The School of Landscape Architecture at Academy of Art University has a new home in a San Francisco historical landmark: The Cannery. Moving into first-class instructional facilities isn’t the only reason students are excited: The Cannery’s extensive public spaces offer endless opportunities for students to practice their specialty with plantings, displays and other botanical marvels.
A complex of buildings founded in 1907 by the California Fruit Company—which later became Del Monte—The Cannery is as much a part of the Bay Area’s cultural fabric as the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Ghirardelli Square, the Ferry Building and other beloved Bay Area landmarks.
First refurbished during the 1960s, The Cannery today features more than 30 shops and restaurants…and Academy of Art University galleries and studios as well. To celebrate the addition of the School of Landscape Architecture to that mosaic, the university created a video featuring the school’s director, Heather Clendenin, and some of her students, talking about the location’s benefits and their plans to beautify the grounds.
Clendenin considers it a “privilege” for the landscape architecture school to be at The Cannery. “It’s an amazing array of public spaces that interlock from interior to exterior,” she says, describing the site as providing a “rare opportunity” to view how people view and use those spaces.
“In itself, it is a fantastic learning environment,” she concludes.
