Onion 
One of San Diego’s most iconic, elegant and successful mid-century modern buildings is the SDMA West Wing addition designed by Robert Mosher in the 1960’s. The open-air sculpture court, which houses Panama 66 within a beautiful array of columns, is dear to the community. It is now being threatened by a new SDMA expansion proposal that will demolish and replace it with an even more modern building designed by the internationally recognized, Lord Norman Foster.
Yes, San Diego deserves starchitects to design modern iconic buildings in our city. And good for SDMA for seeking grandeur. But at what cost? Tear down and rebuild? It is disappointing that a more sensitive and creative solution is not proposed by their design team. In September of 2024, Foster himself gave a lecture in the very building he intends to tear down…and, ironically, the lecture was on how his innovative designs worked with existing historic buildings without destroying them.
Big time onion!
Foster+Partners Project Video:
Agreed, this is an onion. That video shows a horrific transformation! The proposed design does not fit the context of Balboa Park at all!
How do you feel about the Timken?
terrible idea!
Instead of destroying something beautiful and iconic, find funding to better maintain Balboa Park and support its institutions? Building more space for the SDMA is no justification for taking something away that serves the entire community and visitors. Find another way, SDMA!
I’m fond of the Panama 66 space but this proposal would be vastly better use of valuable real estate.
Balboa Park real estate belongs to the City, not SDMA which only has a lease on their building.
The proposed project increases profits for SDMA while removing publicly available park space for everyone else, making it a loss of valuable real estate for the people of San Diego as a whole.
SDMA should work harder to strike the right balance between public and private benefit for this project.
Oh my gosh, this is nuts! The space is one of the best spaces in all of San Diego. Anyone who has been there and had a beer, a salad, been to an event, or just sat in there for 5 minutes would agree that it ‘feels good’. It’s shady, airy, historic, old-school, classy and sort of high-brow. It’s just gorgeous. Why the heck would you even consider tearing it down? Insanity. WTF?
I’m fond of the Panama 66 space but this proposal would be a better use of valuable real estate.
Not a fan of though I agree that , while the space is underutilized this seems to overwhelm the Museum of Art next door. The scale seems way too large and from the video looks like it will include yet another high-end dining venue which is exactly what is not needed. We need more lower priced restaurants for families. There is a captive audience of travelers around the world who are looking for an affordable place to eat and we are forcing them to leave the park for that. Travelers might take in another museum if they didn’t have to leave for lunch.