Sunday at the de Young Museum

A view through the grove on approach to the de Young.

The observation deck at the de Young affords a 360° view of the City. This photo is taken more or less toward the north I think, over Golden Gate Park. The museum was design by Swiss uber-starchitects Herzog & de Meuron, and consists of a "digitized" copper skin that shifts from solid to porous and back as it moves over the structure.

The roof suggests the undulations of landscape. These undulations also occur between each of the three linear forms, producing courtyards/light wells that penetrate and break up the overall mass. The tower itself appears as a vertical twist in one of the horizontal forms, reaching up above the museum to capture the view.

In addition to the sexy building, the museum's collection was pretty decent. The permanent collection's 20th century American was very strong, particularly in sculpture (I am way into 3D works), and I really liked the Ed Ruscha pieces which included collages of landscape images and texts, as well as overlays of SF and LA streets. I am not yet familiar enough with these CA cities to really understand the particular juxtapositions, but that's only a matter of time.

Oh, one aside. As my friends and I were leaving the museum, we passed by three meatheads sitting on a bench. I overheard one of them call us fags, which really surprised me in SF. Of course, I was too shocked to react other than give them a confused, "what the fuck, douchebag?" look, which quieted them down. I really don't understand why people expend their energy on being bigots.