Schindler and Gill were my main goals of the architectural part of my trip, but I was able to visit a few other places. Louis Khan’s Salk Institute was one, considered by many to be a Modern masterpiece. It is gorgeous. Considering that it was designed and built in 1959, it’s also timeless. It could be built today and be oooo’d and ahhh’d over.
Inspired by monasteries and designed to conduct medical research (the monastic angle comes from researchers needing space to be alone and think), the place is beautifully austere. It seems ready for a higher purpose. You want to whisper when you’re near it. Khan expertly addressed the coastal location to heighten the contemplativeness of the place and provide visual allegories to the importance of the tasks at hand. Although not described as Brutalism (remember kids, the Brutal part of Brutalism comes from the French word “brute” which means “raw” as in raw materials), it looks Brutal to me. Sign me up as a fan.
Speaking of Brutalism, I also stopped in at the Geisel Library at University of California-San Diego (Geisel aka Dr. Suess!). This is also a timeless building that simply looks monumentally otherworldly. The building was designed by William Pereira. He apparently has a thing for pyramids since he also did the TransAmerican pyramid in San Francisco.
Whelp, that’s it. I’ll leave you with several general photos of San Diego.
A Neutra is hidden behind that fence...
I stayed down the street from this live-work building by Rob Wellington Quigley (he lives and works there). On initial approach, it first appeared to be an abandoned cathedral, but the spires were oriented the wrong way.
A billion dollar yacht...
Some of the sidewalks are bridges!
A dance hall by irving Gill:
No comments:
Post a Comment