A space to Create. A Space to Inspire. A Space to Imagine.
The Design Center is an important part of San Diego’s architectural history and has hosted a varied cast of characters throughout the years.
Presented below is a history of the project and a look to its “Futuro”…
Lloyd Ruocco standing in front of the Design Center, one of his most significant designs.
The Architect:
About Lloyd Ruocco
Born in 1907 and arriving in San Diego in the early 1920s, architect Lloyd Ruocco immersed himself within the burgeoning architectural community. During his studies at San Diego High School, Ruocco worked in Richard Requa’s office – a prominent San Diego architect. Here his architectural vision began to take shape and an appreciation for the harmony between a structure and its environment was born.
Ruocco went on to study at U.C. Berkeley. Upon his graduation, he returned home to San Diego, assisting on some of the city’s most notable historical projects – the 1935 Panama Exposition (present day Balboa Park), the County Administration Building, as well as the master plan for the community of Rancho Santa Fe.
“Good architecture should call for the minimum use of materials for the most interesting and functional enclosure of space.”
– Lloyd Ruocco, FAIA
The Design Center
Designed by architect, Lloyd Ruocco, the Design Center, located at 3605 Fifth Avenue in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood, is completed.
The Design Center is constructed of primarily redwood and glass, a style reminiscent of many of Ruocco’s early designs. Its open floor plans and rectilinear structures are hallmarks of the California Modern style, a style he himself pioneered. The openness of design and extensive use of glass reflects Ruocco’s sensitivity for a built environment’s relationship with the outdoors – a trademark of some of his most notable designs.
The Creation of An
Arts Community
Lloyd Ruocco standing in front of the Design Center, one of his most significant designs.
Ruocco’s architecture studio relocates to the Design Center, along with the studio and showrooms of his wife, interior designer and SDSU professor, Ilse Hamann Ruocco.
With a focus on the creative community, the couple invited artists, designers, photographers, and architects to the Design Center – shaping the city’s arts community.
Universally respected as one of San Diego’s fathers of the post-war modern architectural movement, Ruocco was equally devoted to the arts community as well as the city itself. His ultimate goal was to better the lives of the people of San Diego through his tireless efforts to promote and encourage art, architecture and design; many would say that he achieved his goal.
Instrumental in founding several community design organizations, Citizens Coordinate for Century 3, Allied Artists and Allied Craftsmen, Lloyd Ruocco laid the foundation for architects, artists and designers to come.
The Futuro House
Finnish architect Matti Suuronen designs the Futuro House, a futuristic-looking structure. Suuronen was inspired to create the Futuro House by his interest in flying saucers and the potential for new materials to revolutionize architecture. The result was a universally transportable home that had the ability to be mass replicated and situated in almost any environment.
The Futuro House quickly gains attention for its innovative design and space-age aesthetic.
A New Owner &
A New Addition
Grau’s Futuro prototype located behind the Design Center.
Local businessman, Stan Grau, buys the Design Center from Lloyd Ruocco.
Grau had recently obtained sales rights to the Futuro House, a spaceship-looking structure designed by Finnish architect, Matti Suuronen. Grau moved his prototype Futuro model into the canyon behind the Design Center.
Grau’s Futuro House is used as a creative meeting space for the building’s tenants.
The Futuro House
Grau’s Futuro House is purchased by Milford Wayne Donaldson. It is refurbished and transported to its new home in the San Jacinto Mountains and is now known as the Donaldson Futuro. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and has become California Landmark #1062.
Moving the Futuro House to be refurbished.
The Donaldson Futuro located in the San Jacinto Mountains. Photo courtesy of Paul Kozal
Restoring the
Original vision
Today, the two firms that occupy the property and the property’s owner (Blue Sapphire Holdings LLC) are collaborating together to bring back the original intent of the space as a creative hub for the San Diego arts community.
The group of design leaders, comprised of architecture, planning and interiors firm, RDC and landscape architecture and urban design firm, McCullough, have offices at the Design Center. The firms and the property’s owner are working together to offer and manage Futuro Space as a hub for community meetings, creative collaboration and other design-focused gatherings.
“The original intention was for the space to be a hub of creativity and innovation, a space dedicated to new ideas and devoted to pushing the envelope and improving the city it served and our intention is to further that mission.”
– David McCullough, ASLA, PLA, Principal, McCullough Landscape Architecture
Futuro Space is a collection of gathering spaces intended to reinvigorate the spirit of the original intent of the Design Center, opening a collective of community collaboration rooms and event spaces for the community of San Diego and the surrounding area.
It is comprised of large and small meeting rooms, individual work spaces, patio event space and individual work stations, with plans to add more community resources and engagement tools as time goes on.
It is already becoming the place for dialogue on issues of design and the built environment, both formally and informally, including use by groups such as the Urban Land Institute (ULI-San Diego), the American Institute of Architects (AIA San Diego) and Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C-3).
A special thank you to the Lloyd Ruocco Archive for providing historical information and images.