The new Exchange Pavilion in Balboa Park (By Frank Sabatini Jr.)
Balboa Park, Community

An International ‘Exchange Pavilion’ is Born

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

It seemingly went up overnight. And it has been taking Balboa Park visitors by surprise daily.

With Mayor Todd Gloria present at its recent ribbon-cutting, the new 16-foot-high Exchange Pavilion now dominates the open plaza in front of the San Diego Museum of Art. The steel and dark-orange plexiglass structure symbolizes the combined cultural and artistic contributions to the world by design leaders from San Diego and Tijuana. It is one of the visual public projects connected to the recent naming of the two cities as the World Design Capital (WDC) for 2024.

The modular pavilion will remain in place until Nov. 15. Until then, visitors can relax within its shaded confines on benches from ByBlocks while pondering excerpts of cross-border poems streaming across its LED ticker-tape panels. The overall design symbolizes the twisted wall sections of our border, where the cultures of San Diego and Tijuana come face to face.

Tijuana-based visual artist Daniel Ruanova designed the structure in conjunction with Heleo, an architectural firm with offices in Downtown San Diego and Los Angeles.

The project also reflects WDC’s commitment to using sustainable materials in all or most of its projects around the world.