The newly emerging BAM/PFA building in downtown Berkeley. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle
By John King / San Francisco Chronicle
A walk through downtown Berkeley reveals a treasure of pre-World War II architecture, different styles and materials blending together in comfortable structures that were built for their time but seem to grow in stature with each passing decade.
The newer buildings? Not so much. And the ones on deck — one as tall as anything now there — could be even less satisfying.
The problem isn’t the scale of what’s proposed, or the architectural mishmash in the mix. It’s the way that a confusing process encourages checklists over creativity, while opponents would rather fight to stop nearly all change, rather than find ways to make that change enrich downtown’s sense of place.
Nearly 20 projects are now in the works in the area roughly bounded by Berkeley Way on the north, Dwight Way on the south, UC Berkeley on the east and the Civic Center on the west.(...)
Read the rest of John King: Keeping downtown Berkeley’s design distinctive is a tall order (1,286 words)
By guest. |
Permalink |
63 comments |
Post tags: Berkeley architecture, Berkeley planning, Berkeley real estate, Cityscapes: San Francisco and Its Buildings, Downtown Berkeley, John King