community_scaled

COMM UNITY SCAL mixed use affordable housing polk street and broadway, san francisco, ca matt shara | megan kuzma | with h. jones and p. haydu cal poly san francisco urban design program | spring 2012

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polk street and broadway affordable housing and commercial mixed use california polytecnic state university san francisco urban design program spring 2012 matt shara and megan kuzma in collaboration with professors Hulett Jones and Paul Haydu

table of contents 3 executive summary 4_9 week one: site analysis 10_15 week two: concept development 16_17 week three: mid term review 18_21 week four: schematic design 22_33 week five: final proposal 34_49 tangents and outtakes: lateral musings 50_51 appendix

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executive summary: Located at the vibrant intersection of Polk Street and Broadway, the proposition for this fifty-two unit affordable housing and commercial mixed use project explores issues inherent to the suggested program and its unique location within the city of San Francisco.

The principles driving the design were developed through a process of rigorous research and an experiential investigation into the defining characteristic’s of both the city and the immediate neighborhood. The presence of scale and its importance to architectural design within an urban fabric influenced the evaluation of forces which eventually determined the building’s final design. How the smallest piece in this fabric affects the largest and the largest the smallest developed into the conceptual underpinning from which the selection of program spaces were made, and from which the final organization of these spaces manifest themselves throughout the building’s final design.

the site is located at the intersection of Polk Street and Broadway

In the following pages the process of the proposal will be shown in conjunction with the major milestones and observations made within the content explored in this exercise. As the influence of scale defined itself as a conceptual construct so did the characterization of the community and the building’s potentially destructive affect on this community’s character. For this reason, the preservation of the Polk Street retail corridor, and its interaction with the residential floors, and the individuals that occupy these floors, became an area of major importance to the design. Through its synthesis of public and private space the project manifests itself of as an embodiment of community within the city of San Francisco at the intersection of Polk Street and Broadway.

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week one: site analysis

the city: San Francisco is a city sculpted around its unique geographic features.

Its peninsular location establishes it as a centrifugal point of commerce within the Bay Area and the West Coast at large. Within the city, jutting peaks interrupt the horizontal expanse of grid and its vertically projecting mass. These peaks and the resulting valleys juggle row houses and pedestrian thoroughfares, creating an undulating and ever-changing landscape, distinct districts and neighborhoods that offer unique characters of their own. The neighborhoods of San Francisco are not defined by clear boundaries or edge conditions. They are diverse, viscous liquids that bleed into each other, relying on strong individual expression to maintain spacial autonomy.

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city maps left to right: Topography, Neighborhood Boundaries, Commercial Corridors

the intersection: It is on the datum of the street that the character of a neighborhood is most intensely experienced. Vibrant commercial corridors are recognized by the city’s denizens as places that collect the surounding community. These are the major arteries that run through the body of the neighborhood: Valencia, Mission, Irving, Haight, Fillmore, Columbus, Polk Street... Our site serves as a node that designates the beginning of a thriving commercial corridor. Small retail parcels open up onto Polk Street. Between Pacific Avenue and Filbert Street eighty-five boutiques, restaurants, and specialty shops attract people from around the city.

Perpendicular to the pedestrian traffic of Polk Street is Broadway: a major transit corridor that connects the city East to West. The intersection of Polk Street and Broadway results in an energy that can be felt at any time of the day; an energy that makes this node such a desirable place within the city.

diagrams from left to right: Setting Context: designing within an urban fabric, The Significance of Intersection, The Role of Intersection

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Polk Street looking East

Broadway looking North 6

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the neighborhood: A few blocks south the neighborhood has another story to tell. Polk Street has a long and tumultuous history as a sanctuary for the isolated and misplaced members of society. Since the 1950’s it has attracted immigrants, social vagrants, and homeless youth that have found this stretch as an island of individual expression and communal refuge. It is fair judgement to assume that we will significantly attract residents from this population, a population embodied by the image of Corey shown on this page. This is the significance of intersection and its role in integrating six stories of affordable housing and commercial spaces into an affluent and already established stretch of commerce.

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60s 50s EARLY 70s

Polk Street History 1800s created as an upscale commercial boulevard for the families in mansions on Van Ness 1906 earthquake and fire razed the area 1912 German Cultural Center

late 1950s hangout for bohemians, gay men, workers, artists, male and female prostitutes, and beat poets

1964 S.F. “Gay Capital” 1966 26 gay bars and other gay businesses including restaurants, clothing stores, theaters, and hotels

1970 San Francisco’s first pride parades on Polk Street. Gay “party” atmosphere.

1973 transformed from a “mom and pop” shopping street Late 1970s gay commercial bloc hit its economic and political peak

80s

Early 1980’s catastrophic health crisis...AIDS 1981 merchants complaining prostitutes, drug-addicts, shoplifters impinging on their business 1984 Larkin Street Youth created to help with youth homelessness

TODAY

90s

1984 continual unraveling and chronic instability of Polk District businesses

Through mid-1990’s AIDS led both to a decrease in clients and a growing meth problem 1997 heterosexual pimps and female prostitutes “took over” the street by force Late 1990’s heavy-duty crimes: rape, murder, you name it. We demanded police protection

2000’s Haven for young artists and “hipsters,” or upscale, heterosexual and mixed drinking establishments. Gay bars changed hands. Gay culture stamped out Current upscale condominiums, wine bars, and restaurants, coexisting with homeless shelters, street prostitution, and low-income single room occupancy apartments reflects national trends

ground floor program studies: the ground floor will be an essential piece in the preservation of neighborhood character

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week two: concept development

community scaled: The existing neighborhood is not only affluent and our future residents will not only be unstable individuals. These are simply two polarities which set a scale of greater magnitude: the scale of community and the desire within each and every one of us for acceptance and companionship within the places we call home.

A healthy community begins with a healthy individual. It is a rare opportunity that a building holds the potential to programmatically integrate the seemingly invisible boundaries of one neighborhood into the next; the potential to cultivate community at a scale beyond its imagined reality. Acknowledging the individual as the smallest unit within the assembly of the community is the first step outward to an ultimate embodiment of community at every scale. The embodiment of community at every scale is vital not only to the success of our proposal, but also to the preservation of this unique and vibrant neighborhood place.

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gesture studies explore the relationship between residential and ground floors

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ground floor circulation/program study Š 2012 matt shara 13 Š 2012 matt shara 13

preservation/activation of the ground floor: the energetic corner of Polk Street and Broadway

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preservation/activation of the ground floor: the residential mass meets the street and creates public space: a vestibule to the street and an arcaded retail sequence

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week three: mid term review defining principle: From our investigation into the neighborhood surrounding Polk Street and Broadway and our research into the affordable housing needs, as outlined in the San Francisco Master Plan, the organization of program into a concise massing scheme was reached by the end of our third week. With roughly half of the site occupied by a debatably historic building, currently a Walgreens, a choice was required as to whether we should preserve all, part, or none of this structure. Rather than treat the existing building as an obstacle to all future design moves, an opportunity was seen to create an exciting sequence of public spaces. By demolishing its Southern wall, pulling the retail edge away from the street, and creating a wrapping arcade from Polk Street into an interior courtyard space, using the regular order of the existing column grid, a desired level of activation on the ground floor was achieved.

While the ground floor orients itself to the retail character of Polk Street, the succeeding levels of the residential floors orient themselves Southward, to achieve maximum sunlight, ventilation, and views. Together the juxtaposition of masses, the ground floor public space, and the upper residential levels, create a continuous sequence of space that activate all levels of community within the program.

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the juxtaposition of residential and commercial masses Š 2012 matt shara 17 Š 2012 matt shara 17

week four: schematic design

the face: A window is a lens through which the individual sees their surroundings. In the instant of perception one places themselves in the world as they exist in that moment.

The residential mass of the building is treated as a body-a body composed of cells. The skin--the building’s face, is articulated both inside and out, with respect to its adjacent environment and the individual who sees themselves in this environment: over Polk Street or into the courtyard.

In the following pages a study of the perceptual affects of convex and concave affects will clarify the articulation of this lens. The lens is a crucial piece of the proposal and the relationship that the individual develops with their surroundings.

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convex: welcome in. i support you. dish reflecting light wrapping space swelling inward toward fulfillment

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concave: wait. here i come. expansive array defined vertical volume pushing mass surrounding boundary.

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week five: the final proposal the evolution of program: The final design offers 5,738 square feet of retail space and 6,012 square feet of public space on the ground floor. Three designated retail spaces face a courtyard that pulls pedestrians from the street and into a sequence of public spaces framed by the residential mass above. Movement is continuous or stationary on the ground floor; a covered arcade creates a circulation corridor for shoppers and scattered seating within the court offers refuge for one to sit away from the busy pedestrian traffic of Polk Street. A multitude of openings within the building’s mass creates an always sunny and ever-fluctuating day lit ground floor. Residents can choose between three entries on the ground floor, which each offer a different level of privacy and adjacency to Polk Street and Broadway. The main residential lobby is set back from the retail spaces; it shares a visual connection to the court and the street beyond.

Communal spaces are consolidated entirely on the second floor. A kitchen, living room, outside terrace, and a street lounge are the main attractions that bring residents down from their units to cultivate a sense of community within their place of residence. Classroom spaces serve as an intermediate public feature that invite the extended community in to learn and explore new topics. When not in use they double as work spaces for creative individuals that live in the floors above. Laundry facilities, counseling offices, and a variety of support spaces are also located on this floor, acculmulating to a total of 9,380 square feet of communal space.

In the floors above a variety of one bedroom, studio, and three bedroom residences amount to a total fifty-two units. From the preceding study of concave and convex lens shapes two window experiences are offered in each unit. In the living spaces windows project; in the bedrooms they recess. Over Polk Street large bay windows reach into the city beyond and thin vertical windows frame a view from the sleeping space. In the units facing inward, onto the courtyard, projections and recessions occur within a collage of frosted and fully transparent glass and ignite the spaces below with reflected light and openness.

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unit breakdown total: 52 units three bedroom: 8 units one bedroom: 12 units studios: 32 units total residential: 40,620 sqft. total building: 75,084 sqft.

Broadway Elevation Š 2012 matt shara 23

Broadway looking East 32

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Entry court from Polk Street © 2012 matt shara 25 © 2012 matt shara

tangents and outtakes:

lateral musings presented in chronological order

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a meditation on living with others Case Study One: The Cuesta House We painted the door red. It was now ours. We belonged in this house, its seven rooms, its bar, its kitchen, the nook, an untamed backyard and a garage full of bicycles, surf boards, and a spare bed. The nook was the node, the focal point of social interaction. It benefited from its adjacency to the kitchen, but never fulfilled the role as our kitchen table. This was the place where most meals were eaten, but it was also the place where one found themselves stuck for hours in accidental conversation and confession. Musical performance and artistic expression were commonplace in the nook, even between the most timid of roommates. This was a virtue of intimacy; to be in the nook and not participate of unheard of. Each seat was of equal importance around the table’s circumference, movement in and out to accommodate line-up changes was awkward, and there were never enough seats when the nook was alive. As we became conscious of the nook’s popularity, its centrifugal presence in the social dynamic of the house, we couldn’t help but wish to make it larger, less awkward, and more streamline, but we knew this could never be. The nook was significant because it was an accidental space; no one intended to spend time in the nook, yet each and everyone of us spent hours here daily. Meanwhile the living room remained empty and cluttered with forgotten belongings, the common room upstairs upheld its role as a vacuumous pit of lost intentions until the day we left, and the backyard was our jungle of waste, far too large for our even our most ambitious plans to conquer.

The Cuesta House serves as a significant example of the success and failures of common space between unintentional and socially undeclared individuals. Throughout the house’s two year “lifetime” the roster of roommates fluctuated between six, seven, eight, and at its climax, ten individuals. The initial inception of roommates was not between seven already friends, but between friends of friends, and word of mouth connections that stemmed from a need to fill empty rooms. It was not a sorority or

fraternity house, it was not a religious commune, it was not even a house of all males or females, athletes or intellectuals; it was a melting pot and the individuals that occupied its spaces for various intervals of time throughout its two year history shared a common desire for self-expression and social connection. Selfexpression and social connection... These are arguably desires that we all posses; desires that must be acknowledged and fulfilled based on the need’s of the individual, desires that are especially potent within the young population. What we found in the space of this house was an arena to express ourselves and to enjoy each other’s company. We enjoyed this arena and filled it with memories and wild experiences, but this arena was not bound by the exterior walls of the house, but rather by the spaces that attracted our consistent interest.

The kitchen is a place of interest in almost every house, even by residents who declare that they do not cook; everyone benefits from access to water, a sink, and trash amenities, and if not placed at the outer extremities of the home’s greater organization, the kitchen will fulfill the basic utilitarian needs of every occupant.

Our kitchen fulfilled these needs, and then exceeded even our greatest expectations: the kitchen grew towards an entropic state of cleanliness. How could this be? In a house full of unruly college students a clean kitchen is an unheard of phenomenon.

The clean kitchen in the Cuesta House brings up the important issue of self-governance and the potential for space-sharing individuals to take responsibility in a space that is not solely “theirs” without declaration. The extraordinary success the kitchen can be attributed to a few key ingredients: its adjacency to the nook: as the most significant social space in the house, the function of the nook was acknowledge with unannounced respect. A messy kitchen was inevitably felt in the nook, and our social interactions suffered as a result. The adjacency of the nook served to keep the mess of the kitchen contained for the sake of social pleasure. its proximity to the front door/public presence: as social beings we like to share our lives with others; we enjoy talking about © 2012 matt shara 31

the people and places that we identify with and we take pride in belonging to something greater than ourselves, whether it be our jobs, our families, our recreational activities, or any other form of greater organization, we want to participate and share with those outside our field of experience. The Cuesta House quickly became an object to share. Each visitor was given a full tour of the house and the first site to see was the nook and kitchen in the near distance. An unattended kitchen would fail to fulfill our collective desire to identify with our place of residence. its compact size: never was the kitchen too small to accommodate our hungry appetites. It was, however, no more than fifteen feet in length and four feet wide between counter tops. There was a single oven, a four burner stove, a sink and a refrigerator.

Cooking space was in high demand in the kitchen and dishes left on the stove, in the oven, and unwashed in the sink did not resonate with the unbound furry of hunger. The compact design of the kitchen suffered from one not so compact flaw: the sprawling expanse of countertop towards the pantry area.

This countertop space was beyond functional, beyond the boundary of necessary performance, and as a result it suffered from neglect. Dirty dishes, grocery bags, backpacks and binders were frequent inhabitants of this stretch of counter. It is this excessive space that is the most vulnerable to neglect.

If a space is too large, it will never be cleaned.

If a space is too large, it will remain empty by/through intimidation.

If a space is too large, it will become a space of storage, not of occupancy.

If a space is too small, it will fail to be functional.

If a space is too small, it will never intrigue its occupants to explore its potential.

If a space is too small, it will never be ours, assumed to be someone else’s, and will most likely remain no one’s.

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Case Study Two: The Basement It wasn’t really a basement, but an in-law unit. It might as well have been a basement though; dark, cold, wet; no light, no air, no world outside. It wouldn’t have been all that bad if its confinement was balanced, maybe with a living room? A kitchen?

Even a front porch would’ve been nice, but the existence of the space served in its entirety to castrate itself from life outside.

People, light, and sound, none of them existed here. The other residents accepted this desire not to exist. They scurried to and from their rooms with headphones in their ears, heads down, no need to stop--why stop? What is there to stop for? Keep going, from A to B, don’t stop... I only met Lexi and it wasn’t by choice.

Her bathroom was in the laundry room-- or rather adjacent to it, and I was, at least to my understanding, the only person who did laundry in the entire building. We talked when we collided, as we usually did, but one can only push a conversation so far when they’re half-naked and dripping wet trying to speak over the roar of a twenty-year old washing machine. I lived in this basement for three months and besides Lexi, to the other six people I shared this house with, I never existed.

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