Exclusive Look Inside Downtown's Newest Development

Epicenter will be the king of sustainability

By Mary Claire Patton - Digital Content Curator

January 08, 2018

SAN ANTONIO - The Mission Road Power Plant is transforming into the architecturally stunning, clean energy, multiuse Energy Partners Innovation Center, or EPIcenter.

“EPIcenter is an extraordinary, history-making project that will cement San Antonio’s worldwide role in the new energy economy and reflects the culmination of our collective experience,” EPIcenter CEO Kimberly Britton said.

LakeFlato -- the San Antonio-based architectural firm behind the environmentally sustainable project -- says energy, partnerships, and innovation make for a fitting name for a space that will combine education, research, and development.

EPIcenter will be an environmental leader, Lake Flato says, and could garner international recognition for energy performance.

The conceptual design showcases technology and interaction between indoor and outdoor spaces.

There will be grand public lobbies, open work-spaces, small private offices, an auditorium that also works as a conference center, exhibit space and more.

The capital campaign for EPIcenter is already underway and has an estimated $74 million goal.

“Support for the project will come from foundations, corporations, and individuals both within and outside of San Antonio,” Britton said.

Epicenter will be the king of sustainability:

• Circulation towers double as vertical green walls and water collection devices, connecting the sublevel to the rooftop gardens.
• Air-conditioning condensate will be harvested and reused for flushing toilets and irrigating living vertical walls.
• Solar panels will be visible throughout the entrance to EPIcenter and other exhibition areas.
• Natural light will cut building energy use, and heat gain from electric light, by 25 percent.

Dashboards at strategic locations throughout the building allow occupants to see a real-time display of building performance, resource production and building systems at work. The dashboards will enable occupants to see the impact of their behavior on overall building performance, according to an EPIcenter brochure.

See conceptual renderings of the EPIcenter:

Slideshow: Concept designs for San Antonio's EPIcenter

EPIcenter represents San Antonio’s new think tank that unites entrepreneurs, technologists and communities to foster creative ideas for a brighter energy future, according to LakeFlato.com.

Construction is slated to begin as soon as a critical mass of funding is secured.

Officials project to complete the project in 2020-2021.