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Ah, gentrification! The Downtown Berkeley revamp is happening more quickly than we can keep up. Cody’s Books is open–and so is Staples, finally. After other planned city developments reach their peaks, Berkeley will soon enough transform itself into an attractive marketplace for tourists and the upper-middle class. That is, if it isn’t somewhat bougie already. The new Berkeley Art Museum will be a huge part of that transformation.
Today’s Daily Cal features an article about Japanese architect Toyo Ito’s lovely construction plan for the Berkeley Art Museum’s new location at Oxford and Center streets. Yes, it will stand on the very spot where a parking garage and ye old UC Printing Press building sit this very moment. Along with that, a fancy new hotel and conference center will take the hideous Bank of America building’s place.
Some, of course, remain sentimental about the historical printing plant, as exemplified by a 2006 Daily Planet article.
When our city declared the UC Printing Plant a historic landmark in 2004, it cited its role in printing the UN Charter. But the landmarking also recognized the building’s front office block as a superior example of 1930s architecture. Local buildings in this “New Deal Moderne” style are few, and diminishing.
Obviously, the Berkeley you know now will be all growed up in a matter of ten years. Treasure it now! ‘Cause you know you’ll come back to visit one day, pining for the “best years of your life”–only they’ll be buried under the foundation of hotels, museums, schmancy restaurants and Public Commons initiatives. Then, you’ll remark about how this is not the Berkeley you used to know, realize your age, and proceed into a mid-life crisis.
C’est la vie.
Image Source: Patrici Flores
New Museum Designed to Be a Cultural Destination [Daily Cal]
Column: The Public Eye: Designing an Ideal UC Art Museum: Back to the Future [Daily Planet]
BAM, There It Is — Someday [East Bay Express]
Earlier: Berkeley City Council Will Discuss Downtown Proposal
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