Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Category: All of SAN FRANCISCO

  • Embarcadero – Commuting

    This is our temporary Transbay Terminal.  The old one has finally been demolished.  The Transbay terminal was originally built in 1936 to handle the trains that came across the Bay Bridge into downtown San Francisco.  However, after WWII, the train lines were removed and the terminal became a bus depot.  Over the years it has…

  • Embarcadero – Fly me to the Moon

    Embarcadero at Pier 14 “Raygun Gothic Rocketship” is a temporary art installation on the Embarcadero.  The project is sponsored by the Black Rock Arts Foundation, (the Burning Man group), with support from the Port of San Francisco.  The rocket ship is a retro-futurist sort of thing, and according to the artists group “A critical kitsch…

  • Paper in the wind

    I popped into the SF Fine Art Fair that is going on this weekend.  This is titled Paperlight Fortress by RISD grad Paul Hayes.  He is known for his site specific installations, and this isn’t the first of his I have seen, it was just the first I saw with camera in hand. In Paul’s own words…

  • Icons of San Francisco – Transamerica Pyramid

    ,  An iconic image for San Francisco, the Transamerica Pyramid.  It was designed by architect William Pereira, and when it was first built it engendered considerable argument.  You either hated it or loved it, there seemed to be no in between.    Forty Eight stories or 850 feet tall, it was among the five tallest buildings…

  • SOMA – Defenestration

    6th and Howard SOMA AS OF JUNE OF 2014 DEFENESTRATION HAS BEEN REMOVED Defenestration is at 6th and Howard Street in San Francisco.  Not only is it about two blocks from my house but  I also had the privilege of working with its artist Brian Goggin (before this installation) through a charitable organization LEAP, which…

  • Presidio Habitats – Digger Bee

        I did not find this “habitat” interesting for the art, but rather for the bee itself.  I had never heard of a digger bee, and I am sure many others have not either. These bees are solitary creatures and dig a small network of tunnels under ground. At the end of each tunnel,…

  • Presidio Habitats – Black Tailed Jack Rabbit

    I did this one backwards.  I started at the finish, and felt that the exhibit was tired and sad, but then I turned around and saw the view behind me.  I figured with the wind whipping around and the salt air, that would explain how tired this portion was.  Sadly, that wasn’t the case, the…

  • Presidio Habitats – Owl Dome

    This “Owl Dome” is another habitat for the western screech owl.  Hanging 16 feet in the air it merges tepee and geodesic dome. The design of the dome is similar to the type of nest that an owl might occupy within a tree trunk. A hole allows the owl to enter and nest within the…

  • Presidio Habitats – Ai Weiwei

    Ai Weiwei first came into my consciousness when I read a Financial Times article about his Sunflower Seed exhibition at the Tate Modern. Please, Please, Please watch this amazing video of the exhibition, it explains the making of the seeds and the meaning of them as well. Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist and activist, who is also…

  • Presidio Habitat – American Robin

    Presidio Habitat – American Robin

    There are three signs creating this habitat.  “Adapt to Change”  “Resolve Conflict With Song” and the one way in the back that is hard to read says “Nest From the Inside Out”. This habitat was built for the American Robin, by Philippe Becker Design.  Each letter is framed with a steel armature and mesh netting…

  • The Presidio – Habitat

    Presidio Habitats. This installation, A Habitat of Flight,  is by Surface Design. Their explanation is that this is representative of the Red-Tail Hawks exploration.  going through many different habitats, i.e. open spaces interspersed with trees or built structures. The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the most commonly observed birds of prey in the Presidio as well…

  • The Presidio – Ten Solitary Chairs

    The Presidio of San Francisco covers just under 3 square miles. Much of this is open space. The trust and an organization called FOR SITE began a project called Presidio Habitats as an opportunity for the public to see new, site-based art about place and to experience, the diverse landscapes and stunning vistas of the…

  • Craftsmanship

    I was in Los Angeles last week to talk to the people at Turquoise Mountain.  They are a charity that is helping to preserve and revive the crafts of Afghanistan.  It is a passion of mine.  Sadly, in the United States these crafts are dying.  The cost of labor to produce the high quality goods of…

  • SOMA – Faces

    555 Mission Street SOMA Moonrise East December The sculptor and mixed media artist is a Swiss, based in New York named Ugo Rondinone. The sculptures are of mottled aluminum. Moonrise is the title of a series of 12 giant, ghost-like sculptures each named for a month of the year, and standing nine feet high. Their…

  • The Presidio-Andy Goldsworthy

    The Presidio Near the Arguello Gate Entry I have always been a fan of Andy Goldsworthy.  I love the ethereal and temporary aspect of his work.  This is titled Spire and is at the beginning of the Bay Area Ridge Trail near the Arguello Gate, west of Inspiration Point Overlook and north of the Presidio…

  • Love in the Lower Haight – Silly Pink Bunnies

    Silly Pink Bunnies and Love in the Lower Haight. In October of 2010 the long wall on the corner of Haight and Laguna that surrounds a series of buildings that once housed the UC extension campus became a mural collective. Called “Love in the Lower Haight,” the mural stretches 100 feet up Haight Street from Laguna…

  • Mission – Woman’s Building

    18th and Lapidge Mission This is The Goddess of Light and Creativity on the Woman’s Building in the mission district of San Francisco.  Particularly at 18th and Lapidge.  The building has two walls of a dramatic mural that pay homage to women. The murals were created by a team of seven San Francisco women and…

  • Living Walls

    Using plants for architectural and artistic statements is as old as time, but I am fascinated about how it is becoming part of the main stream.  I was driving down 10th and spotted this newly installed gem at the corner with Bryant.  These things are so amazingly versatile.  Indoors, outdoors, sun, shade, they apparently create…

  • Fairmont Hotel

    This is the back of the famous Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, I am walking up California towards Mason.  The front of this hotel is famous the world over, but has anyone ever noticed the absolutely beautiful wrought iron on the back?  These walkways look down on a quaint little courtyard.  The Fairmont is as…

  • Alleys of San Francisco

    A friend of mine lives on this little alley, and after I took this picture I started to think about how many alleys there are in San Francisco.  I too live on a one block long alley, that is off of another one block long alley.  I am not quite sure why San Francisco is…

  • San Francisco – Public v Private Art

    555 Mission Street SOMA Public versus private art.  This piece entitled Human Structures by Jonathan Borofsky is a permanent installation at 555 Mission Street.  The two heads are part of a series of three by Ugo Rondinone entitled Moonrise Sculptures.  The city of San Francisco has two ordinances to promote art. The first is a zoning…

  • Mission Bay – Where did good architecture go?

    Mission Bay What happened to architecture? This is not architecture, this is value engineering. These buildings were cliches before they were finished. No one is going to fly hundreds of miles to the great city of San Francisco and snap pictures of these monstrosities, unless of course they are urban planners. I would like to…

  • Tenderloin – Fear Head Mural

    Golden Gate and Market The Tenderloin This mural is entitled “Fear Head” it was installed as part of the Wonderland exhibit in 2009.  The creators are Roman Cesario and Mitsu Overstreet.  Wonderland was the brain child of a teacher at SF Art Institute, Lance Fung.  Wonderland created a lot of interesting chatter in the blogsphere…

  • Berwick Place – Murals

    Berwick Place and Heron Street Unknown Artist – I love the tree as an opponent.  The light at this end of Heron was not particularly good, it is a very narrow alley with a building blocking the light from this part of the wall, but the images are wonderful.  The subtle use  of pink to…

  • Clarion Alley

        This mural is in Clarion Alley, it was painted by Emily Buttefly and Tania Esmeralda.

  • Hunters Point Naval Shipyard

    Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.  The original docks were built on solid rock in 1916, they were thought to be the largest in the world at over 1000 feet long.  During the 20th century much of San Francisco Bay shoreline was extended by landfill, this included Hunters Point.  Between World War I and WWII Hunters Point…

  • Random Mural of San Francisco

    Berwick Place and Heron Unknown Artist

  • Edgar Walter and Electric Power

    Edgar Walter and Electric Power

    Pacific Gas and Electric Building 245 Market Street Embarcadero/Financial District Above the arched entryway to the Pacific Gas and Electric building is this bas-relief depicting the primary activities of the company, hydroelectric power.  At the top is a waterworks with water pouring through three openings symbolizing the “falling waters” that come from the mountains.  This…

  • 245 Market Standing As A Remembrance of Skyscrapers of Old

    245 Market Standing As A Remembrance of Skyscrapers of Old

    245 Market Street Financial District / Embarcadero The seventeen story Pacific Gas and Electric Company General Office Building, designed by Bakewell & Brown and built between 1923 and 1925, is one of a series of skyscrapers built during the 1910s and 1920s which imparted to San Francisco its downtown character. This character of large ornamented classic buildings…

  • Mechanics Monument

    Mechanics Monument

    Market at Bush and Battery Mechanics Monument Douglas Tilden This sculpture by Douglas Tilden was one of three major art works for the Market Street Beautification Project at the turn of the 20th century. It was funded with a bequest of $25,000 from James Mervyn Donahue, the son of the late Peter Donahue, who in…