Speaking Through Architecture

       Out In San Francisco we all had a good time with our tour in Paris learning about architecture and privately owned publicly opened places. I noticed I found most of my attention on the glass buildings as their details interested me. During the tour my favorite building was the Hallidie building. This was my favorite because it stood out more than the surrounding buildings being made out of all glass with gold trims. My favorite part about the building was the story behind it of Polk wanting a new style. It was also fascinating to me because it is highly creative I have never seen a building as unique as Hallidie. There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most important buildings of all time. What made this most significant to me is that it was built in 1917, it seems too modern. It is like Willis Polk, the architect of the Hallidie and many other buildings, took a peak in the future or you could even say that he is the reason many buildings have an exterior of glass. But even if this building was in a modernized area, it would still stick out. Being that it has two fire escapes on both sides of the front of the building, making it like opening the curtains for a show and it does just what a show would do, catch people’s attention. The Hallidie catches your eyes, making you wonder what actually goes on in the building. Then you have the color that brings it out even more. I like that it was painted those colors because it was to honor Berkeley so I thought it was thoughtful and considerate, then they even placed Berkeley’s flag above the building.

Hallidie building, Flicker creative commons: Friscocali

         My second favorite building reminded me of the phrase what you love hurts you the most. This building was Zellerbach Headquarters, a masterpiece by Skidmore Owings built in 1959. I felt this way because it was extremely uncomfortable. I am pretty sure we all were a bit distracted from the tour guide with the rocks digging into our feet. When first seeing the building it was a little interesting that the whole building was on top of a glass box. Honestly I really did not see anything of it except that it was uniquely built still not liking the fact that the rocks surrounding it was killing my feet until I saw it from a distance. Looking back at the building, being across the street, it looked amazing what made it so was the statue in front of the glass box. To me it was like art. It told a story you have a lady in the middle of a glass box really on the outside, but you cannot really tell; then, she has this huge building hovering over her and it looks as if she is trying to find a way out. But of course I am just over thinking but it still looks fascinating to me it would be amazing if there was an actual story to it.

Zellerbach Headquarters: Dazhawna Miller

       

        This excites me about going to Paris because there is really nice architecture there. Most of their buildings were made decades ago so they are historic having even more details than the ones in San Francisco. With the outstanding tour guide we had we all learned fascinating things about architecture. I had a great time in San Francisco and by lingering smiles everyone’s faces I could tell they did also. Who knew architecture could be so exciting?