Architect Distressed by City Plans to Change U.N. Plaza

A proposal to redesign a San Francisco plaza that harbors the homeless upsets its architect.

United Nations Plaza and its spraying fountain, designed by renowned landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, are being targeted by a Board of Supervisors-appointed group for a $1-million face-lift that the original architect calls “despicable.”

“The plaza never really lived up to the expectation that it would be an urban oasis, a place where people sit on benches and eat their lunches in the sun,” said Carolyn Diamond, executive director of the Market Street Assn. and part of the group proposing the redesign. “It’s big, people feel lonely out there, people feel vulnerable.”

Others argue that the open spaces are intentional and serve a purpose in a big city like San Francisco.

“There are certain points in the city where you want to leave the view corridor open,” said Dee Mullen, Halprin’s business partner.

The city’s competing facets clash in the open square.

The homeless bathe and urinate in the fountain. Drug deals take place between stalls bearing organic vegetables on Wednesdays and Sundays, during the farmers market.

Halprin was not consulted about the proposal, and told the San Francisco Chronicle that changing the plaza’s layout won’t solve the problem.

“This is really a social problem, not an art problem,” said Halprin.