South Texas Blood & Tissue Center

San Antonio, Texas, USA

A landmark billboard of hope and healing with innovative sustainable solutions.

Client

Project Size

95,000 GSF

Completed in

1994

The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center underwent a transformation in the 1990s, facing operational challenges in an outdated building while struggling to attract blood donors. To address this, a new facility was constructed in a prominent location alongside Interstate 10 in San Antonio, leveraging its visibility to draw in potential donors. The building’s façade was designed as a colossal billboard, prominently featuring the Center’s distinctive logo to capture the attention of passing traffic.

Behind the striking façade lies the Donor Pavilion, a welcoming space designed to ease the blood donation process. Illuminated by natural light, the cylindrical structure houses an art collection crafted from recycled materials, symbolizing the life-giving essence of blood donation. The facility also boasts private laboratories in a separate structure for efficiency and innovative water recycling systems, including filtration systems for irrigation including a system to collect spilled water from the air conditioning system and a unique roofing structure that collects rainwater.

One might think of the way in which red blood cells convey oxygen to the body, each cell the carrier of the essential components of life…Artworks [too] are often the bearers of important, even essential information or communications about life, the human condition, about our culture, perhaps even about spiritual concerns.

Art Selection Committee Member and President of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

The building is a celebration of selfless generosity in giving blood for others’ needs. It is a crown of thanks for our donors’ gift of life.

Dr. Norman Kalmin, President, CEO and Medical Director, South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC)