SANTA FE DEPOT FORECOURT
San Diego, California, 1999
The design respects and preserves the existing historic fabric and presence of the Depot while responding to its new evolving urban context and increasing intensity of use. It addresses a broad range of urban planning and design issues: restoring visual and physical connections between the historic Santa Fe Depot and surrounding city streets, and once again providing an outside gathering and waiting place for this transit hub. New palms and flowering canopy trees are located at its edges. Double rows of graceful King Palms, a "signature" tree of San Diego, form colonnades extending from the central arch of the building. Two yellow flowering Tipu trees enclose the southern edge of the forecourt.
A monumental concrete fountain occupies the center of the space, animating and filling it with the light, sound and fragrance of moving water. The floor of the forecourt is paved with brick in varied patterns and colors. At night, the space is bathed in the glow of ornamental metal lamps, landscape and fountain lighting.