San Diego

San Diego (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Roland A. Franklin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

I’m in San Diego this week(1), a city I’ve only previously skirted rather than truly visited. Back in the mid‑1980s, when my wife and I lived in Los Angeles, we made a couple of weekend trips south through here on our way to Ensenada and Rosarito Beach. This is the first occasion I’ve spent any real time in San Diego itself. 

I visited the Salk Institute on Friday, Louis Kahn’s research campus in La Jolla overlooking the Pacific. I’ve known it mostly through photographs, drawings, and decades of architectural reading. Seeing it in person clarified aspects that images only suggest. The proportions, the material discipline, and the way the courtyard aligns with the horizon all register more precisely in real life. It is a building that rewards slow looking. I’ll write a separate post about the Salk, and possibly more about San Diego, once I’m back home. 

The rest of my time has been spent moving around the city on foot and by transit. I’ve been taking in districts shaped by coastal geography, postwar expansion, and the substantial military presence that has influenced land use and employment patterns across the region. Mid‑century research campuses occupy the mesas above La Jolla, while older streetcar‑era neighborhoods such as North Park, South Park, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Golden Hill, and University Heights extend inland. Large waterfront redevelopment projects stand next to long‑established naval facilities. Dense pockets of urban fabric give way quickly to open views and steep topography. 

San Diego’s particular mix of institutions, climate, and terrain gives it a character distinct from other West Coast cities. The conditions here are not directly transferable to a place like Eugene, but they echo patterns familiar to cities shaped by long‑term civic forces. Infrastructure, geography, and institutional anchors shape a region’s identity over generations. I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend a few days here, studying a place I once only passed through. 

(1)   I chose to visit San Diego now rather than during the AIA 2026 Conference on Architecture & Design in June. During my trips to the 2018 and 2022 conferences in New York and Chicago, I found I preferred spending my time exploring the cities rather than attending the educational sessions. I also no longer need the CEUs. Visiting now avoids the crowds associated with the conference and other busy periods on the calendar.