Located just behind the historic Alamo church, this artifact museum features 10,000 sq ft of exhibition space and a curatorial environment with storage and conservation areas for historic items in the Alamo collection. There is also a gallery space for interactive exhibits.

This is the first new construction to take place on the World Heritage Site-designated Alamo grounds since the 1950s. Constant communication and coordination with the client, its facilities team and archaeology team were vital.

The center’s design had to be sensitively scaled, pay respect to the Alamo and recede into the garden. Features include high-density storage systems with extensive climate control, prefabricated clean rooms for conservation efforts, curated exhibition space that can accept daylight crossover and dark rooms for fragile documents.

During project development, the team produced a laser-scanned point cloud of the Alamo and surrounding buildings, then incorporated data into the design model to assist in design coordination and construction planning.

To protect the integrity of surrounding historical buildings, the contractor installed a vibration monitoring tool. At the same time, the existing perimeter stone wall was cataloged, then removed and stored for reinstallation. Locally sourced limestone blocks were chosen to remain faithful to the materials used at the Alamo church and long barracks, although the material was installed using contemporary methods.