San Antonio prides itself on its traditional spaces. One of those, the 1926 Municipal Auditorium, is undergoing a renovation that will reorient the theater. When the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts opens in 2014, it will retain the building’s historic stone façade yet also open on to the River Walk.

“The formal stone façade [of the Municipal Auditorium] is oriented to face right into the urban street grid,” says Mark Reddington, FAIA, partner at LMN Architects. “On the back side, there’s a loading dock and blank walls. Then along came the River Walk. Now you have one amenity meeting a cultural landmark on its backside, and there’s no relationship between the two.”...