decades, and that is to redesign the Alamo Complex in a way that appropriately honors its history and connection to the urban core of San Antonio.”
The Committee is open to public comment about the proposed design at reimaginethealamo.org and on their Facebook and Twitter pages. The San Antonio City Council plans to vote on May 11 to conceptually approve the plan.
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That plaza looks hot and uninviting to me. Looks all about security instead of real urban design.