San Diego - Downtown - Contemporary Lowrises and Midrises

geomorph · #1 Posted **Apr 25, 2015, 4:09 AM**

San Diego is the 8th largest city in the United States by population (1,355,000) and is by far the largest city of the San Diego-Carlsbad Metropolitan Statistical Area in Southern California (the 12th largest in the United States).

Downtown is located on the Eastern side of San Diego Bay, a natural harbor that is about 13 miles long and averages about 1 mile wide. A bend in the bay's shoreline embraces the Western and Southern boundaries of downtown, while a bend in the Interstate Freeway #5 creates the Eastern and Northern boundaries. It is about 1.5 miles from East to West and 1.3 miles from North to South. The terrain is mostly flat, with gradual slopes up from the shoreline, reaching a steeper incline in the Northeast corner at the area called Cortez Hill. Downtown has a wide variety of uses and structures, and is a lively and attractive place in comparison to its condition before the developments of the past 25 years.

This thread will focus on contemporary lowrises and midrises built in the last 15 years or so.

Houses:
Several unique individual houses or duplexes are scattered around downtown, mostly in the Little Italy neighborhood.

Lowrise Residential Complexes:

Midrises:
A large part of downtown is now occupied by contemporary midrises, especially in the East Village and Little Italy neighborhoods. Many are residential, but there are also examples of hotels and parking garages as well as some offices.

Garfield High School:

San Diego City College:
This campus on the Eastern edge of downtown and its East Village neighborhood is not a new school but it has recently undergone an ambitious new building program of interesting structures.

San Diego Central Library:

Leo the Dog · #2 Posted **Apr 25, 2015, 5:53 PM**

Wow, nice job!

Austinlee · #3 Posted **Apr 25, 2015, 9:55 PM**

Holy shit. First of all, great idea for a thread. I love to see all the mid rise goodness. Secondly, wow I had no idea so many architecturally significant buildings had gone up recently in San Diego. Very impressive.

chris08876 · #4 Posted **Apr 25, 2015, 10:57 PM**

I like these midrises. Interesting to compare East and West Coast styles. West Coast seems much more futuristic, some elements of pre-fab, and modern contemporary. I like.

Quote:

Is this a library? That cube looks like it would make a good study room.

Dr Awesomesauce · #5 Posted **Apr 26, 2015, 1:28 AM**

One of the more underrated cities in Merika. Great tour!

xzmattzx · #6 Posted **Apr 26, 2015, 4:04 AM**

Nice pictures!

This one is pretty nice. It seems neo-Beaux Arts.

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Originally Posted by geomorph

This one reminds me of the buildings in Printer's Row, Chicago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geomorph

Nouvellecosse · #7 Posted **Apr 26, 2015, 4:09 AM**

I love all the architecture and it's denser than I was expecting!

Driver8 · #8 Posted **Apr 26, 2015, 1:14 PM**

This is quite the tour.

Lowrise/midrise development is really increasing the urbanity of many U.S. cities, and San Diego is a good example of this.

Derek · #9 Posted **Apr 26, 2015, 6:03 PM**

Wow, it's been a while since I was back in my hometown. Downtown is looking good!

Beedok · #10 Posted **Apr 26, 2015, 6:36 PM**

Very nice. I'm not one for living in a mid rise, but they add a lot to the urban fabric.

Austinlee · #11 Posted **Apr 26, 2015, 7:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beedok

Very nice. I'm not one for living in a mid rise, but they add a lot to the urban fabric.

C'mon, all the cool kids are moving into apartments nowadays. Less stress than taking care of a house.

DetroitSky · #12 Posted **Apr 27, 2015, 3:31 AM**

Some excellent architecture here. I really enjoy these threads. Thanks!

Spring2008 · #13 Posted **Apr 28, 2015, 4:18 AM**

San Diego's where it's at. I love this city!

bobdreamz · #14 Posted **May 1, 2015, 4:52 AM**

Impressive!

mousquet · #15 Posted **May 1, 2015, 10:47 AM**

Some neat things on here. I like this functionalist style very much for instance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geomorph

A very pleasant building to live this must be. I think putting up that kind of nice glass on a bit of apparent concrete is a fashionable sophisticated taste.

destroycreate · #16 Posted **May 1, 2015, 3:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Nice pictures!

This one is pretty nice. It seems neo-Beaux Arts.

This one reminds me of the buildings in Printer's Row, Chicago.

That brick building (which by the way, is a very rare style in SD) has always been one of my favorites in downtown San Diego. Although it's become slightly dated -- I went to a friend's condo there a couple of years ago and was surprised by how early 90's it felt inside. Older appliances and ratty carpet. But it's in a superb location.

I think overall downtown San Diego has some fantastic infill, better than much of San Francisco's new stuff which I think looks pretty boring.

mrnyc · #17 Posted **May 1, 2015, 11:08 PM**

even though all these modern apt bldgs look alike to me across america still this is a very cool thread. its just kind of boggling to see them one after another and all the subtle variety of their slight variations. but the best thing is that they are all in one city. its amazing how san diego has boomed. not really surprizing though, it was fated and bound to happen.

Danny · #18 Posted **May 2, 2015, 1:54 PM**

Very interesting modern architecture. I´ve liked all the contemporary lowrises and midrises you show. That area looks really comfortable, I like it.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain.

geomorph · #19 Posted **Jul 19, 2016, 6:18 PM**

There certainly are a great deal of the projects in the downtown areas, here are several others located there that I did not include in the original thread!:

The North One · #20 Posted **Jul 19, 2016, 6:48 PM**

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I absolutely LOVE this one, beautiful.