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Robert Irwin, a pioneering conceptual artist and leading figure of the Light and Space movement whose work had significant influences in architecture, passed away last night in San Diego. He was 95. Irwin helped push the boundaries of American post-war art with his understanding of the principles... View full entry
Following last week’s look at an opening for a Manager of Climate Action & Design Excellence at the American Institute of Architects, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Staff Architect - Wastewater Division at Parsons... View full entry
UC San Diego has hosted the tallest full-scale seismic building test on an earthquake simulator. The LEVER Architecture-designed 10-story building, made of cross-laminated timber, was tested on what the organizers say is the world’s largest outdoor shake table. Image credit: UC San Diego Jacobs... View full entry
Each home was considered to be built to shelter-in-place standards, with ignition-resistant construction and materials—a cutting-edge approach for the time, though the standards have since been adopted into state and local codes. They are little fortresses of tile roofs, stucco walls, hardscape patios, and covered eaves. [The] heavy fortification gives the communities—both the structures and the people who shelter in them—an extra chance to survive. — MIT Technology Review
The state is in a bind caused by its dire need to quickly enact affordable housing and the movement of populations into liminal wildland-urban interface zones, both of which are placing more people in the fight or flight predicament that’s leading to more innovations in residential design... View full entry
Foster + Partners has been announced as the Design Architect of a new renovation of the 97-year-old San Diego Museum of Art following a comprehensive search. Located in Balboa Park, the museum will add a new education center and welcome pavilion through the delivery of the project, which focuses... View full entry
The World Design Organization (WDO) has announced a cross-border combination of San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico as the official World Design Capital for 2024. The designation was bestowed “as a result of their commitment to human-centered design and legacy of cross-border collaboration... View full entry
“People always think we do sensitive historical renovations, but that’s not all we do,”
“It matters a great deal because it’s new,” Ms. Selldorf said of the San Diego museum. “It’s my biggest new-built institution. And it stands on its own two feet.”
— The New York Times
NYT writer Ted Loos went to San Diego for a visit to the just reopened Museum of Contemporary Art with the doyenne of the typology who talked about the renovation’s overarching mission to “greater clarity across the history of all the building types” and her personal desire to leave Irving... View full entry
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer is opening another salvo in his administration's efforts to address the city's housing affordability crisis by proposing the so-called "Complete Communities Housing Solutions Initiative," a scheme that looks beyond simply building new housing to embrace holistic... View full entry
The San Diego Association of Governments’ ambitious rail plan includes laying hundreds of miles of track throughout the county to connect residential areas to these job centers. Agency experts are analyzing the region’s commuter patterns in an attempt to design rail service that lures commuters off the most congested highway corridors.
The lines, many of which are planned as subways, will go through existing residential areas with the added aim of encouraging dense development along the routes.
— San Diego Union-Tribune
The ambitious plan could be funded by a series of sales tax increases, which would have to be approved by local voters. SANDAG Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata told The San Diego Union-Tribune, “I think this region is more suited to follow-up with transit-oriented development than any... View full entry
Last week, Macy’s West Stores, Inc. filed suit against Stockdale, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm that took over the downtown property from Westfield in August 2018. The department store is asking a San Diego Superior Court judge to block the developer’s plan on grounds that it violates Macy’s lease agreement and an even more substantial contract, known as a reciprocal easement agreement. The latter document gives the retailer veto power over major property improvements. — The San Diego Union Tribune
A new lawsuit brought by Macy’s, a tenant at Horton Plaza, the spectacular postmodern shopping mall in San Diego designed by Jon Jerde in 1985, has cast doubt on plans for a significant re-do of the property. Horton Plaza in San Diego, Image By Sandy Huffaker, Jr. Photography - The Jerde... View full entry
San Diego approved new growth blueprints Thursday that allow for mid-rise housing and dense urban villages in neighborhoods near new trolley stops in Linda Vista and the northeast corner of Pacific Beach.
City Council members said the new zoning will simultaneously help solve San Diego’s housing crisis, reduce carbon emissions that cause climate change and revamp blighted areas where bicyclists and pedestrians face major challenges.
— The San Diego Union-Tribune
The YIMBY-inspired plan will more than quadruple the number of housing units allowed in areas surrounding a forthcoming $2 billion transit line slated to run through San Diego's northwest quadrant. Matt Adams, vice president of the local chapter of the Building Industry Association... View full entry
A proposed observation tower at the edge of Pacific Highway is a polarizing symbol of change that could make or break the larger, $2.4 billion redevelopment effort planned for downtown’s Central Embarcadero. — San Diego Union-Tribune
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and developers 1HWY1 have proposed a 500-foot cylindrical observation tower for San Diego's waterfront Central Embarcadero as part of a massive $2.4 billion Seaport San Diego project. The part-hotel, part-theme park development could include 385 hotel rooms, a... View full entry
The San Diego City Council voted unanimously to approve “Campus At Horton” on Monday. It's a redevelopment plan that would turn Horton Plaza into a tech hub.
Stockdale Capital Partners, an LA-based real estate firm, bought Horton Plaza from Westfield back in August with known intentions of redevelopment. When Stockdale announced the purchase, the firm said their new tech hub plan for Horton was expected to create 4,000 jobs, and generate $1.8 billion each year.
— KPBS
With the iconic Jon Jerde-designed Horton Plaza mall in San Diego poised for transformation, one of Southern California’s key works of postmodern urbanism is soon to be lost. Horton Plaza in San Diego, Image ©CoolcaesarIn designing the superblock mall in 1985, Jerde, who was referred to as the... View full entry
And the prototypes came tumbling down. [...]
They have been used most dramatically as a backdrop for a presidential visit last March and for protest art. [...]
On Wednesday, slabs from seven out of the eight prototypes fell in clouds of dust in under two hours, no match for a jackhammer. At the point of destruction, an owl fled from a steel tube atop one section.
— The Guardian
And just as quickly as they came, they're gone again: seven of the eight prototypes for a lofty 1,954-mile border wall project to Mexico were bulldozed and turned into piles of expensive rubble on Wednesday morning... View full entry
Preservation advocates, including Docomomo US, have come out in strong support of retaining the site's unique postmodern elements, writing letters and urging the new owner, Civic San Deigo, the local economic development entity, and the San Diego Historical Resources Board to evaluate the project further and consider its historic significance. — Docomomo
To some Horton Plaza may appear to be an odd mix match of colors and structural directions, but to others, this postmodern complex is an architectural relic that should be preserved. Opening its doors in 1985, the plaza was designed as a place that would help revitalize San Diego's downtown... View full entry
