Renzo Piano demonstrates a mastery of light throughout his work. At the new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, he exhibits the same care lighting a museum of the natural world as he has in lighting some of the world's finest art collections. — Published 2008.1112
The all-new 224,000-square-foot (20,800-square-meter) complex for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland brims with amenities, including a public plaza and garden, health clinic, conference center, gift shop, and cafe, as well as clergy living quarters. — Published 2008.1105
The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament has been an impressive landmark of California's capital city of Sacramento ever since its 1889 completion. But by the turn of the 21st century, it had deteriorated and been found incapable of withstanding the next big earthquake. Now, a $34.5 million restoration has rescued this spiritual oasis in a political city. — Published 2006.0329
With its all-encompassing copper skin and nine-story twisting ascent to an Olympian view of San Francisco's skyline, the new de Young Museum presides imperially over Golden Gate Park. — Published 2006.0301
Any visit to a hospital or clinic can seem frightening, all the more so for children afflicted with autism. The slightest distraction, even something as seemingly benign as a water fountain or a beam of sunlight, can trigger a "meltdown," in which autistic patients are overcome with anxiety. — Published 2005.0119
Creating a vibrant, challenging, and engaging environment is at the very heart of designing a childcare center. Should the architecture differ for children who are homeless?
Seeking answers to that question guided the design for the Tenderloin Childcare Center, located in one of San Francisco's most deprived neighborhoods. The result, by Gelfand RNP Architects, is an oasis of safety for 72 children who come from homeless and formerly homeless families. — Published 2003.0924
In 1932, architect Julia Morgan saw the opening of her YWCA building in Chinatown, San Francisco. Over 70 years later, actress Jill Jackson portrays the architect in a one-woman show, hosted by the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum and Learning Center, which now occupies the building. An excerpt shows how the play dramatizes Morgan's ideas. — Editor — Published 2003.0326
There's no longer any question that large architectural projects call for sophisticated computer-aided design systems for their execution. But sometimes very small projects do too.
As recently demonstrated in the new San Francisco Museum of Modern Art store at the San Francisco International Airport, a top-of-the-line design system can work very well to control the design quality — and cost — of a small architectural gem. — Published 2001.0905
After a period of decline, reflecting stagnant public interest in viewing art and in expressing cultural heritage, museum construction took a sharp upturn in the 1980s as the public in the United States and overseas took a new interest in that heritage. — Published 2001.0808
Architecture Design and Building in Northern California, USA
