debor003

Oooh, that roof! East elevation, overlooking the beach and Glorietta Bay. Photo ©Darren Bradley This community center was commissioned by the city of Coronado, who asked local architects Hanna Gabriel Wells to provide a space to provide storage for non-motorized watercraft and access to San Diego Bay, and could also host special events and after-school programs. They nailed it. It won an Orchid for the Architecture category of this year's annual Orchids & Onion Awards by the San Diego Architectural Foundation.    The west elevation faces the sun most of the day and also faces the street, so has few windows. Photo ©Darren Bradley I noticed from the nomination photos submitted, and originally wanted to be the one to photograph it for the ceremony if it was selected. But I already had too much on my plate so I gave it up to another photographer. That fell through at the last minute, so I guess it was fate that I ended up shooting this project, after all.  Just another d...

It's not easy making a glass atrium appear bright and light-filled when outside it's dark and grey... Photo ©Darren Bradley I recently shot San Diego's new airport terminal as part of the annual San Diego Architectural Foundation Orchids & Onions awards. The project is called "The Green Build at Terminal 2". It's part of a multi-million dollar expansion of our dinky airport to bring it up to modern standards, to account for both the draconian security measures that are now the norm at any airport, and to simultaneously try to bring a bit more comfort and humanity to the place by providing fewer chain restaurants and more local fare. I had a short window of about an hour to photograph this place. Naturally, it turned out to be a really crappy, dull, grey day with terrible light. So it was a challenge, to say the least.  My escort made for a great model. Photo ©Darren Bradley The award was for the interior design and the art installations, so that's what...

I wasn't sure that I liked the library at first. This is what it looked like while still under construction. I loved the drama of the dome and the overall design, but It seemed like there was really just too much going on. After touring and seeing it up close, I'm a convert. It's brilliant. Photo ©Darren Bradley San Diego has long always been a big city with a small town mentality - but not in a good way. I'm not sure whether it's the fact that much of our population is transitory (many get transferred elsewhere after a few years, and so aren't invested in the community for the long-term) or because we have a lot of conservatives who aren't interested in seeing tax dollars spent on large infrastructure projects. Whatever the reason, our public buildings just aren't at all what you would expect to see for a major metropolitan area with a population of over 3 million. But that's finally starting to change...  Photo ©Darren Bradley Like just about any...

If you zoom in, you can see that lifeguard over there is already giving me the eye. He was on his way over to figure out if I was some kind of pervert and - regardless of the answer, politely but firmly tell me to stop taking photos. Apparently, people are sensitive about other people with cameras at a pool. Who knew? Photo ©Darren Bradley While in Sydney, I visited the new pool at Prince Alfred Park in Surry Hills. It's a great new project by the firm of Neeson Murcutt Architects. The pool and the park existed already, but they were run down and in need of some love.  This park, wedged between a very busy road and the central railway station, is not exactly an ideal location.  The architects had their work cut out for them.  Not much to see from the street besides these colourful ventilation ducts. Photo ©Darren Bradley There's a nice café at the entrance where we had lunch.  The café with the green roof/hill/berm behind it. Notwithstanding the safety of that littl...

Front entry of the Seidler Offices & Apartments. Harry loved his curves. Photo ©Darren Bradley I've already talked about Harry Seidler a few times on this blog. I even wrote an article about the house he built for his parents shortly after immigrating to Australia.   After that first, groundbreaking project, he went on to have a brilliant international career. I realized I have enough photos of some of his other projects to put up another article or two.  Both those those brise-soleils and scalloped concrete T-beams were common themes in Seidler's work. He used them in various ways for many other projects, before moving on to the wave-like terraced balconies that are so characteristic of his last projects. Photo ©Darren Bradley Like many modernists of his day, he embraced concrete brutalism in a big way. His own apartment building and offices in Sydney are a prime example of that.  Love the details. This is the entrance to the underground parking garage. iPhone P...

Locals refer to this building as "The Martian Embassy", due to its unusual form and the fact that Canberra is the Nation's Capital and where all the embassies are located. Photo ©Darren Bradley Tell an Australian that you're going to Canberra and they usually chuckle and shake their heads in pity - especially if they're from Melbourne or Sydney. You see, Canberra has a reputation as sleepy town where nothing much of interest ever happens, and there's nothing to do or see. Knowing this, I arranged to spend as little time there as possible. That was a mistake.  The Shine Dome was designed by Roy Grounds in 1956-59. . Photo ©Darren Bradley You see, it turns out that while it's true that Canberra isn't exactly a wild and crazy place or even a hub of culture and entertainment, there is amazing modernist architecture EVERYWHERE . And since I had zero time to look around, it was torture for me.  The building above is unfortunately the only one that I took pho...