Essays
A Hero Goes Dark
Sunday, December 21, 2014, was last call for the Berkeley Art Museum. The fan-shaped concrete structure swept this boy off the street and held him for a long time. Mario
Part Two: Design Radicals: What Does It Mean Now?
The first part of the interview with Greg Castillo looks at the “Design Radicals” exhibit that he cocurated for the University of California, Berkeley. This second part looks at the
Part One: The Design Radicals Exhibit
Modern architecture has its roots in social change. On the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, which was an important catalyst for social change on campuses in the 1960s,
Back to Work: Design Still Gives Me Hope
The return from our three-week holiday in France and the United Kingdom has been more disorienting than usual. First, we had to give up wine at lunch! Then we gave
Slowing Alcatraz Down
Alcatraz is full of myths. Some true, some false. The park service has done a good job of underplaying the dramatic potential and introducing some interpretation, but not too much.
Google Buses, 8 Washington, One Percent, and Resist!
This post started out as an exploration about recent changes and resistance in the bay area. But now I am finishing it on Valentine’s Day. So, it must be about
A Few Random Notes on Prayer and Love
Most of these blog posts have been about design or art, so it’s time for one that’s more about faith. In Los Angeles recently, we had a few folks over
Best of 2013
We are off to the UK to see Paul’s family so I thought I would file this before we lift off. Best Historic Memory I am compiling this a few
On the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
Still Marching towards Liberation courtesy Library of Congress Today is August 28, the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Remember, it was called the “March on Washington for Jobs
Larry Fournier
Mentor and Friend There have been waves of loss in my life. In young adulthood, many people were taken by AIDS and related disorders. This slackened somewhat when protease inhibitors
Best of 2012
I was going to try and write the Best of 2012 blog in chronological order, because then the images on my Facebook diary could guide me. But that didn’t work,
Neutra House Coda
The three cottages in 1940 Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections & University Archives, Stanford University Libraries Nearly four years ago, I went to the dedication of a renovated
Celebrating A. Quincy Jones, FAIA
The Exhibition and Catalog from the Hammer Museum I became interested in A. Quincy Jones, FAIA, sometime in the late 1970s because of the modernist tract homes he designed for
Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu
Through June 30, 2013, at the Oakland Museum Daughter of the Revolution, 1993 courtesy museumca.org It took me a while to warm to Hung Liu’s art. Not to the artist
Who Pays the Piper?
Removing San Francisco’s Urbanity No doubt the Sheraton bean-counters figured they could make more money turning the space to another “higher” use, like a spa or a high-end celebrity chef
Some Notes on Mass Customization
A few years ago, I started writing a piece on mass customization. How do well-funded companies make consumers feel like individuals? Recently I was in Palm Springs and wondered, how
The Country Was Saved. Now It’s Time for a Revolution.
courtesy www.barackobama.com The country was saved. Barely. From our vantage point in the liberal Bay Area, it is difficult to understand how half the country could vote for someone who,
Vote McGovern
A few days ago, I watched the 2005 documentary One Bright Shining Moment about George McGovern’s run for the presidency in 1972. I was 13 turning 14 at the time
A Garden in Leicestershire
Graham Cousins went house-hunting with a spade. He and his wife Jenny decided to sell their comfortable suburban house on the outskirts of Leicester because its modest garden did not
Finding the Right Architect
Some Notes on the Rothko Chapel John and Dominique de Menil, 1968. Photo: Hickey-Robertson, Houston courtesy menil.org If there was one person who inspired me to begin this blog, it
Class Lenses: A Few Thoughts on Planning and Development in San Francisco
Last week I went to the Principals’ Roundtable sponsored by furniture dealer SideMark in the beautiful all-white Teknion showroom high up in 88 Kearny. The speaker was the director of
Slowing Down at SFMOMA
Richard Serra Drawings: A Retrospective Sharon Lockhart: Lunch Break Earlier this year, we saw “Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It was
Best of 2011
The greatest thing about 2011 has been Occupy Wall Street. At last, the lie that everybody will be rich has been exposed: the one percent is getting richer and everybody
A Week of Loss
Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne and Quintana Roo Dunne in Malibu, California A great deal of the meaning in Joan Didion’s work can be found in the space between the
Kevin Bean: Journey to the Edges of Color
My friend John van Duyl introduced me to the work of Kevin Bean, a local painter who taught at Stanford and has exhibited at the Charles Campbell and John Berggruen
The Rest of the News from Monterey
I wrote a blog for The Architect’s Newspaper about the Monterey Design Conference. They wanted it short and sweet. So I decided to post some of the long and sour