Located on a dense urban site, Floodgate is a sculptural apartment tower in San Antonio, Texas. Floodgate features twisting floorplates that respond to various viewsheds throughout the city and preserve daylight on the River Walk below. A fully autonomous vehicle parking system, housed on two levels above the ground floor, is the first implementation of this technology in Texas and can be repurposed for housing in the future should parking become obsolete.
At the river level, the limestone block of a historic floodwall is restored and reincorporated into a new series of walls and portals holding to the original wall line. Floating above this patio is a balcony for the upper restaurant, which also provides outdoor seating in a dramatically narrow space along the sidewalk next to the newly exposed stone demising wall of the adjacent historic building, connecting the urban thoroughfare of Commerce Street with the River Walk.
