Come 2018, visitors to the Linda Pace Foundation in San Antonio should be forgiven if they think they see a mirage. The contemporary art foundation’s new gallery building is destined to be a structure like no other—a faceted red volume that sparkles like a gem in the Texas sun. Designed by British architect David Adjaye, the 14,000-square-foot, two-story building will be clad in glittering rose-hued panels made of precast concrete and crushed glass. Expansive windows will frame park and city views, while large skylights will illuminate the galleries with natural light.

Linda Pace, an artist, collector, and supporter of the arts whose parents started Pace Foods, selected Adjaye for the job before she died of cancer in 2007. The building’s materiality is inspired by her vision. “She was a Jungian and was very interested in symbolism and dreams,” says Kathryn Kanjo, a member of the foundation’s board of trustees. “She had this dream of a ruby city—this cluster of sparkling, beckoning buildings. So she made a sketch, talked to David about it, and then he made his ruby city.”

After years of planning, and a delay during the financial crisis, construction of the $16 million building will start next year. Named Ruby City, it joins another gallery building and a one-acre public green space in an expansion of the foundation’s campus. Admission will be free.

“It will literally be a marker, letting the world know that world-class art and architecture can happen in San Antonio,” says Kanjo. “It will be a sumptuous, sparkling sign of the foundation’s commitment to contemporary art.”

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