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24-477: The Ferry Building Park could be a great open space with canals, lagoons, and fountains that would revive the marine flavor by actually bringing the Bay back into the area. The atmosphere of European ports could be injected with handsome paving, sidewalk cafes, and fine restaurants. The freeway should be painted dark, and large trees should be planted to suppress its sight and its sounds. Difficult as all this may be, establish

48-743: A draftsman in the San Francisco firm of Alexander Cantin and Dodge A. Riedy, who had worked on the Pacific Telephone Building with Timothy L. Pflueger , from 1925–29. He also took night classes at the San Francisco Architectural Club from 1927–29. He won two National Design Competition scholarships to the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he was admitted in 1931 and 1932 under special circumstances, because he had no bachelor's degree. After Harvard, he studied at

72-467: The Ecole des Beaux-Arts for two years and toured Europe before returning to San Francisco. Ciampi founded his design firm, M.J.C. and Associates, in 1945. Professional works of Mario Ciampi include the design and construction of university buildings, schools, churches, and commercial buildings, including joint ventures with architectural organizations and collaboration with painters, sculptors and artists. In

96-567: The SS Deutschland from Genoa , arriving at Ellis Island , New York on 3 March 1906. They had friends in San Francisco and arrived there just in time for the great San Francisco earthquake of April 18. The devastation caused by the earthquake and subsequent fire forced them to live in an Army issue tent on the Presidio for several months. Mario was born in San Francisco twelve months after

120-484: The 1962 Market Street report, proposing to bring San Francisco Bay and the original harbor closer to Market, as "the [Embarcadero] Freeway and the Ferry building have created an impenetrable barrier, at street level, to one of San Francisco's most priceless assets – its marine setting" and offering ways to minimize the visual and aural impact of the double-decked freeway. The controversial Vaillancourt Fountain dominates

144-472: The 1962 report What to do About Market Street starting at the Embarcadero and ending at Van Ness. In retrospect, Halprin's vision for Market was described as a "pedestrian-oriented series of linked civic spaces" which were later realized as the open spaces running from Embarcadero Plaza (in the northeast) to UN Plaza in the southwest. Halprin described an early concept for what he called Ferry Building Park in

168-664: The American Institute of Architects. He was the only architect to get two top winners and the only one from Northern California to be named in this category or in the Awards of Merit." The cover of Fortune magazine October 1958 featured one of Mario Ciampi's award-winning schools. Ciampi won the AIA honor award for the Junipero Serra Overpass for Highway 280 near San Francisco, CA. Ciampi won AIACC's 25-Year Award in 1996 for

192-678: The Berkeley Art Museum. The AIACC also awarded Ciampi their Maybeck Award in 2000 recognizing his entire body of work. Mario Ciampi received the National Award AIA for construction of plazas and beautification of Market Street, San Francisco. Additionally, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Board of Supervisors for the Urban development of Market Street. He received the first Albert J. Exers Award for Urban Design, San Francisco and

216-541: The Ferry Building Park area as a vibrant, alive, colorful place, used by day and at night, and it will send a tingle up the spine of Market Street. Halprin, Carter, and Rockrise, What to do About Market Street (1962) The design of Embarcadero Plaza is credited to Don Carter (principal-in-charge) with help from Mario J. Ciampi and John Bolles . The original concept was devised by Lawrence Halprin , who described five distinct districts of Market Street in

240-564: The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the resolution unanimously on September 19, 2017. The name Embarcadero Plaza will be temporary until a new official name can be decided upon. The Board's resolution is nonbinding, as the authority to change the name rests with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission . Peskin stated he had received an unsolicited text from

264-533: The Western Addition prior to SFRA's redevelopment, is a leading candidate for the renaming of the plaza. The plaza is frequented by nearby office workers on lunch break and by families with small children. Free daytime concerts occur frequently in the summer, and an ice skating rink is set up for winter months. In 1987, during The Joshua Tree Tour , U2 held a free concert in Justin Herman Plaza to "Save

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288-630: The Yuppies" following the Black Monday financial crisis in October. During the finale of the impromptu concert, Bono spray-painted graffiti on Vaillancourt Fountain , for which he was fined. During the early 1990s, the plaza was better known as EMB, one of the world's premier street skateboarding sites. Formal athletic ceremonies and rallies have also occurred in the plaza, including the retirement of Joe Montana (1995), attended by an estimated 25,000 people;

312-576: The building was renovated in 2022 and now houses the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub. The City of Berkeley declared it to be a landmark in 2012. Ciampi was commissioned to develop the Downtown Plan for San Francisco in 1963, including beautification of Market Street , Embarcadero , Hallidie , and United Nations Plazas . Much of his work was completed under the administrations of Christopher , Shelley , Alioto , Moscone , and Feinstein . Ciampi

336-521: The commemoration of Barry Bonds becoming the all-time home run leader (2007); and as the site of Super Bowl City, a "fan village" for attendees of Super Bowl 50 (2016) at Levi's Stadium in distant Santa Clara . Because of its size, the plaza is also frequently used for political rallies, including the Occupy San Francisco protest which took over the plaza for several months in 2011. The monthly Critical Mass bicycle rides have started from

360-408: The debate over changing the name, San Francisco Chronicle urban spaces critic John King called it "a stark concrete landscape" and added "there's no earthly reason you would want to be there." In an earlier article published just after Halprin's death in 2009, King noted that Embarcadero Plaza was "oversize and stiff, unable to adjust to the changing urban scene on all sides." The plaza, located at

384-642: The eastern end of Market Street, opened in 1972. It was originally named for M. Justin Herman , executive director of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency from 1959 to 1971. In 2017, County Supervisor Aaron Peskin introduced a resolution to rename the site Embarcadero Plaza, citing Herman's role in displacing poor and minority residents from the Western Addition , Fillmore , Chinatown , and South of Market neighborhoods while presiding over

408-550: The fire, on 27 April 1907. Soon afterwards the family moved to Schellville, California near Sonoma , where Guido became a farmer. The farm had vegetables, fruit trees, animals, and a vineyard which eventually earned bonded winery status. As teenagers, Mario with his brothers Paul and Joe worked on the family vineyard and made extra money making wooden shipping crates for the neighboring Sebastiani Winery . Despite early signs of talent, Mario could not afford architecture school. Instead, after high school he did an apprenticeship as

432-570: The late 1950s and 1960s, Ciampi designed numerous schools in the Bay Area. They include Westmoor School, Fernando Rivera Elementary School, and Vista Mar School in Daly City ; and Sonoma Elementary School for Ciampi's hometown of Sonoma . The American Institute of Architects described them as "characterized by novel structural systems integrating clerestory lighting, leaving large wall surfaces that incorporate significant artwork in relief." Ciampi designed

456-509: The northeast end of the plaza. The large plaza could accommodate large crowds, and the roaring fountain was designed to drown out noise from the Embarcadero Freeway , which was completed in 1959 and ran along the east side of the plaza from its opening in 1972 until the freeway was torn down in 1991. La Chiffonnière is also installed in the plaza, closer to Market. A bocce ball court was built using private donations in 2010. During

480-429: The owner, Boston Properties, which said they would cover the cost of replacing the plaque bearing Herman's name. The Recreation & Parks Commission voted 4–2 to remove Justin Herman's name on November 16, 2017. An earlier vote in October ended in a 3–3 tie after one of the commissioners (who had favored removal of the name) left the meeting before the vote was held. David Johnson , a photographer who documented life in

504-650: The plaza since September 1992. Since 2006, on Valentine's Day , the plaza is the site of the Great San Francisco Pillow Fight , an unsponsored annual pillow fight flash mob . Mario J. Ciampi Mario Joseph Ciampi (April 27, 1907 – July 6, 2006) was an American architect and urban planner best known for his modern design influence on public spaces and buildings in the San Francisco Bay Area . Ciampi's parents emigrated from Italy to California in 1906. Guido and Palmira Ciampi travelled on

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528-473: The streamlined concrete overpasses for the section of Interstate 280 between San Francisco and Cupertino , which was constructed in the mid-1960s. Perhaps Ciampi's best known work is the original Berkeley Art Museum building, which was opened in 1970 at the University of California, Berkeley campus in a brutalist style. The building was renamed Woo Hon Fai Hall in 2011. The museum moved out in 2014, and

552-606: Was survived by his wife, Carolyn Ciampi of Kentfield, and his nephew, Norman Ciampi of Novato. In 1959, Ciampi received two honor awards from the American Institute of Architects, out of five awards given during that year. "San Francisco architect Mario J. Ciampi's two schools, the Sonoma Elementary School in Sonoma and the Westmoor High School, Daly City [were] named among five buildings to get First Honor Awards from

576-664: Was the urban design consultant for the Golden Gateway , Embarcadero Plaza , Rockefeller Center , Fisherman's Wharf , Yerba Buena Center , and a freeway study for San Francisco with the California Department of Transportation . He developed the master plans for the University of Alaska, Fairbanks , and St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. Ciampi died age 99 on July 6, 2006, of heart failure in San Rafael, California . He

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