#joshua l

[roughridingrednecks]

Mr. Lahr

[ryanpanos]

Salk Institute Silhouette by joshua l

The other day Revolutionary Gardens posted a great story on one of my posts about when he used work at the Salk Institute. I had to post it on here: 

I got SO EXCITED when I saw this come up in my feed because I recognized the rill immediately. 1998-99 I ran the grounds crew at the Salk Institiute. Let’s be frank - it was an awesome job that paid like crap. I was working through a placement firm so I was making a whopping $10/hr during my review period, and I left (and moved to AZ) when they wouldn’t give me what I asked for when I was offered the job. A prideful 23 year old? No way!

Anyhow, it was still an awesome job. Every Wednesday we mowed the lawns. Every Thursday morning I busted out the pump rig and cleaned the rill and pools. Outside of that, I got to decide what to do every day. One day I’d prune the lime trees, the next day would be irrigation repair, the next shearing the oleander. There was always something to do but it was a really chill environment. I had most of the tools I could want at my disposal (sadly they refused to buy me a skid loader) and I was given the time to maintain and repair my equipment

If there was a down side (besides the pay) it was that someone was always watching you. A facility like this runs on the grants that the researchers bring in and I think some of them resented having part of their funding pay for a big goony kid to maintain it. If I put one toe out of line I could be assured of my pager going off and the facilities # on the display. I’d trudge in and be told of the horrible terrible infraction I had committed, like stopping to use the restroom while dragging the hose around to water the basement level planters. Seriously, some of the scientists were jerks.

Still, that view in the top photo - that was my office every day. It’s hard to go wrong. And the highlight was quite possibly the night that the San Diego Symphony performed in the courtyard. I volunteered so that I could get in for free (I was living in a garage at this point) and it was magical. All the courtyard walls were washed with blue and white uplights, the landscaping and courtyard were pristine (if I do say so myself) and the acoustics were off the hook. I had my doubts about an orchestra playing on a travertine courtyard between concrete buildings but it was awesome.

I also think working here made me a better designer. I didn’t “get” modern architecture before this, but I fell more and more in love with it each week I was there. That led me to learn about Louis I. Kahn and other architects and designers. Maintaining every square inch of the Salk helped me learn shape and form and space… it was awesome.