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Throwdown at the Presidio
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courtesy Gluckman Mayner Architects
We San Franciscans love a political debate. And when the political subject turns to real estate and land development, the debate can get as hot as your favorite Mission District habañero salsa.
One development scenario that has been a simmering topic for several years, is all set to heat right back up. Of course, that would be the Presidio and its latest project celebré, the Don Fisher museum, or as it is correctly known, the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio (CAMP).
CAMP is not the only project proposed for the Presidio, but it certainly is drawing the most feedback. Tonight, the public will get to "cuss and discuss" not only CAMP but other proposed projects in the Presdio. With Mayor Gavin Newsom siding with the CAMP proponents and the Board of Supervisors lining up against it, the stage is set for some first class histrionics as only San Francisco can do it.
The CAMP project brings into play several factors that will need objective consideration (and will be explored in a later column):
- the Presidio is an important historic district that requires sensitive treatment
- the Fisher art collection is a significant contemporary collection that should be available to the public
- San Franciscans still feel hoodwinked by the out-of-scale Letterman Digital Arts Center (the George Lucas project) and are leery of the super rich erecting new buildings in the Presidio
- the strong undercurrent of opinion that maintains San Francisco's built environment should be frozen in the past
When I spoke with Richard Gluckman, the architect for CAMP, and one of the best known museum designers around, he remarked, "Working in San Francisco is not like anywhere else."
I guess like most everything here, even architecture is a political act.
