The Victory Capital Performance Center features the largest mass timber construction in the state of Texas and the largest mass timber training facility in professional sports.

Wood is a renewable, carbon-sequestering alternative to carbon-intensive structural materials like concrete and steel. As a tree grows, it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores the carbon in its wood fibers. The practice facility utilizes both cross-laminated timber and glue-laminated timber (glulam) from U.S. forests. In total, the structural wood sequesters the carbon equivalent of taking 422 passenger cars off the road for a year, or equivalent to the amount of carbon sequestered by 2,260 acres of U.S. forest in one year of growth.

The wood structure is exposed throughout the facility and serves multiple purposes: as a healthy material, as a natural interior element that provides warmth, and as a carbon-friendly construction alternative. 

Elevating wellness and performance for the entire Spurs family

While heavily focused on training the players to win championships, the facility is equally focused on promoting their wellbeing and mental health, helping players to feel more grounded when they are back home and away from the stresses of being on the road and supporting the community they serve.  

One of the take-aways from the benchmarking tours of other practice facilities was an understanding that NBA athletes spend a significant amount of time indoors; traveling across time zones, players must adjust daily schedules constantly to accomodate late nights and early mornings, and move from place to place with little consistency in sleep and workout schedules. There were limited opportunities to be outdoors and connect with the natural circadian rhythms. Lack of daylight access made it difficult to recover and adjust.

As a result, one of the design drivers for the Victory Capital Performance Center was the impetus to get players outside and connect to the local environment. It was essential to provide outdoor areas that would allow the entire organization to harness the restorative effects of connection to nature, which include lower heart rate and blood pressure. In the finished building, terraces and patios provide space for everything from workplace collaboration to player training, informal meetings, and dining. Other strategies include the use of natural materials and daylighting spaces typically relegated to artificial light. This is evident inside the Spurs practice courts, where 150-foot glulam beams and wooden columns give natural warmth with daylight streaming in through a series of windows.

The site of The Rock at La Cantera is set in an old quarry characterized by limestone, cedar, and oak trees. ZGF, inspired by these regional influences, set out to create a building that would integrate into the site’s topography, utilizing masonry, glass, and wood to reflect the earth, sky, and landscape.

At the front on the east elevation, a public façade is marked by board-formed concrete and glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) piers that form a colonnade playing with light, shadow, and depth to highlight the high-base space, show off champion banners, and guide visitors to the glass box entry lobby.

San Antonio is a rich confluence of culture, sports, and history. The design of the center ia designed to provide a sense of place for a diverse array of players who call different cities home. It is informed by the vernacular and landscape of the region, particularly the Mission-style architecture, subtropical landscape, and the San Antonio River Walk.

The structure is formed by masonry shear walls and wood beams. The overall design is structurally expressive and exposes construction materials, such as cross-laminated timber, glulam beams, and concrete in their natural form.