Student-Faculty Led Initiative is Determined to Bring the SF Scale Model to the Student Union Building
By Julia Chong
jchong@theguardsman.com
Another New Deal project could make its way to City College permanently- the thousand square foot scale model of San Francisco designed by the college’s original architect, Timothy Pflueger.
City College’s SF Scale Model Initiative Team has been advocating for its claim since it was publicly displayed for the first time in 40 years at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in 2019. The faculty-student organization worked with Bik Van Der Pol, an artist collective who led the SFMOMA project, to organize a temporary exhibition in the Smith Hall Cafeteria during the Summer of 2020.
But when the Covid-19 pandemic stopped those plans, the model ended up back in the storage units of UC Berkeley as it had been since the late 40’s. Now, the SF Scale Model Initiative Team is determined to continue raising campus support, which led to the Board of Trustees unanimously agreeing for further exploration late last December.
The proposed location for the model’s installation is the upper level of the Student Union building as the Family Resource Center, Homeless At-Risk Transitional Students, Guardian Scholars, and the student lounge moving to the Student Success Center would leave vacancies.
However, on Aug. 14, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Lisa Cooper Wilkins presented a proposal on the best practices for using the Student Union building, and the scale model wasn’t included. The retrieval of the historic artifact still needs official consent from City College, UC Berkeley, and donors.
“We’re hopeful and not giving up just yet,” Leslie Simon, City College’s Women’s and Gender Studies Department instructor and lead for the SF Scale Model Team, said. “The team is committed to raising the necessary funds, so that the college wouldn’t have to pay anything out of their pocket.”
The 41-by-37 feet wooden model, of over 6,000 removable city blocks at a scale of 1 inch to 100 feet, was originally designed to be an educational resource, city planning tool, and tourist attraction. It took more than 300 craftspeople and was sponsored by the San Francisco City Planning Commission and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide jobs and boost the economy during the Great Depression.
At City College, it would be used as a hands-on educational tool for not only various courses such as architecture, geography, museum studies, and history, but also for the 72 San Francisco Unified School District Elementary schools, fostering a space for community engagement and collaboration across San Francisco’s many cultural districts.
The installation of the model is also intended to inspire public reflection from the New Deal’s strategy for economic restoration and era of labor movements to re-imagine the city’s future. It could even solidify City College’s role in San Francisco’s pandemic recovery, the SF Scale Model Initiative Team noted.
“Because of the SF Scale student work group, we found out that there was a leak in the Martin Luther King building and now, it’s being looked at and renewed,” said Simon. “So, whether the SF Scale Model ever comes to City College, something good has come from it.”
Facilities Justice Campaign was initiated by students to address conditions of campus buildings after the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in the Student Union flooded in 2022.
Further developments regarding the permanent installation of the model will be discussed at an upcoming panel discussion, “How can the Scale Model work as an educational tool inspiring city and neighborhood re-envisioning?” on Tuesday, Sep. 24 from 11:10 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. at MUB140.
Students of the SF Scale Model Initiative Team will present a workshop, “SF Scale Model: A Look into Social and Environmental Movements in San Francisco,” at the student led “Equity Matters: Bridging Communities and Navigating Advocacy through Social Justice” conference on Thursday, Sep. 26 and Friday, Sep. 27.
City College is already a New Deal site, and the model would add to its significant Great Depression Era collection, including Diego Rivera’s “Pan American Unity” mural, which will be located in the Performance Arts Building upon its completion, as well as Frederick E. Olmsted’s “Fresco” mural and Herman Volz’s mosaics in the Science Hall. The college’s original gymnasiums and the Science Hall of Ocean Campus were additionally sponsored by the Works Progress Administration.