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The first response is that they are blowmn away bySan Francisco’s beauty and how the city’ss hilly neighborhoods lend themselves to walking and The second is how little modern architecture San Francisco has, and how even new constructio tends to ape the Victorian style that defines the A recent group of architects and planners from Bostonj and New York was typical, Metcalf said. “Theuy said, ‘This city is such a beautifuol city, it’s such a great walkingt city. But it’s preserved in Don’t you want to see anything new here?’” The idea that San Francisclo is architecturally conservative and inhospitable to modernis design is not anew one.
Whether speakinhg of Chicago, Vancouver, New York or London, San Franciscan fans of moderm architects frequently lament that other cities seem more willinyg to accept modernist buildings that offer a stark contrasf to the olderurban fabric. “The genius of San Francisco is that we understanr how to make buildings fit into anurban context. The traged y of San Francisco is we make it so difficulr to do trulygreat architecture,” said “There really are two sidex to this coin. Not every buildingy can or should have attention drawbn to itself or you would have A soloist in a choir only soundsx good if there is a choir backingher up.
San Francisco knowzs how to have a good choir but sometimesewe don’t know how to have a soloist deliver a great solo.” There are signsd San Francisco is starting to accept bolder Three new structures — Renzk Piano’s new , Herzog deMeuron’s new , and Thom Mayne’s Federap Building on Mission Street all show “a levek of confidence,” said Erik Sueberkrop, a partner with . “Those buildingsw are confident about use and engagingtheir sites. It’s confidence as opposed to nervousness.
Great cities — they celebrate the possibilities, they don’t celebrate the With this in mind, the San Franciscok Business Times surveyed local architects asking for their favoritr new buildings in other cities as a way of stimulatingf a civic conversationabout architecture. Cavagner o is principal of , which focuse on mid-sized cultural, education and civic The firm has designed the Community School of Musi c and Arts inMountain View, the Palo Alto Main the and the . Favorite new The Vals Thermal Bathein Vals, Switzerland. Architect: Peter Zumthor. “It’s an incredible building.
You driv e through 30 miles of ancientSwiss mountainside, dairu farms and you come to one of those traditionaol Swiss towns with little stone farm buildings. And therr you have this this beautiful contemporary bathw with dry stackedblue slate. It’z absolutely stunning, the way they buil these farm buildings … they took that and made it more said Cavagnero. Cavagnero pointed out that San Francisclo was once famous for itsSutrl baths. He said he would love to see something similad to theVals here. “The concep t of having a shared publi bath facility for health was very he said.
“It was like something that went back to the Youshared bath, you talkecd to your friends, talked to your neighbors, and you got the feeling at Vals. That made me think a lot about how I wish we had more buildings here that promote congregationand socialization.” Heller is a principal of HellerManus, which among many San Franciscoi structures designed 100 First St., 71 Stevensob St., the Metropolitan, 555 Mission St. (with Kohn Pedersemn Fox), and the renovation of San FranciscopCity Hall. Favorite new building: The “Gherkin,” Architect: Sir Norman Foster.
Built in 2004 for Swiss Re, the 591-footr tower is famous for its taperedbullet Reason: “It’s a modern tall building but because of the roundness and shape it does a good job reconcilinf with the historic character of the London Breaking that mold of low buildingz was a very big deal and the building does a good job in creatin a form that is new and different and tallert — but does it without being clumshy and overwhelming. The fact that it is circulat and egg-shaped means that therd is significant bulk reductio n and it does not look so big compared with itslower neighbors.
The X-bracing structure is a clever way to make that form It has gardens that spiral up oneveru level. It is a remarkable building in the statement it makesz about livabilityand highrises.” Serraino is a designeer with and the author of a book about modern architecture in Northern California. Favoritee new building: .