Making the Point
Making the Point
This is about high-rises, their impacts, and alternatives for them in San Francisco, a city that encouraged new ideas, but retained respect for the scale and spirit of its older neighborhoods.
For over half a century, between my first job and retirement, architecture took up more than sixty percent of my waking hours. I often carried a design idea away from the drafting board and let it simmer through an evening and pop up at four in the morning as my mind worked over the problem. Being an architect wasn’t just a job: it was a life.
Making the Point – Part 2
As San Francisco dealt with growing demand for housing in the second half of the 20th century, I joined the Planning Commmission and questioned the popular high-rise alternatives to single family homes.
Making the Point – Part 3
I looked to London’s many small parks for an example of how SF’s Sunset could be revitalized and found a Notting Hill neighborhood, where residences stacked around private park areas.
Making the Point – Part 4
Modern high-rises may excite the viewer, but they help to further isolate each of us from others and ignore the environmental ills connected with their construction.