San Diego is a young city, incorporated just 145 short years ago. Certainly our design history began well before that, but most of what we see today was built after 1850. Alonzo Horton the father of much of what we have now in terms of buildings and streets, first saw San Diego in 1867. Many of the historic parts of downtown San Diego were built between then and the turn of the Century, including the original Horton Square in 1871, and the Hotel Del Coronado in 1888. Many of the buildings constructed during this time were heavily influenced by the Victorian style and look much like structures built anywhere during the period.
In the late 1700's, there were some small good quality buildings around Old Town done in the adobe style brought to us by the Spaniards who accompanied or followed Father Junipero Serra. The romantic beauty of that architecture returned to San Diego with a flourish for the Panama-California International Exposition of 1915-1916. Splendidly designed by Bertrum Goodhue, the buildings of Balboa Park inspired the design of the Santa Fe Depot of 1915, the Junipero Serra Museum of 1929, the North Island military base, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and the Naval Training Center, all of about that same period. Following closely on the heels of this wave was the County Administration building of 1935 and the San Diego Police Station of 1939.
As important as the Exposition was, Spanish Revival and our own form of modernism was on the rise and being practiced by the great architect Irving Gill. Gill s impact began to be felt after the turn of the century. Richard Requa, Lilian Rice and Kate Sessions contributed greatly to this movement along with many other gifted and dedicated designers and architects of the period.
The Spanish Revival and Craftsman styles of architecture found their expression in many residential buildings of the time and, to this day, account for the character of many of our vintage neighborhoods.
The neighborhoods of San Diego were forming during this period before World War II. Golden Hill, North Park Mission Hills, Rancho Santa Fe, La Jolla and others each developed its own character. The bungalow as a design type flourished here and added measurably to the unique character of each community and neighborhood. The New Urbanism of today was the format for planning then. Building was slow and thoughtful.
Looking back from the 1990's, the move at the beginning of the century into a romantic Mediterranean sense of what appropriate San Diego architecture should be set us on a course that now reaches across all facets of design in the region. The use of stucco, natural light, trellises, courtyards, gardens and generally seductive forms is still the favorite idiom of our best known contemporary architects even though their results are thoroughly modern. Regardless of when it is built, the most expressive, livable and timeless architecture finds inspiration in climate, terrain and lifestyle. This offers the promise of an evolving indigenous architecture.
As always, it is the execution of design that matters, more than its label. Even the recent Horton Plaza, that most revered icon of later 20th century life, owes its essence to those romantic directions first set by Bertrum Goodhue in 1915, with a little color inspired by the Mexican architect Louis Barragan. Our position as an international city can be delightfully expressed by the occasional Latin influence in the design of our buildings.
As San Diego grew into a mature 20th century place, the architecture of the intervening periods found its way to our city. The 50's, 60 s and 70 s contributed typical modern commercial buildings, not unlike those of any other city, and a master plan for a great university, UCSD. The magnificent Salk Institute was built during this period and was the high point of modern architecture in San Diego until more recent times. The best architects in San Diego worked diligently at creating San Diego in those years and they designed most of our modern high-rise buildings downtown and the shopping centers of the suburbs.
Speaking of suburbs, let s get back to the question of why all of San Diego looks alike. Our city has been building at a fever pitch for the last two decades. New planned communities sprung up then filled up with a growing population of both native born and recently arrived natives . (San Diego has a wonderful way of converting one to a native within a matter of weeks.)
During this orgy of planning, design and construction, tens of thousand of homes were built, along with shopping centers, schools, offices and the like. If you came here from another planet you would certainly assume that everything had been designed by one person with only one idea. Where are the wonderful sensitivities of the past and present? Where is the influence of our heritage and quality of life expressed? Why does San Diego look like Orange County?
This trend concerned many and was expressed by the strengthening of community planning groups. Through these groups, the voice of San Diego was heard and new words entered our design vocabulary, such as view corridor, compatibility and, story pole. While it has been a sometimes painful process, the preservation of neighborhood character was advanced. It has made more neighborly designers out of all of us.
Even so, the design attention paid to building in the early and mid points of the century when the city was building at more sedate pace, has not been applied uniformly in recent times. The same can be said of all parts of our lives. Since hamburgers are the same everywhere, why should design not follow suit? The pseudo Mediterranean beige stucco design is everywhere. But it has lost the fresh vitality of its origins. On starter homes, mansions, shopping centers, churches, libraries, offices. You name the building type, that s the common denominator of design in San Diego. It is a well intentioned attempt to capture that romance that Goodhue brought us in 1915.
But this uniformity is failing San Diego, although apparently we ask for it. It sells. Maybe it s OK. I don t like it, but it would seem the buying and working public does.
Giving credit where credit is due, thank God for San Diego s geography and topography. The canyons, mesas, mountains and shoreline define communities and neighborhoods giving each a unique setting and some tough physical constraints. This has created some degree of planning and urban design diversity that overcomes the measure of the uniformity of architectural design. That s what makes it all work better here than in Orange County where there are few limits and the earth really is as flat as the desert it once was.
This uniformity of design is probably a natural occurrence when great areas of a region are being built at the same time. It is difficult to build natural diversity into large projects. The best cities, from a design standpoint, seem to be built over a longer period of time, with San Francisco an exception to that rule. They were just lucky to have to deal with terrain and to build in a time when individual character was a virtue.
The recent recession slowed the carpet of stucco look-alikes. As a city, we took a breath and turned our attention to building some rather remarkable public buildings. This has given us a chance to once again think about what San Diego architecture can be and where is it going as we head into the next century.
Over the last decade, UCSD has made every effort to create a campus of outstanding individual architecture and art. Having succeeded at this, their efforts have been noticed elsewhere. Several new buildings downtown, most notable One America Plaza, have been designed by international architects in collaboration with local architects and have set new standards for design, particularly in the execution and finish of the buildings. The Convention Center and the Martin Luther King Linear Park nearby are excellent examples of what can be done with modern architecture and urban design to capture the spirit of this City and region.
Our library system has fostered design innovation and has several excellent branches to attest to its success. Chula Vista knocked our socks off with its new library by the Mexican architect, Ricardo Leggoretta which was a bold departure from the typical suburban building, but crossed the design border to true contemporary Mexican architecture. The main library proposed to be complete by 2000 will spare no design attention as nationally known, local architect Rob Quigley rises to the challenge of creating a world class icon for San Diego near the bay.
San Diego's Centre City Development Corporation is to be credited with the high quality redevelopment of downtown that is taking form. CCDC not only has insisted on good planning, but has set the standard for world class architectural design with the buildings they have fostered.
Scripps Institute recently completed the Neuroscience Center by the brilliant architects Todd Williams and Billy Tsien of New York. Many believe it surpasses the landmark Salk Institute designed by Louis Kahn. These buildings along with those of UCSD, are in suburban settings illustrating what can be done in the open when one sets one s goals high enough.
With few notable exceptions, mass designed architecture seems to define the course of the last decades. Yet the level of individually designed buildings is improving all the time. The competition from outside designers, the increasing skill of San Diego architects, and the demands being made by a few select clients has raised the level of design quality. Just as word spreads about what is a good hamburger or sport utility vehicle, examples of better design are in front of all of us all the time.
In the first third of this century, San Diego produced a great deal of truly unique and outstanding design work. With some exceptions, we have not matched the quality of that period in the intervening years, concentrating more on quantity than quality. We have turned our attention back to design in recent years, however, and have some examples that will set a new standard. We have the natural setting to inspire us, and the level of quality redefined by a wonderful mixture of local and international talent. A unique San Diego design idiom, hidden in our unique climate and terrain, has always been sought like the Holy Grail. The search goes on.
Mark Steele, AICP, AIA, is president of the M.W. Steele Group, Inc.