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Confluence Park in San Antonio is a public landscape and outdoor classroom that makes the local watershed visible through native planting, permeable paths and 28 sculptural concrete petals that collect rain. Opened in March 2018, it was designed by Lake|Flato, Matsys and Rialto Studio for the San Antonio River Foundation. Its concrete is more than structure: the petals’ smooth and broom-finished faces, and the education center’s board-formed walls, give the park much of its character while helping it withstand heavy use.
What is Confluence Park, and what does it teach?
Confluence Park is a 3.5-acre educational landscape on San Antonio’s Mission Reach, where San Pedro Creek meets the San Antonio River. It uses the meeting of watercourses as both its setting and its organizing idea: the park teaches visitors about South Texas ecotypes, urban watersheds and how rain moves through a landscape.
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Its name works at several scales. The land is arranged to represent five regional ecotypes; the concrete petals funnel water toward their bases; and patterns in the paving recall the branching and splitting of waterways. The park is meant to be a “living laboratory,” in Lake|Flato’s description, rather than a conventional plaza with interpretive signs added afterward.
The site sits on a bluff above the river, south of downtown. The San Antonio River Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of the municipal body that manages the local watershed, owns the park and commissioned the work. After a request for proposals, it selected Lake|Flato in 2014. The team’s roles were distinct: Lake|Flato was architect of record, Andrew Kudless’s San Francisco studio Matsys led the pavilion design, and Rialto Studio designed the landscape. Architectural Engineers Collaborative handled structural engineering, and SpawGlass was the general contractor. The project’s development extended beyond the design commission: Kudless has described it as the result of more than a decade of site selection, acquisition, earlier design explorations and fundraising by the client.
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The park opened in early March 2018. A 2017 preview had forecast an opening at the end of that year, but construction continued through 2017 as the last petals were lifted into place. The AIA records design completion in 2016 and substantial completion in 2018. The Architectural Record account of the completed park describes its opening and the design’s civic purpose.
How do the concrete petals collect rain?
The petals work as funnels, not umbrellas. Their upward-opening surfaces direct rain toward the supporting columns, then into an underground basin for reuse. That reversal—from shedding water off a roof to gathering it—is central to the park’s design.
The idea came from a client request to make rain itself part of the experience. An early scheme sent water outward like a conventional roof; the final design instead drew on plants that guide water toward their roots. Kudless has compared the form to an aloe plant. The intent was not simply to conserve water after a storm, but to give visitors a reason to notice and celebrate rain.
Lake|Flato says the below-ground basin can hold up to 100,000 gallons and that the system collects around 825,000 gallons of rainwater annually. The annual yield is not accompanied by a measurement year, and it is not the tank’s capacity: 825,000 gallons is the stated yearly collection, while 100,000 gallons is the basin’s maximum storage. The collected water is used for irrigation and toilet flushing, and project sources also describe its use in sewage conveyance. Rainwater is filtered through alluvial soils before it could reach the river.
The AIA’s 2023 project record says the design manages stormwater from a 100-year flood event on site; it is designed for no runoff to the river unless a storm exceeds that event. Paths and parking are permeable, helping water enter the site rather than move directly toward the river. The AIA describes the restored riverbank planting as a filter and erosion control if the design event is exceeded. This is a design capacity, not a claim that every possible storm is contained.
Measured water-use figures add useful context. In its 2023 COTE record, the AIA lists water-use intensity at 3.4 gallons per square foot per year, compared with a predicted 21.6 and a benchmark of 0.6. The same record says potable sources supply 5 percent of annual water demand. Those figures concern building water use; they are not the same measure as the amount of stormwater captured or the number of gallons in the basin.
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Why are there 28 petals if the canopy looks irregular?
The canopy looks varied, but it was made from just three reusable mold types. The main pavilion has 22 petals, while each of three satellite pavilions has two, for 28 in all. The modular system lets the roof read as an irregular field rather than a repeated row of identical bays.
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Matsys and Kudless derived the petal modules from the Cairo pentagon, a shape that can tile a plane without the obvious repetition of a grid of squares. They divided the pentagonal geometry into five triangles, yielding two mirrored asymmetric forms, called A and B, and an equilateral form, C. An arch pair uses an A petal with a mirrored B, or two C petals. The same three mold types could therefore produce the different paired arches.
Each petal is one half of an arch, joined to its mate by pin connections. The pairs stand independently rather than linking into one continuous roof structure. The largest arches meet about 27 feet above the ground; the satellite arches are about 17 feet high. Texas Architect has reported 26 feet for the main panels, while an earlier 2017 scheme was described as a 30-foot canopy. For the built work, the roughly 27-foot main height is supported by Kudless’s construction account and Architectural Record.
The petal section tapers from 16 inches at the column to 4 inches at the roof, according to Matsys and Kudless, who designed the forms. Architectural Record reported an 18½-inch base tapering to 4 inches. Rather than blend the difference, it is best to treat 16 inches as the designers’ stated section and retain 18½ inches as the figure reported by Record.
The petals are double-curved, which helps stiffen their relatively thin concrete shells. The geometry was developed parametrically, with Grasshopper and Rhino identified in Texas Architect’s account. Kudless says the model was tested against structure and fabrication, while particle simulations helped check how water would flow across each shape. Even the broom strokes on the rougher concrete face were aligned with that flow.
How were the petals cast and finished?
The team chose a modified tilt-up concrete process after conventional timber formwork proved too expensive and was unlikely to hold its accuracy through repeated use. The fiberglass molds were more precise and could be reused. Their construction and the casting sequence are described in Kudless’s account of the design and construction.
Kreysler & Associates made the formwork. Foam positives were milled from the digital geometry, then used to create fiberglass molds with a balsa core. The molds were shipped from California in sections and assembled at three casting stations on site, one for each petal type. A steel truss reinforced each large mold. The casting surface was open at the top, which avoided a fully enclosed form and allowed the exposed face to receive its broom finish.
At each station, temporary timber supports held the mold at the required angle. Reinforcing steel shifted from column-like behavior at the base to plate-like reinforcement above; embedded steel plates and pins provided the connections at the foundation and arch crown. The concrete mix had to flow into the deep column without honeycombing and remain stable on the steep slope. The smaller satellite petals served as a test bed before the team settled on its mix and workflow.
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After roughly a week of curing, a petal was stripped from its mold and lifted either into its final position or into temporary storage while its partner was prepared. Each pair was aligned with a gap between neighboring petals before grout and the slab over the foundation beams were completed. The molds were reused across the 28 pours, though repeated use created a recurring practical issue: small gaps at the mold seams let some cement paste escape, leaving visible leakage along a few lower edges.
That construction method produced two distinct concrete textures. The face cast against the fiberglass is smooth; the open, exposed face was broom-finished. The contrast is intentional and makes the concrete legible as both a precise molded surface and a worked material. Small openings one to two inches across, made with PVC sleeves and covered with acrylic discs, act as micro-skylights. They admit daylight by day and are described as a star-like field at night.
The education center uses a quieter concrete expression. The low, board-formed structure has a green roof and earth-sheltered sides so the main pavilion remains visually dominant. Wood doors open the classroom toward the outdoor space. The AIA describes a layered arrangement with large sliding-glass doors and exterior Eastern red cedar pivot doors; Architectural Record’s caption describes sliding wood-slat doors. These accounts may refer to different parts of the assembly, so they should not be reduced to one unqualified door detail.
How does the education center handle comfort and energy?
The Estela Avery Education Center is a 2,000-square-foot multipurpose building, but only 1,003 square feet are listed as conditioned in the AIA project attributes. The difference matters: the restrooms are unconditioned, so the conditioned floor area is not the building’s total area.
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An 11.4-kilowatt solar array was reported at opening. The team sized it with the intent of offsetting 100 percent of the park’s annual energy use, and the building is net-metered. Intent is not the same as measured performance: the AIA’s 2023 record says 58.1 percent of total energy came from renewable sources. It also reports a 93 percent reduction from its energy benchmark inclusive of renewables and says the all-electric building met its AIA 2030 Commitment target. The available figures do not establish net-positive energy or a measured 100-percent renewable share.
What does the landscape add beyond the pavilions?
Rialto Studio’s planting is an essential part of the educational design. Five South Texas ecotypes let visitors compare regional conditions and hydrology with the park site. The AIA reports 134 native Texas plant species, with vegetation increasing from none on the previously developed site to 99 percent of the site area after construction, including the landscape and green roof. It says all vegetated area is planted with native species.
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The paver pattern also teaches through repetition and variation. Its four inlay types form an aperiodic network that Matsys describes as a reference to watershed bifurcations and deltas. The project turns paths, planting and roof geometry into related diagrams of water movement rather than isolating environmental education inside a classroom.
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Community access shaped the plan, too. Early public meetings drew limited attendance, according to the AIA; foundation staff then went door to door. Neighbors who had initially asked for a fence later requested gates, and the final park provides two entries rather than enclosing the landscape. A public bike-share station connects with the trail network and the five eighteenth-century Spanish missions along Mission Reach.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Who uses the park, and what does it cost?
Confluence Park is a free, unstaffed public access point on the south side of the Mission Reach and wider Howard Peak Greenway Trails System. Schools and nonprofits can reserve the multipurpose room and pavilions without charge. Free programs cited by the AIA include tree giveaways, Sunday morning yoga, Bachata dance classes and a monarch butterfly and pollinator celebration. Weddings, corporate and cultural events, parties, concerts and seminars also take place and contribute operating revenue, so not every booking or event should be assumed to be free.
The AIA’s 2023 account says that since March 2018 the park had served more than 32,000 students and registrants through over 350 programs, involving 70 schools across 11 Texas districts and 75 nonprofit partners. It separately lists 9,000 total annual users; annual users are not a cumulative program count. Lake|Flato’s project page, read in 2026, gives a later cumulative claim of over 2,000 programs and 150,000 students, but does not print an as-of date. Those figures come from different sources and should not be combined or presented as if they were measured on the same date.
Cost figures also describe different boundaries and dates, so they should remain separate. Architectural Record reported a $12.8 million total project budget in 2017, including an education and maintenance endowment; it later called the park a $10.7 million project at its 2018 opening. Texas Architect reported $13.7 million for the project in 2018. The AIA lists $3,650,873 as construction cost excluding furnishings, a narrower line item that is not the total park budget. The AIA also records a $1 million endowment to help cover school transportation, substitute teachers and specialized educators. The sources do not provide a breakdown that reconciles the full-project totals.
What are the environmental results—and their limits?
The park’s environmental case is strongest when design intent and reported measurements are kept distinct. The stormwater system is designed to manage the 100-year event on site; the annual rainwater collection is a project-page estimate with no measurement year stated. The solar array was sized toward a full annual energy offset, but the AIA’s reported renewable share is 58.1 percent. Those statements describe different kinds of evidence and do not justify saying that the park has eliminated all runoff or operates entirely on solar power.
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The AIA’s 2023 resource record reports embodied-carbon intensity of 22 kgCO2e per square foot and total embodied plus operational carbon of 239,654.4 kgCO2e over ten years. The design team estimated that soil in the native landscape could offset 87 percent of the building and petals’ A1–A3 embodied-carbon modules over 20 to 50 years. That is a modeled estimate, not a measured offset. Concrete was selected for durability, resistance to vandalism and low maintenance, but the project record acknowledges its high carbon impact.
The design also treats durability as an environmental choice: concrete serves as structure and finish, avoiding cladding and adhesives, and the client sought a long-lived structure. The project received the 2023 AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Award, along with awards including the 2019 Texas Society of Architects Design Award and the 2018 Tilt-Up Achievement Award. Awards recognize the project’s design and environmental approach; they do not replace the need to read its reported metrics carefully.
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Why do published area, height and budget figures differ?
Most apparent contradictions come from different project boundaries, stages of design, or kinds of measurement. The AIA’s 149,525-square-foot site area is about 3.43 acres; the 3.5-acre descriptions refer to native planting or the park more broadly, while the three-acre figure reflects the land left after the Corps transfer. The 2,000-square-foot education center includes unconditioned space, while 1,003 square feet is the conditioned area.
Height figures also track different reporting moments or measurements: the completed main arches are commonly described as about 27 feet, with satellites around 17 feet; Texas Architect gives 26 feet for the main panels, and the 30-foot figure appeared in a pre-completion preview. Thickness differs more directly: Matsys and Kudless specify 16 inches tapering to 4, while Record prints 18½ inches at the base tapering to 4. For budgets, the $12.8 million total, $10.7 million opening description, $13.7 million project figure and AIA construction-only cost should not be averaged. None of the supplied sources explains a complete reconciliation.
What is the design’s central trade-off?
Confluence Park’s defining choice was to make a durable civic structure carry several jobs at once: provide shade, gather rain, mark the landscape and give environmental education a memorable form. The petals’ concrete shells and reusable molds made a complex-looking canopy buildable from three modules, while their finish and geometry keep the construction visible rather than hiding it behind a uniform skin.
That choice has trade-offs. Concrete has a high embodied-carbon impact, and the park’s energy target is not the same as its measured renewable share. In return, the project team sought a 100-year structure that could withstand vandalism and require little maintenance, while the native landscape, permeable ground and rainwater basin turn the surrounding site into part of the environmental system. The clearest way to understand the park is therefore not as a single sustainable building, but as an integrated landscape, water-management system and public classroom.
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What does “BHP Pavilion” stand for?
The name appears on Matsys’s project page for the 6,000-square-foot main pavilion, but the sources reviewed do not expand the initials. It is safer to use “main pavilion” unless the project’s own label is relevant.
Is Confluence Park open to the public without a reservation?
The AIA describes it as an unstaffed, publicly accessible, free point on the Mission Reach. Reservations apply to use of the multipurpose room and pavilions, rather than to ordinary access to the park.
How many people visit Confluence Park each year?
The AIA project attributes list 9,000 total annual users, while its 2023 narrative gives cumulative program participation since opening. Those are distinct measures, and the sources do not provide a newer annual attendance count.
Did Confluence Park receive Living Building certification?
The sources reviewed do not confirm that certification was submitted or awarded. At opening, the team discussed pursuing certification, but that stated possibility is not evidence of a later award.
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