SAN DIEGO’S ETERNAL SUNSHINE Landscape icons abound in the host city of asLa’s 2011 annuaL Meeting and expo. By Daniel Jost, ASLA Watch the Weather on KUSI San Diego and you’ll hear four different forecasts—as I write it’s sunny and 86 degrees in the desert, 74 and fair in the inland valleys, 62 and misty along the coast, and 44 and breezy in the mountains. Within an hour of downtown, you’ll find beaches overtaken by sea lions, scrubby hillsides covered in wildflowers, windblown pines, and colorful desert formations. San Diego has a range of interesting designed land- scapes as well. It has world-famous zoos and golf courses. The University of California, San Diego, has one of the best collections of contextual art anywhere, and nearby is Louis Kahn’s iconic Salk Institute with its runnel that seems to flow to the sea. When people think about Southern California, they often think about sprawl, and San Diego has plenty of that. The easiest way to get around is by car, but many parts of the city are walkable and bikable. And thanks to the presence of canyons, the city had built-in limits to its development, so many neighborhoods maintain strong ties to the natural environment. 88 / LanDscape architecture magazine JULY 2011 this page san Diego is home to the salk institute and a number of other intriguing landscapes. IMAGE creDit © adrian.torkington:: FOTOGRaFiCa LanDscape architecture magazine JUly 2011 / 89 San Diego also has a dense urban core that has gained new vibrancy 1 Martin Luther King Jr. promenade in the past few decades. Strategic planning has helped to transform 1988–1997: PeteR WalkeR anD PaRtneRs (lanDsCaPe the historic Gaslamp Quarter, once a hangout for prostitutes, into aRChiteCts); CentRe City DeveloPment CoRPoRation, City oF a lively district filled with restaurants and stores. Although down- san DieGo (Client); austin, hansen, Fehlman GRouP (uRBan DesiGn); maRtha sChWaRtz, ASLA, Dennis aDams, anDRea Blum town is still relatively short on neighborhood park space, it has a (aRtists); ChuRCh enGineeRinG (enGineeRs); melvin eDWaRDs, brand-new park, designed to accompany the baseball stadium and RoBeRto salas, JeRRy Dumalo, maRy lynn DominGuez, tama an iconic new pedestrian bridge that connects the stadium to the Dumalo (sCulPtoRs) waterfront. Aside from areas controlled by the navy and coast guard, the downtown waterfront is publicly accessible and very much alive Many memorials to Martin Luther King Jr. are tucked away in with people walking, biking, and riding pedicabs. poor, segregated neighborhoods, but this linear park designed by Peter Walker and Partners has a prominent location between the In some areas along the water, you’ll see vendors selling Mexican city’s convention center and its bustling Gaslamp Quarter. King crafts. San Diego was founded by Spanish monks (the padres) and is remembered in his own words with more than 30 quotations was part of Mexico until the mid-1800s, so much of its character, engraved into flat rectangular stones that alternate from one side from the food to the architecture, has a strong Spanish influence. of the path to the other. Abstract sculptures recalling the civil For years, all that divided the city’s southern suburbs from Mexico rights struggle anchor the promenade. was a single wire marking the border, but construction of a border fence began in the early 1990s to cut down on illegal immigration Some memorials are narrow in their appeal, but on a sunny and drug smuggling. morning in early April, this place was alive with all kinds of people who were walking, jogging, biking, and riding skateboards. Many Today, San Diego is the second-largest city in California and the eighth visitors end up reading the quotations, and many of them likely largest in the country. If you are planning to come to this year’s ASLA leave with King’s words echoing in their minds. Runs from 5th Annual Meeting or you just happen to be in town this summer, here Avenue and L Street to West Market Street and Columbia Street, are a few notable landscapes you might consider checking out. parallel to Harbor Drive 90 / LanDscape architecture magazine JULY 2011 56 21 del mar 4 poway 20 29 31 30 11 Soledad 1. martin luther king Jr. Promenade Lagoon San Vicente Reservoir 2. Children’s Park and Pond Torrey Pines 3. Petco Park/“Park at the Park” State Beach Sycamore Canyon 4. Seaport village and the 22 Miramar Open Space Preserve Reservoir embarcadero 5 Miramar Oak Oasis Open Torrey Pines College Space Preserve 5. tuna harbor Park Golf Course 23 Alliant International 6. urban trees exhibit 13 University 67 21 7. County administration Center 805 12 8. Balboa Park Louis A Steltzer 25 Univ of Park California 9. sea World 24 San Diego 10. san Diego zoo 15 Santee 11. san Diego safari Park Miramar Marine Corps Air Station Santee Lakes 12. salk institute 17 Regional Park And Camp Lindo Lake 13. Black’s Beach 16 Marian Bear Memorial Park San Diego River 14. Children’s Pool 14 Mt Soledad Mast Natural Park Mission Trails Park 52 15. Dog Beach at ocean Beach la jolla Regional Park 16. la Jolla Cove 17. La Jolla shores 8 18. mission Beach 274 Kate O Sessions 19. Pacific Beach Memorial Park Tecolote Canyon 27 S Kearny 20. swami’s Beach a Natural Park n Mesa Park D i 8 21. neurosciences institute e g o F 163 w 22. Torrey Pines state natural 19 y el Cajon Lake Murray Reserve Park Mission Bay Mission Murray 23. Torrey Pines Golf Course and Park Bay 33 Reservoir 28 the lodge at torrey Pines 18 University Of San Diego San Diego State University 125 24. library Walk la meSa 9 Presidio 25. the stuart Collection, uCsD Park 8 805 San Diego River 54 26. Water Conservation Garden 15 Mission Bay 32 27. Viejas outlet Center Park 34 35 94 5 26 28. First san Diego River US Marine Corps lemon groVe US Recruit Depot 10 Spring Valley improvement Project Naval Chollas San Diego Park Training Balboa 15 29. solana Beach Coastal Rail trail Center Int'l Airport 8 Park Sunset Cliffs Park United States Naval 30. Stone Brewing World Bistro Medical Center and Gardens 6 7 17 31. Cottonwood Creek Park 5 1 san diego 32. Presidio Park North Island Naval 4 2 Fort Rosecrans Military 209 Air Station 33. mission san Diego de alcalá Reservation 282 3 Sweetwater 34. Old town san Diego state Reservoir n Coronado Summit historic Park 75 Paradise Hills Park Park United States 35. ­­­Heritage Park Naval Station 0 1 2 4 Miles Cabrillo National Bonita Monument national City Sweetwater San Diego Bay 54 County Park map creDit 0 1 2 4 KM ©map Resources Sweetwater County Park Upper Otay Reservoir 2 children’s park and pond 1996: PeteR WalkeR anD PaRtneRs (lanDsCaPe aRChiteCts); CentRe City DeveloPment CoRPoRation, City oF san DieGo75 (Client); austin, hansen, Silver Strand Hilltop Dr Lower Fehlman GRouP (uRBan DesiGn); maRtha sCState BeachhWaRtz, ASLA, Dennis aDams, 805 5 Otay Reservoir anDRea Blum (aRtists); ChuRCh enGineeRinG (enGineeRs) San Diego Fwy San Diego Country Club ar St Golf Course lom E Pa Palomar St e Lower Otay Av Ora ge nge Ave n County Park Filled with circular mounds of grass and purple ice plant and a fountain thatE Ora Pacific Ocean United States Naval celebrates irrigation heads, this unusual space along theRadio MLK Station promenade broughtMain St B Montgomery Waller e Palm Ave y Community Park Palm Ave P Peter Walker and Partners an ASLA Award in 1998. But its functione as a place r i c B a d Brown Field lv o Imperial Beach Blvd Coronado Ave d r for people has been roundly criticized by LAM’s readers. So when I visited B this Municipal Airport lv Imperial Beach d y Fwy Otay Fwy spring, I didn’t have very high expectations, yet the space was surprisinglyOta lively Imperial Beach 905 Otay Mesa Rd on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Most of the grass moundsNaval Air Stationhave been removed to open up views into the space, but the ones that remain all had people lying on them. And there were a lot of people sitting near the reflecting pool. Among the park’s most satisfied users were teenagers who have turned a line of humps covered in purple ice plant into their own BMX (bicycle motocross) course. There are plans to change the space so it serves families and small kids, and it looks as if the BMX area will be removed. But it’s worth spending a few minutes here before it changes to see it in action. Most BMX parks are dusty holes that no one without a bike would ever want to visit, and most small parks do little to cater to teens. Slight modifications to this unintentional design could create a unique landscape that solves both problems. 1st Avenue and Island Avenue LanDscape architecture magazine JULY 2011 / 91 4 seaport Village and the embarcadero 1978: WimmeR yamaDa anD assoCiates (lanDsCaPe aRChiteCtuRe) A landmark pedestrian bridge designed by T. Y. Lin International opened this spring, connecting Petco Park to the waterfront. Veer to the right and continue along the Embarcadero and you will pass a marina and a series of simple parks and open spaces designed by Wimmer Yamada and Associates (now Wimmer Yamada and Caughey). To the north of the marina is a quaint “village” of restaurants and shops that is a world unto itself, a theme park without an entry fee. One minute you are passing along a quiet 3 petco park/“park at the park” country brook and the next you are in the middle of a lively Ital- 2004: sPuRloCk PoiRieR lanDsCaPe aRChiteCts (PaRk DesiGn); ian piazza.