Honest reviews of San Jose's "iconic" statues

SJtoday had a post today rating various San Jose landmarks. I won't spoil the reviews, but I would rate the one below as 🐍💩 / 10. That is all, happy Friday. Oh, the reviews are over here.

Breeze of Innovation Updates

Urban Confluence has been collaborating with Plaza de Cesar Chavez stakeholders on building a world-class landmark for the city in the heart of Downtown San Jose. The goal is still to place the winning concept, Breeze of Innovation, somewhere in Plaza de Cesar Chavez. In 2024, the organization will share an updated version of their vision--which was teased in the email below from Steve Borkenhagen. He's the Executive Director for the project (side note that he is also one of the key people responsible for the San Pedro Square Market's success and has owned several restaurants Downtown).

Some of the updates to the project will include elements that will dramatically honor Cesar Chavez and elevate San Jose events of all kind. The email specifically mentions Christmas in the Park and the San Jose Jazz Festival. I'm really excited to learn more about the possibilities of how Breeze of Innovation can further activate the park and add a new defining element to the Downtown San Jose skyline.

If you want to contribute to the project, the link is in the message below.

Dear Friend, 

Creating a dynamic city center involves lots of blood, sweat, and tears. In 2023, we’ve worked hard to collaborate with our fellow Plaza de Cesar Chavez stakeholders on plans to dramatically improve the most historic piece of property in San Jose. In 2024, we want to take the next step.

Great parks are the secret sauce for successful downtowns around the world.  For more than two centuries, Plaza de Cesar Chavez has been waiting for us. This is our chance to finally take Downtown San Jose to the next level by working together with our city's diverse and amazing citizens for the greater good. 

Along with many others who are deeply committed to Plaza de Cesar Chavez, we will reveal our shared vision for the park in the next six months. This vision will include Breeze of Innovation, elements to dramatically honor Cesar Chavez, and vastly improved park infrastructure that will amp up and elevate events of all kinds -- including Christmas in the Park and the San Jose Jazz Festival.

The mission for 2024 is tightly focused; we plan to join with the family of Cesar Chavez, concerned citizens, park event producers, and neighbors to begin to dynamically improve Plaza de Cesar Chavez and maximize the joy experienced by all park visitors.

Downtown leader Gary Dillabough says: “Sometimes to create an exceptional place, you need a catalytic event or a catalytic project. Our belief is that the Breeze of Innovation is that project.”

Will you please continue to support our game-changing project for downtown San Jose? 

Your donations will help us create this inspirational vision for Plaza de Cesar Chavez. Please donate HERE or by mailing a check to Urban Confluence Silicon Valley, P.O. Box 720813, San Jose, CA 95172.

Your financial support is deeply appreciated.

Please call Steve Borkenhagen any time with questions and comments.

Happy New Year!

Urban Confluence Silicon Valley

Executive Director Steve Borkenhagen
Steve@UrbanConfluenceSiliconValley.org

Please take a moment to watch this video of Mayor Matt Mahan as he discusses Breeze of Innovation. 

Urban Confluence meeting to discuss placing Breeze of Innovation in Plaza de Cesar Chavez

Urban Confluence is working on building a new landmark for the city of San Jose that plays homage to the San Jose Electric Light Tower, an innovative structure that may have provided some inspiration for the Eiffel Tower. They are looking for your feedback on the new project and have an event coming up tomorrow, Sep 29th, from 5:30pm to 6:30pm at the San Jose Chamber of Commerce (101 West Santa Clara Street).

The agenda will cover a history of the project, the Plaza de Cesar Chavez master plan, and plenty of time for public comments and questions.

Below is an early concept render, but no finalized design currently exists. The project will be developed in collaboration with park neighbors, event producers, visitors, and all interested citizens of San Jose.

Some of the ideas being thrown around for the project in its new location are:

• Improved infrastructure such as a stage, lighting, and sound for park events such as concerts and Christmas in the Park
• A possible expansion of the park footprint based on recommendations from the San Jose Department of Transportation
• Elements that honor Cesar Chavez

To participate, please either send a text to (408) 813-5984 or email info@urbanconfluencesiliconvalley.org 

Breeze of Innovation chosen as San Jose's new Light Tower

Out of 963 submissions from 72 countries, Urban Confluence has a winner for their contest to design San Jose's next landmark. The submissions had to be inspired by the San Jose Light Tower, which was one of San Jose's most innovative achievements at the time. 

The lucky winner was Breeze of Innovation by Fernando Jerez and Belén Pérez de Juan of SMAR Architecture Studio. The design symbolizes people standing and working together and each of the rods in the images below are designed to sway in the wind to create a dynamic visual effect. The rods will also generate the power to illuminate the 200 foot-tall tower.

While it is difficult to see in the images below, there will be a conical void inside of the tower (in a shape similar to the original San Jose Light Tower) that will include multiple levels of walkways, a viewing platform at the top, exhibition space, and space for a café.

For more information on the ~$100 million project, head over here!

Urban Confluence Silicon Valley Reveal Event

Urban Confluence Silicon Valley is going to build an iconic landmark across the street from the SAP Center. Last Friday, they narrowed down almost a thousand concept submissions across six continents to just three finalists.

Two of them use negative space to recreate the original San Jose Light Tower while providing platforms for visitors to climb the tower and take in 360 degree views. 

The third concept is a towering garden with over-sized plants and flowers. This one features walkways with glass on all sides--including the floor--that make you feel like you are floating through the garden..

Each of these finalists will receive $150k to perfect their concept and a final decision on which will go forward with will take place early next year. You can watch the full reveal of all three concepts below.

Mixed-use "Fountain Alley" project moves forward and includes a surprise

Urban Catalyst, which is quickly becoming my favorite Downtown developer, is moving forward with a special project in the historic Fountain Alley district. They are turning what used to be Lido Nightclub into a six story building with retail on the ground floor, five stories of office space, and a rooftop bar. Since Scott's seafood relocated, there are no options I'm aware of where you can grab food or a drink more than a floor off the ground besides the Capital Club.

The office lobby will start in the historic Knox-Goodrich building next door, which is 130 years old and will be fully incorporated into this development. This is an excellent way to preserve our history while still developing Downtown San Jose. It reminds me of how our historic post office was utilized for a cafe and exhibit space in the San Jose Museum of Art.

Another exciting surprise feature that Urban Catalyst is included in the project is a unique fountain. It would seem appropriate for a place called Fountain Alley to have an actual fountain. The goal is a place-making landmark and they have done a ton of research on cool fountains they could bring to the area. The current plan features a fountain modeled after the spectacular Apple store fountain in Milan (last image below).

While it is not the largest development project in Downtown San Jose, it's packed with character. Everything from historic preservation to unique amenities that don't exist in the area are being packing into this five story building that is just a couple hundred feet from the future BART station. This will reshape the historic district forever.

The ground breaking is currently slated for Q2 2021 and completion is expected by mid-2023.

Source: SVBJ

New San Jose Landmark Proposals!

After years of planning, we finally have an opportunity to make an internationally recognized landmark for San Jose! Urban Confluence Silicon Valley has collected hundreds of idea submissions from around the globe for an iconic landmark that incorporates modern technology, history, art, architecture, engineering, and place-making. These came from architects, artists, urban planners, and development enthusiasts from 72 different countries across 6 continents.

The next step is to choose three finalists that will each receive $150,000 to refine and re-develop their concept. After that a single winner will be chosen around April 2021 and fundraising would begin for what could be a $100 million+ project next to the SAP Center on the Arena Green.

I've gone through all 960 submissions, and some are truly epic. Below are images of my personal favorites. I love so many of these, but my vote would go to the Infinity Ring at the end (check out the video). It looks amazing despite the 200ft height restriction, you can walk inside it to cross the river while getting a view of San Jose, and it can do some impressive lighting effects than amplify it's coolness. Which is your favorite?

List of Top Submissions
List of all Submissions

The Ring

Ode To Nature

The Statue of Innovation

The Bulb

Urban Spiral

The Caterpillar

Super Natural Skypark

San Jose

Kinetic Obelisk

Land Lux

The Guadaloop

The Infinity Ring

Inspirational video for a new San Jose Landmark

Why should the capital of innovation continue to be deprived of a world-class landmark? Urban Confluence is working to fix this problem with a global competition to design a modern version of the San Jose Light Tower next to the SAP Center. The submission deadline has been extended to January 15th, 2020 and you can learn more over here.

In the meantime, Urban Confluence has provide an inspirational video (below). I can't wait to see the winning designs!

The new San Jose Light Tower is moving forward

San Jose is a city that has been in search of an internationally recognizable landmark for quite some time. Fortunately, a grassroots organization has come together with a mission to do just that. The San Jose Light Tower Corporation (SJLTC) is a nonprofit with the goal of building a world-class iconic structure that will represent our city for generations.

The project is broken down into four phases, and is surprisingly far along.



Phase 1 - Launch the Documentary: The Light Between Two Towers 

FUNDED. This exciting film by Thomas Wohlmut ties the historic San Jose Light Tower (built in 1881) to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It has been in the works for 8 years and will finally be complete in 2019. The film will be part of the promotional campaign for building a new tower that will represent the San Jose of today and tomorrow.

The Light Between Two Towers - Trailer from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.



Phase 2 - Site Selection 

FUNDED, IN PROGRESS. The Light Tower Corporation initially evaluated six different sites in Downtown San Jose. When seeking city council support earlier this year, they received unanimous approval from all 11 seats. Now, we have a final candidate and that is the Arena Green (photo below). This location would highlight San Jose's flagship park and would be easily accessible from the SAP Center and Diridon Station, which is destined to become the busiest transit hub on the West Coast. It would also sit in the middle of some 10+ million SQFT of new development that will be built over the coming decade or two.

By December 4th, the City Council will decide whether or not to approve the location. The odds are looking quite good so far.

Phase 3 - Idea Competition

FUNDED. This one is hot off the press. On Sunday the San Jose Light Tower Corporation held a fundraiser to launch this next stage, an international competition to find the best design concept for the tower. It does not have to look like the 1881 historic tower, in fact it may not look like a traditional tower at all. As a wild futuristic example, the tower could be made out of drones. We are in the innovation capital of the world, it should be creative and reach a bit into the future.

The goal of the fundraiser was to secure the remaining $300,000 required to launch the competition. It may have helped that four (!) San Jose mayors were in attendance, but the goal was nailed.

Phase 4 - Construction

TBD. After the design competition, we will have some idea of what will be included as part of the project and what the costs will be. The preferred location supports a structure up to 150 feet tall, but there may be ways to add virtual height such as with creative lighting or projections. As soon as any new details are available, we'll provide updates ASAP. If you are interested in contributing to this exciting project, you can donate over here.

A New Iconic Monument for San Jose from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

Wednesday Wishlist: Rebuild the Electric Light Tower! (Updated)

Few people realize just how incredible and innovative our Electric Light Tower was. Built in 1881, it was one of the 50 tallest man-made structures on earth. It stood nearly as tall as the Fairmont Hotel over 120 years ago when San Jose had a population of 12,567. It was the brightest and most technologically advanced light tower to be built and required design innovations that had never been attempted before (much like what Silicon Valley does on a daily basis today).

There is also a very exciting documentary in the works right now entitled "The Light between Two Towers" which is being driven by Tom Wohlmut from WMS Media.  I had the privilege of attending a presentation about the movie and have to say it provides compelling evidence of a connection between the San Jose Tower and the Eiffel Tower. I was certainly surprised at what was uncovered by the end of the presentation and think most people will be as well when this film is released. We'll have a lot more information on that documentary as details are released (I'll post whatever I'm allowed to), but I can already say that the Electric Light Tower could very well be far more significant than originally thought.

While the idea of rebuilding the tower has been tossed around for decades, now is the time to build a landmark that truly represents San Jose's history and culture of innovation, diversity, entrepreneurship, and sharing ideas. The Electric Light Tower is the perfect physical manifestation of those ideas.

Now for some exciting news. There is a group of people with the right experience to actually make this a reality. What I need help from everyone reading this is ideas that can be incorporated into a modern version of an Electric light tower. Here are some quick thoughts to get things started:

• Lighting
• Multi-color LED Lighting (this is a must)
• Imaging the tower turning teal and showing the score during Sharks games, or blue for Quakes games.
• Lasers
• Can be used for optical effects. Due to our height restrictions, lasers can be a way to make the tower look taller than it actually is or can even be used for concerts and events near the tower.
• Holograms / projections
• Few things look as futuristic as a hologram. A holographic showcase near the base could be an amazing display of technology by local companies such as LG as well as potentially providing advertising opportunities to help fund the tower.

• Interactivity
• Much like the lights on The 88, a new Light Tower could be dynamic allow people to interact with it. This could mean changing color based on interacting with nearby objects or by using an app on your phone.
• Ability to communicate with sister cities via the Tower, perhaps using cameras and screens along the base.

• Holiday Ideas
• It can be used as a Christmas tree during December
• Red, White, & Blue during the 4th of July
• Rainbow during Pride San Jose

Please submit your ideas in the comments and I will gladly add them to the list above. Let's make this a reality!

Silicon Valley Sign Art Contest

Silicon Valley needs more landmarks. We live in the most innovative place on earth, yet there is a severe lack of branding for the region. A while back, Hafid Alfonso proposed a dynamic sign on the hillside that would serve as a beacon for the Valley. Now to keep the conversation going, he has partnered with the SJSU Engineering Honors Society to discover who has the best idea for a Silicon Valley sign.

The Silicon Valley Sign Art Contest runs until October 25th and the winner will be published on local media (including this site) and presented to a local Chamber of Commerce.

You can find more details below. To participate or learn more about the contest, click here.

The Silicon Valley Sign Project

I'm really excited to hear about a grassroots campaign to give Silicon Valley a new landmark. It's called The Silicon Valley Sign Project, and is being championed by Hafid Alfonso who helped build a walking tour company based in San Jose.

Here is the premise:

What if Silicon Valley had a distinguished landmark? What if we placed it somewhere everyone could see it and be reminded of the wonderful valley we live in? What if Silicon Valley thought even bigger? How would someone start such a project?

The draft proposal--which you can find here (PDF)--envisions a sign that is 200 feet wide with each letter standing 45 feet tall. LED bulbs would be use to illuminate the sign at night, potentially in a variety of colors as you can see in some of the renderings below. The sign would be visible throughout most of Silicon Valley, and help provide a sense of place for residents and visitors alike. So what do you guys think about this concept?

For all of the details and to show your support, please head over to The Silicon Valley Sign Project webpage.

Draft Rendering

Aerial View

Rendering view from Milpitas on Highway 880
 

Rendering view from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara

Sign lit up at night in San Jose Sharks Teal

Sign lit up at night in San Jose Earthquakes Blue

Google Donates $1M to Support Lick Observatory

It's nice to see Google giving back to the San Jose community, where many of its employees are housed. The search giant has committed $1 million over the next two years to help keep the doors open at the historic Lick Observatory, which has been responsible for many discoveries and important astronomical projects over the years. The gift is equivalent to one fourth of the center's annual operating budget.

Lick Observatory is one of San Jose's most prominent landmarks and is the only observatory in the UC system where astronomy and astrophysics students can design and build their own astronomy projects. A vote of confidence from a company like Google will go a long way to attracting other Silicon Valley donors.

Source: The Merc

Lick Observatory Council's Letter to the Merc

The iconic Lick Observatory is in danger of being shut down following the end of UC funding in 2018. The Lick Observatory Council has launched a campaign to find the support needed to keep it in operation. Below is a letter that was written to the Mercury News:

~~~

Lick Observatory's work deserves support

Writing on behalf of the Lick Observatory Council, we strongly urge the University of California to reconsider its unwise decision to end all funding for Lick Observatory. Lick science remains vibrant, with programs to discover Earth-sized, potentially habitable planets and to develop technology enabling ground-based telescopes to see more sharply than the Hubble Space Telescope. More than 100 UC astronomers and students use Lick each year for groundbreaking research.

Lick is also a unique educational resource for the Bay Area. Thirty-five thousand people visit annually to tour the telescopes, hear lectures by renowned astronomers and behold the universe through the eyepiece of the great refractor.

We are committed to keeping this gem alive and thriving. Our vision is compelling: a working observatory and major science education center for research, outreach and inspiration. We invite the university to support and partner with us in this quest.

Would you like to help save Lick? Learn more at www.ucolick.org/SaveLick/ .

James A. Katzman

Member, Lick Observatory Council Saratoga

Wednesday Wishlist: Dublin Spire

Over the summer I got to visit one of San Jose's sister cities: Dublin, Ireland. Out of all the cities I visited in Europe, Dublin was actually my favorite. The people were extremely friendly, there is history and character around every corner, great nightlife, amazing food, and it was very easy to get around either by walking or by bus. It also goes to show you don't need height to have a vibrant city (just about all buildings are under 6 stories).

There was one monument that particularly stood out called the Spire of Dublin or Monument of Light. It's a 398ft tall spike right in the middle of the city center that lights up at night and is easily visible from everywhere. It also happens to be the tallest sculpture in the world. People use it as a beacon to get to the city center and also as a meeting place.

I couldn't help but think of how cool it would be to have a sister monument in San Jose, perhaps even in Cesar Chavez park to replace our other "sculpture." We could also put a San Jose spin on it, increase the number of LED lights on the spire and make them either dynamic or interactive like the lighting system on The 88 or one of the Zero1 exhibits last year. It would be way to honor a sister city and also create a permanent landmark in San Jose's skyline!