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When scouting the ongoing renovations underway at the Oakland Museum of California, our main concern was the obvious and totally intrusive construction fence that all but covered the new entrance area along Oak Street.

The original museum, a classic, early Kevin Roche design, was being tidied up with the addition of a new entrance portico, covered stairways and a renovation and expansion of the internal gallery spaces, all designed by San Francisco firm Mark Cavagnero & Associates. 

With the aid of construction company Cahill, we were able to remove a broad section of the site fence for a few hours one afternoon. Just long enough to capture a series of views along the street. Within minutes of capturing out last view at dusk, the fence was back up, destined to keep the public out for at least another 12 months while the remainder of the galleries are renovated.

Over the past month or so, I’ve been photographing a series of commercial and residential towers across the planet. Each has its own particular design, its own sense of place, its own skin.

The projects are often best differentiated by the materials and patterns used to enclose the basic structure. These curtain walls of glass and stone create a distinct aesthetic for each project. While often hard to discern at longer distances, the detailing on any one curtain wall has a profound effect upon the way each project reads on a more intimate and human scale.

For me, catching some of the intricacy in the detailing of these curtain walls plays a very important part in describing the overall sense of the project.

International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong    Kohn Pedersen Fox

Millennium Tower, San Francisco   Handel Architects

Shanghai World Financial Centre      Kohn Pedersen Fox

China World Trade Centre, Beijing   Skidmore Owings & Merrill

The Sail @ Marina Bay, Singapore   NBBJ

Centennial Tower, South San Francisco    Skidmore Owings & Merrill

The Met, Bangkok   WOHA Designs

It’s been a while since we’ve been back at Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Sciences. Our old pal the Giant Sea Bass maintains his inscrutable gaze from within the tank. Silently and slowly giving the endless stream of onlookers the once over with his enormous eyes.

During a visit to the Academy Bookstore yesterday there were certainly a few surprises in store.

That morning cup of coffee will just never be the same again….

In the gentle afternoon breeze flowing up through the valley, the intoxicating sway of the bamboo forest was a delicious distraction as we set the camera for our next shot…

Last time I had this feeling was…..

“…that’s right, two vegetarian spring rolls, a #7 and side of bamboo shoots…”

No, wait! That’s not it….

Anyway, back to today’s shoots..!

So I was wondering what might happen if Albert Watson and Richard Avendon went over to Ezra Stoller’s place in Mamaroneck for lunch….?