The Back of Pacific Garden Mall, Santa Cruz

The Back of Pacific Garden Mall, Santa Cruz
Originally uploaded by gojanelin

What do you do with the backsides of large buildings? Some designers leave them blank, which is deadly to the street behind. Here the treatment of the backside of buildings that face onto Pacific Garden Mall provides some variation and pays attention to the it's backstreet. It breaks down the massiveness of the parking structure, to the left. There is a setback to a passageway (through the grey-blue building) that gives a little more space to the public realm. These moves are done in the character of the existing building to the right, which looks like it was older, and has been updated (possibly to improve its earthquake resistance?)