The Ferry Building, San Francisco

I love adaptive re-use. I love using old buildings for new purposes. I love renovations that honor the old: old craftsmanship, old materials, and old styles. But I also love the new. I often say I want to stay in the Palace Hotel and have my wifi too.

I don’t know exactly how to label what was done to the Ferry Building. I know it was renovated or rehabbed or something. Upgraded, made seismically safer. But what I do know is I love it. I love the marketplace that has been designed into it and has sprung into life. There are so many reasons to go there now and there are so many ways I’m made to feel welcome, invited.

101 Second, San Francisco

I want to write about place. I want to write about how my environments affect me. I want to voice my opinion about buildings and cityscapes. And I’m terrified that my thoughts will go into a black hole and no one will pay attention. That what I care about and what I think about what I care about won’t matter.

I have not submitted my ideas to anyone because I felt unqualified. Untrained, Uneducated. Unfamiliar. With the world of the built environment. I knew what I liked and what I didn’t. I thought perhaps I was out of synch with my times.

The de Young museum

My experience with the new de Young museum has been revelatory, freeing; — it’s been a watershed for me in terms of my appreciation of new buildings.

I really dislike a lot of modern architecture. For a long time I thought I hated all modern architecture; that I was a perfect San Franciscan, focused on the past and unwilling to experiment.

About place

I’m going to start posting my articles about place. Place informs me. It informs my writing and it is often what I like about a book or an author’s work. Can I imagine being in that place? Can I smell the flowers or the dirt in the street. Can I feel the cobblestones under my feet? or the heat of the sun in a sere land?

I’m often walking and looking at the spaces between buildings. Or taking a moment to assess how a space affects me. I ride trolleys and busses and underground trains. I love them! I love how they sound. I love the old cars and the new ones. I love the sense of sharing.