Johnson's influence dates back to the Bauhaus, a German school of art founded by Walter Gropius in the 1920s. Johnson also worked with the greatest master of the Bauhaus, Mies van der Rohe. With 12,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Art Museum of South Texas is bold in its design. This is the major factor of good design and gained the building an international reputation for excellence and design. The Art Museum of South Texas is constructed entirely of very thick poured concrete with expansive areas of polarized glass.
Floors are concrete with a terrazzo-like finish.
This surface is accomplished by grinding and polishing a mixture of rocks and concrete to a very smooth finish, and then applying wax. He described the Art Museum of South Texas as one of his favorites.