San Diego Scene – January 2020

Rendering of UC San Diego’s Design and Innovation Building. (Courtesy of UC San Diego)

UC San Diego breaks ground for new Design and Innovation Building

When UC San Diego officials broke ground for a new Design and Innovation Building, they said it was part of a “grand entrance” to the campus that also will include an adjacent amphitheater and park and connection to the university Blue Line Trolley extension. The multipurpose space is expected to be finished in spring 2021, months before the first riders will travel on the Blue Line Trolley. The university sees this as an inviting “foyer,” welcoming everyone to the campus.

The Design and Innovation building and the adjoining amphitheater and park will also be a connection hub for our campus, industry partners, and the greater community. It was conceived with the goal to encourage collaboration between Jacobs School of Engineering, Visual Arts, Cognitive Science, the Office of Innovation and Commercialization, alumni, and the greater community. These collaborative spaces between these various units and academic disciplines is designed to further foster’s UC San Diego’s “entrepreneurial spirit.”

San Diego author releases new book on childhood loss

By the time Madonna Treadway was eight years old, both of her parents had died. She moved in with family members and went on to lead a successful life, but always felt a void. That void was not only from the loss of her parents at such a young age, it stemmed from the absence of processing her grief. No one talked about her sadness, anger, or sense of abandonment.

Still, as an adult, Treadway finds that people feel uncomfortable talking about death. “I get it. Talking about death can be difficult,” says the author of the recently published self-help book SIX HEALING QUESTIONS :A Gentle Path to Healing Childhood Loss of a Parent.  “Part of the reason it’s hard is that we have little experience having these conversations. When I was a child, adults spoke in hushed tones about death or never spoke of it at all. I wondered if there was something shameful, or morally questionable, about dying. And no one ever asked me about my feelings of loss, guilt, and anger over my parents’ deaths.”

These feelings can be exacerbated during the holiday season when everyone else seems to be joyously celebrating with their loved ones.  “Loss is always difficult for children, but can be especially emotionally challenging during the holiday season,” says Treadway.

Treadway says she wrote her book with two readers in mind: those who experienced loss of their own parents during their childhood, and people who want to support children who have experienced loss. “I hope that the years of research I have done offer comfort and guidance to people struggling with loss,” she says. “The loss of a parent leave deep wounds, but that doesn’t mean we have to experience grief for the rest of our lives,” she says. “There are ways to honor, commemorate, and celebrate our loved ones in a way that empowers and heals us.”

Cubic to become first corporate partner to be

recognized within UCSD’s Franklin Antonio Hall

Cubic Corporation announced its philanthropic support of UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering, and will be the first corporate partner to be recognized within the university’s new engineering building project — Franklin Antonio Hall.

“With recognition in Franklin Antonio Hall, Cubic is helping us to create an exciting new ecosystem built around an optimistic, human-centered vision for the digital future,” said Albert P. Pisano, dean of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Franklin Antonio Hall, named in honor of UC San Diego alumnus Franklin Antonio, is a 186,000-square-foot university building being designed from the ground up for open, collaborative research and active learning.

Within the building, large and open collaborative research spaces, called “collaboratories,” will house multiple professors and their students. This design will encourage the diverse and interdisciplinary systems-level collaborations necessary to solve the toughest challenges facing humanity, said university officials.

Morris Cerullo’s Legacy International Center

set to open in Mission Valley this winter

Evangelist Morris Cerullo’s long-planned but controversial religious tourism and conference center project — Legacy International Center — is to be unveiled this winter in Mission Valley.

The $131 million project was approved by the San Diego City Council in 2017 over the objections of the local gay and lesbian community, who raised traffic concerns. It covers an 18-acre site formerly used by the Mission Valley Resort.

“San Diego has been my home since 1959 and I’m thrilled to bring this vision to life in such a beautiful and vibrant community,” said Cerullo in a prepared statement. “San Diego is an incredibly diverse city and we look forward to welcoming people of all cultures, faiths, and backgrounds to experience the Legacy International Center.”

The acreage includes five buildings, including a 126-room hotel and conference center, the International Experience Center, a 500-seat performing arts theater, and a 110-foot-long Western Wall, made from authentic Jerusalem Gold limestone from Israel that will pay tribute to the famed Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

Among the features of the project:

• An 18-foot-tall interactive globe that gives visitors the chance to learn about different cultures — a feature that won the “2019 Product of the Year” at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas.
• A series of galleries that offer immersive stories told in two- to three-minute increments via floor-to-ceiling video projections.
• A 4-D, 100-seat motion theater, conceived by former Disney Imagineers, where guests can experience “Wings Over Israel,” a full sensory “hang gliding” tour of Israel complete with sights, sounds and scents.
• An underground maze of stone chamber catacombs where massive original works of biblical art by world-renowned 3-D illusion artist Kurt Wenner will line the walls.
• A curated botanical garden for moments of quiet reflection.
• An open-air plaza – The Legacy Plaza, will serve as the center’s gathering place for visitors.