San Diego is a "city of neighborhoods," and this weekend, 10 of them set the stage for Open House (OH!) San Diego. Visitors can tour homes, business districts and commercial architecture — guided or self-guided — from San Ysidro to La Jolla. And it's all free.
The annual festival of architecture and design celebrates its 10th year. OH! is a global program, and San Diego is one of four cities in the United States with regional events — along with New York, Chicago and Miami.
San Diego's event is centered around the vibrant and distinct neighborhoods in the region and spotlights commercial, historical, public and residential spaces.
On Saturday and Sunday, visitors can attend free, guided or self-guided tours and participate in other programming across the 10 communities.
Lauren Cook, San Diego Architecture Foundation's executive director, said the goal is to get people to pay attention to the design around them.
"To open up our neighborhoods and communities to anyone and everyone, to look at good design — or questionable design — or just design in general. We feel like everyone should have access to it, and this is the one time of year that someone will open up their shop or a small ADU (accessory dwelling unit) that's amazing, or this building that you walk by downtown and you're like, 'Who lives there?'" Cook said.
Reflecting back on the decade since OH! San Diego began its annual tours, Cook said San Diego's commitment to neighborhood identity is stronger than ever but remains connected across the region.
"I think that the term ‘neighborhood’ is changing," Cook said. "They still keep their personality and they keep what makes them special, yet what can we all share? That's going to be a shared thing for all of us. So kind of everyone's the same but also very different, I think, is kind of one of the beautiful things about it."
She said that up-and-coming architects and designers have also prioritized access and "opening things up" over recent years, and that shift is beginning to transform the way people interact with the built environment — the buildings, businesses, homes, public spaces, pathways, parks and transit infrastructure that make up a community.
Everyone really being thoughtful about design does change how we live.— Lauren Cook, San Diego Architectural Foundation
"Everyone really being thoughtful about design does change how we live and how we look around — and are happy about it," Cook said.
As OH! San Diego ushers the region into the next decade, Cook believes design and architecture will be shaped primarily by capacity and availability.
"If we look at what's being built now, there are very few single-family homes, but then it seems to have really shifted in the other direction where it's not a fourplex or a 10-plex somewhere, but it is 600 units somewhere else. And how do you make that not prison-like? How do you really, effectively do that?" Cook said. "People are trying, deliberately, to make it something that we're all going to enjoy living in. That's deliberate. And to pull in materials that work, and aren't going to kill us."
The San Diego Architecture Foundation is free to join, though the public can participate in the tours without a membership. For some tours and events, an RSVP is strongly recommended as space is limited.
On Saturday at Liberty Station, a variety of special events will kick off the festival, including talks and performances. Two artsy notes: Sculptor Kline Swonger, creator of the public art piece "Water and Words" will present an artist talk at 1 p.m. At 2:30 p.m., Arts District Liberty Station's Emerging Dance Artist in Residence, Lexii Regina, will hold a performance and artist talk.
Other highlights include a self-guided tour of National City's Brick Row residential district on Saturday, a walking tour of the Mission Hills former streetcar line on Sunday at 10 a.m. and a self-guided tour of San Ysidro's "Living Rooms at the Border," a mixed-use residential, performance and nonprofit space, on Saturday.
