San Diego Architectural Foundation

Welcome to the new and improved SDAF website! With its launch, we’re excited to introduce enhanced features including this blog; new, user-friendly membership software; and an event calendar, which we’ll use to keep you in the know about any and all San Diego design-related goings-on about town, and then some!

And now, in the spirit of new beginnings, we’ll start with a look back...

Click on the link for an overview of the 'Top 10 architectural moments of 2009' as posted by the L.A. Times. Granted, the list may be considered somewhat... dubious. A reader on the TImes website commented, "This is a bizarre list. Half of these aren't even buildings/inhabitable structures, and there is a LA / NY bias. There were MANY better projects completed this past year, whether you look locally, nationally, or internationally. The person who put this list together is probably missing a few nuts and bolts." That said, and in defense of the Times, they are referred to as architectural "moments".

Agree or not with the overall list, we found some items interesting and worthy of note, including:

• Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook Visitors Center (#4), designed by the San Diego based (and 2009 Orchid winning) firm, Safdie Rabines Architects.
• Pedestrian-only space on Broadway (and elsewhere), New York City (#5) reminded us a lot of PARKing Day in San Diego on September 18, 2009 (see SDUT photo below)
• (500) Days of Summer (#8) - we saw the film, but neglected to notice that scenes of downtown Los Angeles had been "carefully edited to excise shots of Walt Disney Concert Hall or Thom Mayne's Caltrans District 7 Headquarters..." That'll teach us to pay closer attention.
• Mention of the book "Building Up and Tearing Down," by Paul Goldberger (#9); also suggested reading in the Reading Room section of November's SDAF Newsletter, By Design. So - we were paying attention, after all!