Those Teflon-coated sails billowing over the harbor belong to the San Diego Convention Center, which opened in 1989 and reshaped how the city thinks about its economic future. Designed by Arthur Erickson, the building's most distinctive feature is its Teflon-coated fiberglass roof, shaped like a series of sails billowing over the harbor — a deliberate visual echo of the bay, the naval tradition, and the city's nautical identity. The Convention Center sits on land that was once bay, filled in and developed over decades.
At 2.6 million square feet, it is one of the largest convention facilities in the United States, drawing major events like Comic-Con International, which has been held here since 1991. Comic-Con has become one of the most economically significant recurring events in San Diego, generating hundreds of millions of dollars annually and making the city a global capital of popular culture fandom. The Convention Center also anchors the redevelopment of the East Village neighborhood to the north — its presence made the area around it valuable enough to attract Petco Park and the high-rise residential towers that followed.
This building is as responsible as any single structure for San Diego's modern downtown identity.