Life After Peach Stucco : Design: A pair of small retailing centers in Kearny Mesa offer hope that the pseudo-Mediterranean era may be ending.

"Often, these buildings were insensitive to their contexts and had little to offer their users in the way of interesting forms and spaces or solid craftsmanship. This trend was especially apparent among small retailing projects that met the growing demand for services in both residential and commercial neighborhoods. From Chula Vista to Oceanside, San Diego to El Cajon, cheap-looking, peach-colored pseudo-Mediterranean strip centers became the norm."

"The Daley Square Shopping Center on Aero Drive just west of Interstate 15, designed by San Diego architect C.W. Kim, uses grayish cedar siding, laminated wood beams, raw concrete and a low profile to blend with its scrubby San Diego site in an admirable fashion that harks back to the "organic" ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright."

"If the Daley project is organic architecture for the 1990s, the McGrath Court Retail Center on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard just east of Interstate 805 is on the cutting edge. Architects from SGPA Architecture and Planning in San Diego used bold, colliding forms and voids in the style that has come to be known as Deconstructivist to create a center with a delightful, sculptural energy."

During San Diego's 1980s construction boom, rapid development and low interest rates led to poor architectural quality. Buildings lacked sensitivity to context and offered little craftsmanship or interesting design. This was especially evident in small retail projects across the region, which became dominated by cheap-looking, peach-colored pseudo-Mediterranean strip centers. Recently, some developers have begun reversing this trend by investing in competent architects. Two retail centers in Kearny Mesa exemplify this shift: Daley Square Shopping Center uses organic design principles with cedar siding and raw concrete, while McGrath Court Retail Center employs bold deconstructivist forms. These projects demonstrate developers' willingness to prioritize architectural quality and distinctive design.

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