"This is a 1.4 million sq.ft. mixed-use complex on the outskirts of downtown San Antonio, Texas. A monumental 45 story arcade facing the city is sited on the crest of one of the highest hills in San Antonio. The arcade marks the entrance to a new suburban center located at the intersection of two major expressways. The four glass towers are linked on the upper 6 stories to provide large and flexible office space for an anchor tenant. Three of the towers make 800,000 sq.ft. of office space; the fourth is a 366-room hotel, apartment-hotel, and health club. The arcade rises from a 200,000 sq.ft. two-level glazed retail mall. Parking for 2750 cars is concealed in a 6-story terraced platform. On top of this platform are three restaurants (located in the base of each office tower), a swimming pool, tennis courts, a running track and lawn. The platform is sliced by a street lined with shops, which provides a neighborhood scale to contrast with the heroic towers. A sprawling 'Dallas' style mansion sits on axis with tree-lined promenade and is to be converted..."
Looking at the (never-realized) Horizon Hill Center project, an initial excitement arrises. The monumental metaphor of cube supporting cube is spiriting like a latter day pyramid or Tatlin's Monument to the 3rd International. However, after reading the "purpose blurb" (above) an uncomfortable whiff ensues. The Superstudio, by way of Sol Lewitt, by way of Oldenberg scaling, is certainly appealing, if it weren't for its Iacocca brain and Reagan heart. Too many missed opportunities to count; just another homage to ego stabilization.