The best of San Francisco post-quake architecture: large projects

  SFMOMA (photo:greatbuildings.com)

Sometimes the worst event can have the best outcome.  That's what happened with San Francisco's 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the subsequent explosion of good architecture.  What are the best buildings we've built since Giants/Athletic World Series was interrupted 19 years ago?  Here are my favorite large projects from then until now.

San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art.  Mario Botta's 1994 voluminous museum was the first addition to the museum district that was to come.  The unusual choice of brick masonry made the building a standout in a city populated with light colored strutures.  The galleries are spacious, the lobby impressive, and, if anything, the museum could probably have used more space.  Look at the fine points of this building; Botta carefully considered every detail. 

City Hall.  A loving restoration of the seat of city government.  The seismic retrofit of City Hall necessitated such a massive intervention, that the opportunity to recreate the grandeur was too great to pass up.  Although a financial stretch, the reapplication of gold leaf to the dome was the icing on this big municipal cake.

SFO International Terminal.  Craig Hartman of SOM achieved what all good airport terminals should--capturing the idea of flight in the building structure.  The undulating roof trusses seem to effortlessly span the vastness of the terminal.  I like that when you enter this building the entire layout is intuitive, you understand the space in a moment.

Ferry Building and the Embarcadero.  The best thing the '89 quake did was demolish the old Embarcadero Freeway and allow the Embarcadero to become the city's living room.  With the renovation of the Ferry Building into a culinary center and the opening up of the waterfront to downtown, that's exactly what happened.  The result is some of the best urban space in American.

JP Morgan Chase, 560 Mission.  Probably the most successful skyscraper in the post-earthquake group of highrise commercial office buildings.  The skin of this Pelli , consisting glass and finely expressed mullions, creates transparency and layering so that the tower hovers effortlessly above Mission Street.  The quietly understated pocket park with its bamboo forest is a South of Market gem.

Museum trifecta.  The de Young, California Academy, and Contemporary Jewish Museum, all completely recently, represent a cultural grand slam for San Francisco.  Each one is a completely different take on the museum genre, each by a different "starchitect", and each a successful expression of a museum.

Yerba Buena Lofts.  One of the purest examples of the effective use of concrete, YBL redefined the loft in San Francisco.  (disclaimer: I live in YBL and love Stanley Saitowitz's work.)

There are certainly other illustrations of good architecture that I could have mentioned; these are my favorites.  Next up, I'll look at the best of the smaller post-earthquake buildings in San Francisco.