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Design and Legacy

The plaza is at the eastern end of the Golden Gate National recreation Area, connecting the Embarcadero waterfront promenade to the natural parkland of the Marina Green, Crissy Field and the Presidio Parkland.

Lawrence Halprin’s idea for Ghirardelli Square was to preserve the space within the urban setting and create an example for other U.S. cities, something which hadn’t been done yet. Ghirardelli Square featured many rarities at the time of its creation. For instance: Halprin designed all the street furniture and light fixtures, at that time street furniture was not as common. Furthermore, a ramp was put in for William Wurster, who was disabled, another design choice rarity for the era. Lastly, Ghirardelli's underground garage was new, rather than having the garage connect to the road, shops were put at the street level in order to promote social opportunities.

The statue in the Ghirardelli's Plaza is named was installed by artist Ruth Asawa, titled “Andrea” it features a mermaid with her children. The statue was designed to create a connection from the square to the oceanside beyond as well as figuratively bring the image of women into the forefront.

One obstacle for the design was that Ghiradelli Square was at the foot of the Pacific Heights Neighborhood. The Pacific Heights community wanted the giant Ghiradelli Sign removed bcause of how bright it was at night. Rather than take down the sign Halprin had it turned around to face the waterfront.

After several years, a series of renovations had departed from Lawrence Halprin’s original design intention resulting in Ghirardelli Plaza becoming visually unappealing and less accessible. Pre-2017, A revitalization project was undertaken focusing on improving public access, promoting year-round activity, improving environmental sustainability, and improving the plaza’s aesthetics. The project utilized Lawrence Halprin’s design archives and worked with the City of San Francisco’s Historic Preservation Commission in order to combine Halprin’s original planting and design approach with local plant species. The redesign won the Northern California ASLA Merit Award for Historic Preservation.

There is some disagreement about the how much Halprin’s repurposed site design is originally his own. The project was initially conceived by Caree and Stuart Rose who had pushed for retail located in reused environments, and in the 1940s, activists Jean and Karl Kortum had been arguing for the preservation of the waterfront by turning it into a combined heritage and retail center.

Carol Johnson Stuff

Carol Johnson grew up in the suburbs of Northern New Jersey. From a young age she enjoyed a connection with nature partaking in hiking, camping, and writing poems about the landscape. Her family enjoyed vacations in Vermont and at Martha’s Vineyard. As a child she inherited her brother’s small time newspaper, The Boulevard Bugle, and increased its readership twenty-fold, marking her first foray into business. Johnson worked briefly at the New England Nursery where she did plant propagation and sold plants to the surrounding community. Here, she began giving design advise to customers an became involved with the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Between 2000-2011 CRJA did a majority of their work on projects in the middle east leading to their establishment of studio in Abu Dhabi from 2007-2011.

Shams Island Central Park, Abu Dhabi, UAE

The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt

Marasy Waterfont Residential Complex, Abu Dhabi, UAE

More information about Carol R. Johnson can be found in the Book Women of Steel and Stone: 22 Inspirational Architects, Engineers, and Landscape Designers