San Francisco: A Map of Perceptions

San Francisco is a city designed for artists and wanderers.

From NorthBeach, to Chinatown, to the cold, rough surf of Ocean Beach, to Marin, both visitors and lifelongresidents have endless opportunities to explore new neighborhoods, buildings, environments, andcultures just by getting in the car, hopping on a cable car, or by simply walking around the block.

In San Francisco: A Map of Perceptions, the architect AndreaPonsi unravels the multifaceted beauty of one of America's favorite cities, introducing eventhose who have lived there for years to nuances often left unseen.

Ponsi, a native of Florence wholived in San Francisco for many years, lyrically describes everyday life in the city, from acaf in North Beach where he sits next to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, to the de Young Museum("a solid mass, a rough but elegant body, faceted but compact") and the Academy ofSciences ("an ethereal, transparent building, lace made of glass and slender columns"), toAlcatraz ("an abandoned ship, a Flying Dutchman set adrift that bears the signs of a life oftorment"), and even to the buffalo who reside in Golden Gate Park.

As withhis book on Florence, Ponsi here reveals a deeply personal look at what it's like to live inand love a city.

Having the unique perspective of having been both an insider and an outsider to SanFrancisco, he speaks to us in the way we dream an architect would, capturing the city'sdiverse yet emblematic structures through delicate watercolor and line drawings, while also offeringpoetic descriptions of the underlying smells, sounds, and light of its manyneighborhoods.A perfect balance of text and illustrations, SanFrancisco: A Map of Perceptions offers not only a guide for those visiting or returning tothe city but also a compelling invitation for residents to revisit the utterly unique place in whichthey live.