Santa Fe Depot - Union Station

Santa Fe Depot. 1050 Kettner Boulevard

A beautiful example of the Spanish Mission Revival style of architecture. It's everywhere down here, but I've seen few as grand as the Santa Fe Depot, outside of Balboa Park. As with most of the buildings in Balboa, the Depot was built for the Panama-California Exposition from 1915-1917, which celebrated the opening of the canal.


Like the Panama Canal, the railroad itself, going through the Laguna Mountains, is another example of the great engineering feats at the turn of the 20th century by American engineers. For me, the Santa Fe Depot is a symbol of the imagination and ingenuity of those men. The interior is still impressive, with its arched ceilings and glass chandeliers on the side, even with Amtrak ticket line. It is visually stimulating and I lament that more of these buildings are not built nowadays. 

Museum of Contemporary Art - San Diego

Museum of Contemporary Art - San Diego. 1100 Kettner Boulevard.

I thought a museum of modern art was a good place to start in my design to enter into the artistic community of San Diego. The Museum of Contemporary Art (www.mcasd.org) actually has two locations, downtown and La Jolla. Since I was staying downtown, I visited that one first. The museum is concealed behind the light rail transit station and adjacent to the Santa Fe Depot (more on this in the next post). I was a little unsure about what I would find when I walked through the glass doors, but for a free entry to all those under 25, I was happy seeing all kinds of statement-making art.

The exhibit that dominated most of my attention was by Jennifer Steinkamp. Her digital projections of flowers entitled Madame Curie, and also a tribute to the scientist fascinated me and I sat in a corner watching the three and a half minute loop. Here are my reactions:

Impressions of color, rambling branches, 

expansions of waves arching slowly.

A screen saver for your unused space.

Distracting. 

A parade of rolling, flowering trees 

Overlapping spindly branches with small flowers,

laborious conceived echoes, standing impressions.

Humming of continual projectors.

Perfection.

Unsettling adherence to static illuminations.

Duplications of tumbling orange blossoms. 

Three and a half minutes of rotating sycophants. 

Repetitious two-dimensional cold pixels.

Lifeless.