UCSF Art & Architecture at Mission Bay
The global health hub, which will house researchers, scientists and students, jumpstarts UCSF’s vision to become one of the world’s leading centers for global health sciences. The building, made possible with a $20 million gift from philanthropist Chuck Feeney through The Atlantic Philanthropies, is set to open in August 2014.
The UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay, designed by Stantec Architecture, will be San Francisco’s first new hospital in three decades when it opens in 2015. A model of innovative and sustainable design, the complex will include a 183-bed children's hospital with urgent/emergency care, primary care and specialty outpatient services; a women's hospital offering cancer care, specialty surgery and a 36-bed birth center; and a 70-bed adult hospital for cancer patients.
Renowned artist Richard Serra, a San Francisco native, created “Ballast” with two 49-foot-tall, 70-ton steel plates, each tilting sideways, in opposite directions. The scale, weight, placement, and angle of the plates define the whole plaza, and their relationship to the buildings and to each other changes continuously as one moves through the space. Photo by Susan Merrell.
Roy McMakin’s untitled collection of furniture, installed in July 2004, lines the perimeter of Koret Quad, with the bench modules dissected, overturned, transformed and rearranged in all kinds of ways. McMakin used a variety of materials – concrete, fiberglass, wood, bronze, enamel, steel and stone – to create 125 different pieces, including laboratory "minus 80" freezers and file storage boxes immaculately reproduced in enamel.
“Hammering Man at 2,908,440,” a 1984 work by Jonathan Borofsky, is on loan to UCSF’s Byers Hall from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. One of Borofsky's best-known images, “Hammering Man” expresses his respect for work and repetition. The repetitive motion of this kinetic sculpture and its prominent identifying number echo the fusion of math and biology being explored by scientists at the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical research (QB3).
Palm Springs-based artist Jim Isermann created a five-pendant chandelier that’s suspended at the west end of the 100-foot-tall atrium inside Genentech Hall. Each pendant is comprised of luminous spheres enclosed in an open lattice of red pentamerous shapes. Isermann Modernist furniture selected by Isermann (including chairs by Harry Bertoia and tables by Mies van der Rhoe and Charles and Ray Eames) is placed throughout the atrium, on carpeting designed by the artist.
“Negative Space” uses an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and inverted it to negative, so the blackness of outer space becomes the whiteness of architectural empty space in the atrium of the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building. Artist Mungo Thompson was drawn to the atrium wall because of its size and multiple vantage points. The image resolves and sharpens when seen from a distance, then dissolves into shadowy fragments when walking alongside it.
“HEAL,” created by Polish artist Miroslav Balka, is a stainless steel structure that sits on a concrete square, creating a shadow that spells out the word. The stainless steel is precisely fabricated, hard and impersonal, but on one of its supports is a small, curved sculptural basin where a water spout provides a cool drink. This may be like the contrast a person feels when walking among the massive buildings at Mission Bay, all of which are devoted to the goal of healing the human body.
Inside the light-filled, 80-foot-tall atrium of the William J. Rutter Center stands “Four Large Figures” by Stephan Balkenhol. For this piece, installed in October 2005, Balkenhol carved four standing figures out of the trunk of a single tree. Each quarter section of the tree is carved into a figure, facing in different directions and expressing its function as a place where different people cross paths.
The bold design of the William J. Rutter Center, which opened in October 2005, anchors the Mission Bay campus and serves as its social hub, housing the Bakar Fitness & Recreation Center, The Pub restaurant and the Mission Bay Conference Center. The building was designed by award-winning Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, known for his signature use of vibrant colors and natural light to create geometric forms that are modern, yet timeless.
The Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building, designed by Rafael Viñoly and opened in June 2009, houses scientists investigating cancer’s basic biological mechanisms, including brain tumors, as well as researchers in urologic oncology, pediatric oncology, cancer population sciences and computational biology.
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Hall, which opened in February 2004, is home to programs in human genetics, developmental biology, developmental neuroscience and the Center for Brain Development.
The Sandler Neurosciences Center, which opened in April 2012, brings under one roof several of the world’s leading clinical and basic research programs, providing an environment that encourages a cross-pollination of ideas. The building supports UCSF’s efforts to treat a number of intractable neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, migraine, epilepsy and autism. Photo by Sarah Corr.
The Smith Cardiovascular Research Building, which opened in October 2010, is the new home of the world-renowned UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute, as well as the new UCSF Cardiovascular Care Center and the UCSF Center for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, an 8000-square-foot outpatient clinic. Photo by Bruce Damonte.
The moon rises over the construction site for the UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay, scheduled to open in 2015 as San Francisco’s first new hospital in 30 years. Photo by Mark Citret.