Wings Sprouting Again in San Diego
Tucker Sadler & Associates
It looks like wings are hot in San Diego (and apparently LA, too). Recently we reported that Zaha Hadid was building a wing-like house in La Jolla, and now we learn via the San Diego Union-Tribune that the Midway aircraft carrier museum has proposed “Wings of Freedom,” a 500-foot-tall sculpture consisting of two wings (they’ve also been described as sails, a tribute to maritime activity on San Diego Bay) on the south end of the city’s Navy Pier. The structures, designed by Tucker Sadler & Associates, would be made of titanium shaped around a steel frame.
Firm News> Miller Hull Opens Office in San Diego
Rendering of the San Ysidro Border Crossing, which is already the world's busiest.
Seattle architecture firm Miller Hull, a past winner of the AIA national Firm Award, may be best-known for their work in the Pacific Northwest, but they’ve also been active in San Diego for the last seven years. Now the firm is finally opening an office in the city, giving them a physical presence and simplifying things for their architects and for clients.
The Latest From Gwynne Pugh
The logo for Pugh's new firm
We recently ran into Gwynne Pugh, former principal at Pugh + Scarpa (now Brooks + Scarpa), who earlier this fall left his longtime job (22 years to be exact) to start his own firm, Gwynne Pugh Urban Studio. It seems that he’s already quite busy working as an urban design consultant. Pugh, who sees himself as an intermediary between cities and developers, is consulting with agencies in the cities of San Diego, Carson, and Long Beach. He’s also teaming up with Bridge Housing on an affordable housing project in Santa Monica and working with Coca Cola to review its sustainability scheme for its bottling plant in Downey. Pugh is also president of the planners’ division of the League of California Cities. “It’s been a great opportunity for me to focus on some of these issues I care about,” said Pugh, who right now is working with three employees, and plans to move to a new office in Playa Vista in the beginning of next year.
Car Free In San Diego?
It seems that Times Square’s pedestrian-friendly experiment is catching on.. According to The San Diego Union Tribune, The Plaza de Panama in San Diego’s Balboa Park is proposing to go car-free with a $33 million plan by Mayor Jerry Sanders and Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs. The proposal would remove 67 auto spaces in the park, and a 900-space parking structure will be built at the south of the park for the displaced cars. If achieved, the new space opens up possibilities not only for strollers but for public artwork and new landscaping. The plan has its detractors, mostly because there is the possibility that the parking structure could impose a fee (parking in the park is currently free). A committee has been created to help raise the funds and the media has stated that there are donors already, who have history of funding park improvements. The new pedestrian friendly space is reflective of the 1915 San Diego Exposition, where the center was completely open to walkers. Officials are hoping to restore it for the centennial anniversary in 2015.
Get Set, Go, Party
Hector Perez, James Gates (Public), Isabel Dutra, James Brown (Public) at the MIX opening. (All photos by Lauren Radack)
Yesterday, we posted the feature from our current California issue, “On Their Mark,” about a new show at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego highlighting seven local firms. While sending over the pictures of the exhibition, Mix: Nine San Diego Architects and Designers, that went into our slideshow, the fine folks at MCASD also sent along these nice photos from the opening party, which were taken by Lauren Radack. In case, like us, you couldn’t make it. (And if you know anyone in these photos we may not have mentioned, do tell). Read More
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