The curved blue wave pattern on the floors of the San Antonio State Hospital is meant to symbolize the River Walk, which runs a few miles to the north. A decorative quatrefoil shape on the exterior of the building honors the city’s historic Spanish colonial missions. These nods might feel like commonsense design for a local museum or hotel, but for a facility meant to house Texans in crisis, they’re downright radical. The brand-new structure, designed by HKS and New York–based Architecture+, is bright and cheery. It’s an intentional change meant to improve upon the original San Antonio State Hospital, which hadn’t been majorly updated since 1892.
The day after April’s solar eclipse, a mariachi band played inside the lobby as part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new three-story, 454,000-square-foot building. Men in suit jackets and cowboy hats and women in casual dresses milled around a table crowded with …