Safdie Rabines Architects
By Ginny Ollis
One of Mission Hills greatest treasures is her people – historically, neighborly, and leading positive. Jose Ricardo Rabines and Taal Safdie, architects situated in the building at 925 Fort Stockton, quietly but with enormous effect, are bringing their design skills and conscientious purpose to our community, state, and world. A visit to their website, safdierabines.com, will put you in awe.
As a child, Rabines reports, he loved drawing and art, but the President of Peru, who was also an architect, impressed him with the power of architecture to influence social conscience. Safdie’s father was an architect, sharing with her his philosophy and esthetics. When Rabines and Safdie met at school, the alignment of their purpose drove a union.
Understanding the client’s need is their first purpose, and then using their insights and creative skills to elaborate. You can see a lot of their work at the La Jolla UCSD campus, where they have done several immediately striking projects: The North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood demonstrates their creative use of space and nature, as well as constructed form, to generate peace and inspiration.
Their work on public projects is a testament to their ability to bring leadership regarding environmental respect to their clientele. Note the Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge, The National City Aquatic Center, the Lusail Pedestrian Bridges and Iconic Structure in Qatar, the Epstein Family Amphitheatre at UCSD, the UCLA Court of Sciences Student Center that delivers roof top gardens and almost disappears within the courtyard to enhance space, and the purposeful yet stunning Diversionary Theatre here in San Diego.
Fire Station 50 invited them to create a site for essential workers to have both functional necessities at hand and an environment of peace and happiness, a function they believe should be the basis of all medical care centers and schools. And wow, they did.
The work of Safdie and Rabines is also a prominent gift to our residential architecture. At their website you will be enchanted by the Tree House, perched on a hillside with three sides of the living room sliding away into Eucalyptus trees and merging in and out. The Ocean Penthouse, the Bay House on San Diego’s Sail Bay, the Goldfinch Canyon House, the Clark Street Residences, are just a few of the homes to which they have brought style and serenity. Trust me, their website will bring you wonder and joy.
Category: Architecture, Business, feature, Housing, Local News, Real Estate, Sustainability
