SEGD_Design - (Page 30) 1 IN AND NEAR DOWNTOWN Chicano Park 1 The spirit of the Latino culture is heroically displayed at Chicano Park in Barrio Logan. This one-of-a-kind experience is a visual story unique to San Diego. The park has a powerful community story and is the largest collection of Chicano murals in the world. Its concrete-and-steel pillars are not only supports for the Coronado Bay Bridge, but the canvas for stunning murals created over nearly three decades. Take a tour with one of the original muralists from the 1970s. (Photo: Harmon Nelson) 2 6 New Children’s Museum 6 The Rob Quigley-designed museum, called the greenest building in San Diego, is the “picture frame” around innovative, provocative contemporary artworks that kids can touch, climb, or move. It opened just in time to meet an urgent community need, providing early exposure to the visual arts at a time when arts curriculum is increasingly cut from schools. (Photo: Courtesy Rob Wellington Quigley, FAIA) Martin Luther King Promenade 7 This urban, open linear park connects the San Diego Convention Center with the rest of downtown San Diego. Dedicated to the former civil rights leader, the promenade is a colorful, palm-lined community space accented with public artworks. Urban Trees Project 2 The beautiful walk along Harbor Drive between the airport and downtown San Diego is enlivened with creative energy. In 2003 the Port of San Diego’s Public Art Program conceived Urban Trees as a temporary exhibit initiative aimed at punctuating, activating, and enhancing San Diego Bay. Each year, approximately 30 artworks are commissioned for a yearlong exhibit along Harbor Drive. Environmental graphic designer Harmon Nelson’s Californiascope was one of the 2008 winners. (Photo: Harmon Nelson) San Diego Convention Center 8 Designed by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson (with sculpture by Niki de St. Phalle), the Convention Center is a new urban element on the waterfront. Its most distinguishing feature is the Sails Pavilion, the central hallway featuring Teflon-coated fiberglass ‘sails’ that recall San Diego’s maritime history. (Photo: Timothy Hursley) Tweet Street, Cortez Hill Park 3 How do you transform a tiny string of land along a major freeway into a family oasis? Visual Asylum did just that. Featuring hip, locally designed birdhouses, shady greenery for children to run and play, and curved pathways to casually stroll, Tweet Street is San Diego’s newest linear park, designed to house birds displaced by downtown development. (See feature story, page 36.) Gaslamp Quarter 9 Situated in the historical center of downtown San Diego, the Gaslamp Quarter District is home to urban entertainment, dining, and shopping. Its distinctive gateway sign, designed by Harmon Nelson, has become a major landmark for the city. Designed pre-computer, its filigree was handdrawn and the gold castings were handcrafted to fit over the tapered column. (Photo: Brett Shoaf) San Diego Copley Symphony Hall 4 Time your visit with a concert and you’ll be living in high style. Originally built in 1929 as a premiere movie house, this lush, French Rococo style concert hall was conferred to the San Diego Symphony in 1984. Horton Plaza 10 Horton Plaza is the first example of architect Jon Jerde’s “experience architecture.” When it opened in 1985, it was a risky and radical departure from the standard paradigm of mall design. Its mismatched levels, long one-way ramps, sudden dropoffs, dramatic parapets, shadowy colonnades, cul-de-sacs, and brightly painted façades create an architectural experience in dramatic contrast to the conventional wisdom of mall management. Chinese Historical Museum 5 One of the gems among San Diego’s many museums, the Chinese Historical Museum’s mission is to collect, preserve, and share the Chinese American experience and Chinese history, culture, and art to educate the community and visitors. 8 9 segdDESIGN 27
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