Vacancy to Vitality exhibition opening on December 9, 2025, at San Antonio Central Library.
Reviewing design prototypes at the Vacancy to Vitality exhibition opening.
Thanks to everyone who joined us last night at the Central Library for Vacancy to Vitality: Exploring Housing Futures along San Antonio’s Transit Corridors. The exhibition and panel brought together UTSA faculty and students with community members, practitioners, and city leaders to examine how vacant and underutilized land along VIA’s proposed rapid transit corridors could support up to 250,000 new housing units—without expanding the city’s footprint or displacing residents.
Open from December 9, 2025, through January 10, 2026, the exhibition presented the results of a year-long research effort through data analysis, spatial mapping, and design research. It documented the scale of vacant and underutilized land—including surface parking—across seven proposed transit corridors.
Large-format maps, diagrams, and typology-based design prototypes illustrated how incremental infill and adaptive reuse of commercial building types—strip malls, motels, drive-throughs, and big-box retail—can support medium-density, transit-oriented housing while maintaining existing uses.
Here are a few moments from an evening of data, design, and conversation.
Funding was provided by the SOM Foundation’s 2023 Research Prize, with additional support from the City of San Antonio, San Antonio Area Foundation, and the San Antonio Public Library.