Tourists
School Groups
Destination Travelers
Locals
Interest Groups
Goals
Land and Resources
Why did all of these events happen here?
Land, water, natural resources, location, evolutionof built environment
Location
San Antonio, Texas
Primary Audience
Capture More Visitors to San Antonio
Design for Diversity
Increase Engagement with Local Residents
Stimulate Repeat Visitorship
Interpretive Themes
Culture and Exchange
How have diverse groups arrived and interacted at this site throughout history?
Cultural exchange, assimilation and acculturation, evolving identities
Conflict and Debate
What happened when groups with contrasting visions and competing interests met here?
War, violence, military conflict, contested spaces, contested stories
Storytelling and History
How have we told stories about this site across its history, and what have those stories been?
Conversation, exchange, storytelling and oral traditions, myth and legend
Overall Sqft
32,600
Celebrate Multiple Perspectives
The experience is informed by the act of history as storytelling, helping visitors understand all of the different perspectives that have shaped the Alamo story, as well as why seeing the story from many sides is important.
WHAT THIS MEANS Reflect on your own perspective Embrace diversity Target new visitors by identifying motivations that can help shape the experience.
Make it Relevant
The Alamo should be a destination not only because it honors the past, but also because we can acknowledge its relevance today and its continued influence on future stories, ideas, and conversations.
WHAT THIS MEANS Helps us to identify the core driver for the visitor experience
Challenge and Activate
Create a space that addresses the many conflicts that have characterized this site and the diversity of perspectives and individuals involved in them. Activate the experience in a way that encourages dialogue.
WHAT THIS MEANS Challenge assumptions Facilitate conversations Cultivate community
Inspire through Innovation
Entirely new experiences help open minds. Engage with our visitors through a multi-sensory and multi-modal approach to engage all of the senses and fuel excitement.
WHAT THIS MEANS Technology and new media attract visitors and bring them closer to the narrative Activate stories
PERSONALIZATION(RFID): The Big Idea
Visitors walk in the historic footsteps of those who lived through the story of the Alamo. Pivotal decision-making points in history are highlighted to help visitors make connections to modern-day events and decisions.
Create an experience based on ideas, values, empathy, relevancy, and possibility.
Make connections between the past and present that will deepen visitorsʼ understanding of both.
Spark curiosity and engagement through the element of surprise woven throughout exhibitions.
Use magical moments to reveal meaningful insights and thoughtful questions.
Create an overarching and holistic experience that runs through the VCM, onto the site, and beyond.
Leave a lasting impression that promotes critical thinking.
Present visitors with a personalized physical or digital takeaway.
Motivate visitors to explore the site through a more thoughtful lens.
Key Takeaways
5.0 The battle of Alamo Thought Process
Visitors walk into a space that starts from light and as they get closer to 5.3 gets darker where the war starts. The main key experience is in heart of 5.1/5.2 which is in the center and is focusing on personal stories where we want visitors to feel what they felt and walk in the character shoes, why they made those decisions and let them think. The fact that regardless of their battle of heart and mind they all had to go and fight.
5.4 overarching Concept
5.1/5.2 overarching Concept
Visitors walk into a space that starts from light and as they get closer to 5.3 gets darker where the war starts. The main key experience is in heart of 5.1/5.2 which is in the center and is focusing on personal stories where we want visitors to feel what they felt and walk in the character shoes, why they made those decisions and let them think. The fact that regardless of their battle of heart and mind they all had to go and fight.
Key Experience
Visitors are invited to meet some of the diverse figures whose paths converged at the Alamo. Soldiers and their families inside the fort, Mexican leadership staged outside, delegates from Béxar and the Alamo garrison traveling to the Convention of 1836, and Tejano scouts out in the field share their stories, bringing a personal perspective to the broader issues explored around the perimeter of this area.
Representative physical objects that respond to visitors’ touch invite them to come closer and listen to key individuals’ stories from this critical period in early 1836.