Gap founder Donald Fisher wanted to build a museum in a national park.
The first design cause “uproar” because it looked like an airport terminal building.
Copyright Digital Imaging Studios
Now, in order to “fit” the park, the design will look like a train station.
Copyright WRNS Studio
This is my town, and we are crazy sometimes. Folks were freaking out that they were going to build a museum on the [sic] hallowed grounds of the Presidio. I’m hoping that the economic climate has gotten through the idealistic fog that they are in. Be it train station or not- I don’t care. I want another contemporary art museum here. Besides, how can you have too many?
Well, it’s not that the Presidio is “hallowed”, per se, but it is a National Park, with very significant historic and architectural value. There are National Park Service guidelines for new architecture in historic districts. George Lucas got it right with his massive, yet harmoniously understated new headquarters campus inside the Presidio. Fisher got it dead wrong with his sleek, ultra-modern white cube dominating the middle of the oldest built environment in the city. I’d like to see the museum too, it’s a great collection, but Fisher is an egomaniacal jackass who has been on the wrong side of many issues in this town, and I’m glad he and his money are getting smacked down a bit by the law. The underground pavilions, off to the side of the main post area, would be fine. Big white cube, not so much. Oh, and a shuttle bus system, b/c public transit in the Presidio sucks.