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San Francisco, California
I don't mean to be the last one standing, only meant to be the next best thing
There are events and tours that I attended during A’23 that did not make the slideshow. Some of them- like the keynote from former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern- just didn’t allow photography. While others like ET121 AR San Francisco: Past, Present and Future just didn’t allow good photography. And in between, in what little time was not already planned, I managed to see parts of the city I usually avoid, in particular a certain iconic building that is featured in a lot of photos on this page.
The Transamerica Pyramid is not especially tall, at 850 feet high it is not especially tall as tall buildings go, but it’s architect (William Pereira, who also designed the Theme Building at LAX) sure knew how to design a memorable building. And as these pictures show, it has a tendency to pop up all over the city, if you know where to look.
Just like A’22 in Chicago, A’23 had an Open Studios Night where you could tour local architectural studios, meet their usually friendly staff, eat their food and drink their drinks, as long as you pay the AIA first. They had a selection of offices organized into package tours, and I picked one that included Autodesk (not pictured), SOM (not pictured) another office I skipped (not pictured) and the San Francisco office of Foster and Partners (pictured here). And the centerpiece of the office was this massive model showing future improvements to (you guessed it) the Transamerica Pyramid.
We are so far going eight for eight in pictures featuring the Transamerica Pyramid. Who knows how many more pictures we’ll see next of this iconic building on this page? Actually I know (I put this whole thing together you know), and after going eight for eight, get ready to only go one for eight as you scroll on down. Still, an overall nine for sixteen is pretty good if you think about it.
On my very last day, after the close of A’23, I had one last tour booked: GT101 Steep Urbanism: A Horizontal Human Society Confronts a Vertical Terrain. Going in I knew this tour was not like the others, but decided to sign up for it anyway. The tour was not quite a tour and more of an audience participation event, with special music playing as we were told to walk around in a non walking way that bordered on modern dance being performed by untalented (at dancing) architects. I enjoyed parts of it, but when the tour reached the top of Telegraph Hill, I decided to sneak away from the large, oversold group and instead take that opportunity to ascend Coit Tower.
The inside lobby of Coit Tower features wall to wall murals, and these murals continue inside the stairwell on the ground floor. The reason that I know they continue up the stairs is that the elevator was not in operation, possibly due to karmic revenge for me skipping out on GT101 Steep Urbanism: A Horizontal Human Society Confronts a Vertical Terrain.
There are thirteen stories of steps to get to the top of Coit Tower which was, despite what these pictures show, surprisingly busy. The top floor is totally open, and the windows have glass on them which protects you from the wind, Although after climbing thirteen stories, I would have welcomed all the wind I could possibly get.
The reason that you walk up those thirteen flights when the elevator is out is to enjoy views like this over the city and the bay. I did this on my last day in San Francisco, after the close of A’23 and as my GT101 Steep Urbanism: A Horizontal Human Society Confronts a Vertical Terrain tour group wandered off to even greater adventures without me.
A’23 is already over, and this slideshow is about to meet that same fate. These very last two pictures from this trip to San Francisco are from the Greenwich Steps. I decided to walk down Telegraph Hill the direct way, and took the steps down and down and down all the way to the Embarcadero, a wonderful experience and somewhere I had not been before in a city that I have been to so many times.
How many times? Well, I was just here less than a year ago for Greenbuild. If you want to see that slideshow which includes SFMOMA, the de Young, Diego Rivera, Transbay Terminal, Google Mountain View, Olafur Eliasson and a picture of Jane Fonda, then go to “I've been punching through the walls, I've been living on the edge, I've been fighting with my demons so long they've become my friends", Page 1 of 2, 2022. The end of that slideshow links back to this one, so if you’re already coming from the San Francisco Greenbuild 2022 slideshow, keep scrolling down to avoid getting caught in an infinite loop of San Francisco pictures.
But wait, there’s more
I go to these AIA Conventions almost every year, meaning that there’s lots of slideshows and pictures and stories from all sorts of different cities, showing off their best architecture and design for all to see.
