Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Palm Springs – Modern Architecture

    I loved this building.  To me it epitomizes everything you think about when you think 1960’s architecture.  It’s square lines, its concrete tilt-up panel walls and its austereness.  It was built in 1969 and designed by Robert Ricciardi.  I have found absolutely no information about this building, one little blurb mentioned that the “failure” of…

  • Palm Springs – Modern Architecture

      Palm Springs is the home of the Modernism movement, especially “desert modernism”.  While modernism is not my favorite architecture style, when it is done right, it really does sing.  This is the Del Marco Hotel.  It is located at 225 W. Baristo Road in Palm Springs.  The architect was William Cody.  In 1947 Cody…

  • 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…

  • Malibu, California – Adamson House

    This is the Adamson House, also known as Vaquero Hill, a historic house with lovely grounds in Malibu, California.  It has been called the “Taj Mahal of Tile” due to its extensive use of decorative ceramic tiles created by the Malibu Potteries company. The house was built in 1930 for Rhoda Rindge Adamson and Merritt…

  • Malibu, California – April 22, 2001 – Getty Villa

    In 1954, oil baron J. Paul Getty opened a gallery adjacent to his home in Pacific Palisades. Can you imagine, you were able to walk around his home and view his collections.  Visitors were limited but it must have been very intimate.   When he ran out of room, he built a second museum on the property…

  • Pasadena – Huntington Gardens

    The Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Gardens, in San Marino, California. I saw the most amazing special exhibit by John Frame called “Three Fragments of a Lost Tale”. According to the gallery notes, “the project had its beginnings in a dream: Frame was jolted awake by what seemed like an unfolding…

  • 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…

  • Daffodil Hill, Amador County April 10, 2011

     * McLaughlin’s Daffodil Hill Ranch in Volcano, California. Daffodil Hill is a 4 acre ranch that has been in the same family since 1887.  Wagon pioneers Arthur and Lizzie McLaughlin were the original owners.  The ranch was a stopping place for drivers bringing timber down from the Sierras to the Kennedy and Argonaut mines, during…

  • 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…

  • Atascadero City Hall

    The City Hall is a gem of a building sitting aside a wonderful city park.  The town itself is being revitalized with a lot of modern chain stores, but the downtown still holds its historic charm.  Sadly, like so many valley towns in California it is suffering from these terrible economic times. The building was…

  • 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…

  • Sonoma, California – Watmaugh Road Bridge

    This truss bridge is the center of an acrimonious debate going on in Sonoma, California.  It is the Watmaugh Road Bridge built in 1929.  It was dedicated as an historic landmark in 1981.  Today the county engineers want to replace it, and the preservationists want to rehab it.  We will have to watch, probably for…

  • 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

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