Red Jewel of Texas

Linda Pace , a philanthropist and heir to the Pace Picante salsa fortune , dreamed (literally) about a building to show selections from her 900-work collection of contemporary art. Twelve years after her death in 2007 , that vision is finally being realized in San Antonio . Ruby City, a 14,000-square-foot arts center designed by the British architect David Adjaye , opens Oct. 13 with an exhibition of works by Do Ho Suh , Teresita Fernández , Isaac Julien and Cornelia Parker , among others.

As the name suggests, Ruby City’s most distinctive feature is its jewel tone; the upper part of the exterior is made of a red-colored precast concrete embedded with multihued crushed glass.

Mr. Adjaye, most famous for designing the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture, described Ruby City as a “monolithic treasure box.” A newcomer to working in Texas, he added that it was influenced by local architectural traditions that adapt to hot weather. “Like in an old pueblo house, you don’t have a lot of big apertures,” he said.