César Pelli was a rising architect when he got the job of designing a new City Hall for San Bernardino.
[...] a push is on to renovate City Hall and restore it to use.
The lead architect: Rafael Pelli, son of César Pelli. [...]
“The idea is to preserve what’s great about it and make it better,” Pelli said of the building. “The bones of it are very good. We just need to bring it forward.”
— San Bernardino Sun
Chief of among the estimated $60 million renovation tasks is the work of replacing the building’s over 6,000 original windows, which Rafael Pelli says will now be double pane for improved insulation against the heat. The City of San Bernardino, California, shut down operations in the building in 2017 due to seismic concerns. The design features an early version of the same glass curtain facade solution later used in the Pacific Design Center. As the San Bernardino Sun reported, a decision to finance the expected four-year restoration could come as soon as late May.
1 Comment
Our office (PlaceWorks) has been doing planning work in San Bernardino for over two years. It is a very challenging jurisdiction to work in, in large measure because of chronic underfunding, disinvestment and a lack of trust in government. I'm not sure I'd call the Pelli City Hall a "masterpiece" but it is a significant building in the middle of Downtown and its present vacant state does not help the situation. It's restoration as the seat of local government would be most welcome to the overall physical shape of Downtown San Bernardino. This is happy news.
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