Does San Diego need a new Icon?

[NYguy]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...need-new-icon/

Does San Diego need a new icon?



The "Wings of Freedom" proposed by the Midway aircraft carrier museum would consist of two sail-like art pieces, 500 and 400 feet tall,
at the western edge of Navy Pier, next to the carrier. They would built out of steel and titanium and flank an amphitheater.


Written by Roger Showley
Nov. 30, 2011

San Diego, home of the majestic California Tower in Balboa Park, Hotel del Coronado across the bay, and spaceship-like Geisel Library at UC San Diego, is considering a new urban icon — the 500-foot-high "Wings of Freedom sculpture on Navy Pier at the city's North Embarcadero.

The San Diego Unified Port District is hosting a series of town halls, run by the USS Midway Museum which is proposing a $68 million pier plan that includes the pair of sail-like steel-and-titanium wings.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...tue-ridiculed/

[mthq]

Also covered on the San Diego thread in the City Comp. section

Originally Posted by staplesla

Midway aircraft carrier museum proposes $68 million plan with 500-foot-high sail-like structures; critcs say views will be blocked

Sydney has its opera house, St. Louis its arch and Paris, the Eiffel Tower.

San Diego can match those iconic images with "Wings of Freedom," a 500-foot-high sculpture shaped like sails or wings on the downtown waterfront, the San Diego Unified Port District was told Tuesday.

The Midway aircraft carrier museum proposed the concept as part of a $68 million development, called "Veterans Park," on the adjacent Navy Pier:

• A 500-space parking lot;
• A 5-acre park on a deck 12 to 20 feet above the lot;
• A permanent home for the San Diego Symphony's Summer Pops concerts with capacity for 6,000 attendees, plus public restrooms; and,
• The "Wings of Freedom" sails flanking the pops amphitheater.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...osed-navy-pie/

I suppose I could do with it, so long as it's not called the 'Wings of Freedom'. A little bit on the gimmicky side with a name like that imo..

[Centropolis]

I just can't...not think of Milwaukee in this case.

[Cirrus]

^
I had the same thought.

I like it well enough, but it's definitely more Milwaukee Art Museum than Statue of Liberty.

[Lipani]

The waterfront certainly needs improvement in San Diego, but the "Wings of Freedom" look and sound tacky.

[Shawn]

"Wings of Freedom" is just poor. And Milwaukee already did this.

I'm more interested in the tower appearing in front of One America Plaza in the rendering, with the lit-up top. Get on building that thing instead of Wings of Cliched-Name.

[mhays]

Definitely a tacky name. Embarrassing. Too much of a political/military statement.

Visual civic icons can be a great idea, because a one-shot identifyable image will be used in countless places.

At the same time, too many cities chase the icon thing. How many ball-on-stick towers went up in the 70s and 80s? How many attempts at the Sydney Opera house have gone up, from waterfront projects like Hong Kong's convention center or Milwaukee's museum, to any number of libraries, convention centers, etc., even some fairly basic buildings in basic non-topigraphical locations that sometimes aren't even of local interest?

An amphitheater and park sounds like a good idea, if the park is integrated well with the street and ramps up gently. I don't know enough to say.

[tdawg]

San Diego is supposed to be an amazing city but honestly, no one icon comes to mind when I think of it. Maybe Balboa Park and the zoo.

[599GTO]

No.

[lakegz]

I think the name "wings of freedom" is incredibly cheap and corny. People will awkwardly be calling them that for a few years before they give up.
As for the sculpture itself, I'm kind of torn. It would be cool for San Diego to have a nice, large, noticeable icon but i think these might be too big and out of scale.

[emathias]

"New Icon" implies they already have one ... which they don't.

Also, I'm going to jump on the anti-"Wings of Freedom" name bandwagon. It's just dumb.

I say, paint them red and just call them the "Hot Wings" - stealing all of Buffalo's thunder ...

[mhays]

The name is obviously an homage to the military, and a suggestion that the military is about "freedom." I'm a fan of the military in many ways, and read my share of Tom Clancy novels, but the "freedom" concept is mostly a marketing slogan, and comes off as such. It'll rub many people the wrong way, particularly many from other countries. Why base your new civic icon on that? Just like the new World Trade Center, the PR name will fade before anything gets built.

[TarHeelJ]

Originally Posted by emathias

"New Icon" implies they already have one ... which they don't.

Also, I'm going to jump on the anti-"Wings of Freedom" name bandwagon. It's just dumb.

I say, paint them red and just call them the "Hot Wings" - stealing all of Buffalo's thunder ...

Just because you aren't knowledgeable about a city's iconic structures and symbols doesn't mean that they don't exist.

[pesto]

How about "the Hammer of Justice" or "the Bell of Free-ee-dom" ?

btw, if nobody knows about your icons, you don't have any.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Just because you aren't knowledgeable about a city's iconic structures and symbols doesn't mean that they don't exist.

But it might suggest that they aren't iconic. The term usually implies fame.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by mhays

I'm a fan of the military in many ways, and read my share of Tom Clancy novels, but the "freedom" concept is mostly a marketing slogan, and comes off as such. It'll rub many people the wrong way, particularly many from other countries.

Right, because the Statue of Liberty is a tacky jingoistic eyesore that everyone hates.

The Eiffel Tower was also a huge statement of French nationalism... Gustav Eiffel was the guy who built railroad bridges and allowed French military power to subjugate France's colonies.

[bnk]

Originally Posted by mhays

Definitely a tacky name. Embarrassing. Too much of a political/military statement.
Visual civic icons can be a great idea, because a one-shot identifyable image will be used in countless places.

.

I totally agree. The name alone is a reason not to do this, just too damn jingoistic for me.


If it was a sail type sculpture [ which at first glance that is what it looked like to me ] without a name than I would be all for it.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Right, because the Statue of Liberty is a tacky jingoistic eyesore that everyone hates.

The statue of liberty was built long before the terms "liberty" and "freedom" became politicized buzzwords repeated Ad nauseam on AM talk radio. Back then, people around the world were still fighting for freedom and the US was actually seen as a beacon and a role model for freedom and liberty.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Right, because the Statue of Liberty is a tacky jingoistic eyesore that everyone hates.

The Eiffel Tower was also a huge statement of French nationalism... Gustav Eiffel was the guy who built railroad bridges and allowed French military power to subjugate France's colonies.

Few people make those associations, as you know. The Statue of Liberty was also a gift from France, which makes it hard to be a self-serving US political statement.

[TarHeelJ]

Originally Posted by mhays

But it might suggest that they aren't iconic. The term usually implies fame.

Iconic to who? Fame doesn't necessarily mean famous to every person on the planet. Some people assume that because they aren't familiar with something that it isn't worth knowing about. There are iconic symbols located in San Diego...and the point is that they do exist, even if they aren't iconic to you.

The San Diego Zoo is world-famous. Have you heard of the Museum of Man? It's a pretty iconic building in San Diego. How about La Jolla or Balboa Park? Those are a couple of examples...there are several others.