UCSF Redevelopment

 

Tearing down an old building at UCSF (9/29/2023).

I like photographs that show the passing of time. Over the last year I've watched in a kind of amazement as this old building was demolished to make way for a new one in its place. All the rubble of every kind that was produced in this demolition had to be carted off somewhere and either recycled or dumped as waste.

After the building was removed, the resulting "hole" was filled with many truckloads of dirt which had to come from somewhere I can only wonder about. It was "clean" dirt, mind you, not just random, pebble-strewn stuff. And then, after the mountain of dirt had been built, it too was gradually shaved back down. Maybe it was taken back from whence it came.

Construction is now proceeding from the new hole. 

We take such construction projects for granted as they happen all around us, but I'm sure the process of demolition is quite intricate, and I suspect the intricacy of rebuilding is greater by orders of magnitude. Watching this redevelopment reminds me of the first time I stepped aboard the aircraft carrier I was assigned to in the navy, where I was flabbergasted to contemplate the planning and execution of such intricate engineering.

The hole was filled with dirt which was then gradually removed until almost all of it was gone once again (12/15/2023).

The sides of the hole have been buttressed, and a narrow level created from the mountain of dirt has been created (9/19/2024).

The UCSF construction area looked like the same bare hole every week since I last photographed it on October 24, 2024, but this shot from April 18, 2025 shows that raising the actual building has finally begun.

I'm always interested to see part of the Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building (on stilts in the background) as I walk up Parnassus Avenue, but those days are numbered. This shot is from May 2, 2025.

Just one week later the RMB was invisible, and this is how it looked on my most recent pass on May 15. 

Passed by on June 6 with the last little bit of daylight in the upper left corner. I expect the next time I go by here (since I will be out of town awhile), much of the building facade will be in place.

* * *