Blog Archive
Public Architecture, with team co-lead CMG Landscape Architecture, submitted its proposal for the revitalization of Waller Creek in Austin, Texas. The final step will be a public presentation of our design at City Hall on October 3rd. The winning team will be announced October 18th. To view the PA+CMG team’s proposal, as well as those of the other three finalist teams, visit: http://www.wallercreek.org/finalfour/.
The UT Austin PID Externs and Public Architecture staff, counter-clockwise, left to right starting from the bottom row: John Peterson, Amy Ress, Katie Mays, Shelley McDavid, Dorothy Shepard, Colleen McGinnis, David Sharratt, Gilad Meron, Heydn Ericson, and Alex Krippner.
Eight students representing a diverse group of future leaders in the public interest design movement convened in San Francisco June 27- July 6 for the Public Interest Design Externship, a summer program of The University of Texas at Austin and co-led by Public Architecture. The externship was designed to place graduate students in San Francisco-based architecture and design firms to study a handful of local built projects. Public Architecture selected the projects based on their innovation, high level of social impact, and broad definition of sustainability, evidenced by effective design strategies, unique funding streams, community engagement, and other elements that led to community impact. The following list shows the participating design firms, the selected project, and the assigned externs:
Perkins+Will-San Francisco, San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Heydn Ericson & David Sharratt
Envelope A+D, Proxy
Alex Krippner & Colleen McGinnis
CMG Landscape Architecture, Mint Plaza
Shelley McDavid
McCall Design Group, Sunset Cooperative Nursery
Dorothy Shepard
Public Architecture, Survey of Parklets
Katie Mays & Gilad Meron
In particular, the students’ research is focusing on the balance of the design intentions compared to the end users receptions of those intentions. Now in the final two weeks of the program, the externs have returned to Austin to distill their research into project case studies that will fill a professional report, which Public Architecture will make available later this summer.
By Brad Leibin
With good friends and project co-lead CMG Landscape Architecture, Public was delighted to receive word earlier this week that our team has advanced to the third and final stage of the ‘Design Waller Creek’ competition in Austin, Texas. We will now be competing against the three other finalist teams: Michael Van Valkenberg Associates, Inc. and Thomas Phifer & Partners; Turenscape and Lake|Flato, Architects; as well as Workshop: Ken Smith Landscape Architect, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, and Rogers Marvel Architects. Read more
By Amy Ress
The 1% Habitat initiative was born out of Habitat for Humanity’s desire to engage the design community to improve the design and construction process for their 1400+ affiliates across the country. Public Architecture saw this as an opportunity to advocate that quality design could further Habitat’s mission. Through The 1% program, we matched a select group of architecture firms, recognized for their residential design excellence and commitment to public service, to work with Habitat affiliates vetted for their building track record and enthusiasm to partner with designers to bring innovation to their plans. Together these teams are challenged to design and build a home that exceeds Habitat’s typical design and sustainability standards. Three of these partnerships are now underway to construction:
el dorado,inc and Heartland Habitat for Humanity
VJAA and Habitat for Humanity Detroit
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects and Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast
Each project will be documented on The Public Dialogue as they go to build, starting with the Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects (MSME) and Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast (HFH MGC) project in Pascagoula, Miss.
By late January 2012, MSME and HFH MGC were quickly approaching the ground breaking on their collaboratively designed house in Pascagoula, Miss. “Everyone here is very excited to get started,” exclaimed Heidi Schattin, Sustainable Building Specialist at HFH MGC. The Habitat affiliate had received the building permit back from the local planning office with only a few minor red lines and the foundation work and pile driving was set to begin in early February.
Originally published in Central City Extra San Francisco, No. 120 March 2012, a publication of San Francisco Study Center.
The faux wood floor is smooth, almost silky, a far better surface for the multipurpose room in the San Francisco Study Center’s new digs than the stained beige wall-to-wall carpet it replaced.
The flooring — 879.6 square feet of oak-colored Deco Advantage Luxury Vinyl Plank — came to Study Center free, thanks to an innovative online program that lets nonprofits match their design or renovation needs with architectural firms willing to pledge at least 1% of one employee’s annual billable hours to pro bono work. That averages about 20 hours a year.
In the last year, five other central city or mid-Market nonprofit projects have used the resources of The 1% program, which joined the latest public-private push to revive the grungy area on Market Street between Fifth and 10th in San Francisco.
The 1% idea is the brainchild of Public Architecture, a 10-year-old nonprofit at Eighth and Folsom streets. In six years, 571 nonprofits nationwide have searched for help and 1,011 architectural firms have made the pledge. Read more
By Amy Ress
el dorado/Heartland Habitat for Humanity; illustrative rendering of home design; courtesy of el dorado
Habitat for Humanity believes that every man, woman and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live. In 2009, the organization reached out to Public Architecture with an interest in exploring how they could better engage the design community to improve the design and construction process for their 1400 affiliates across the country.
Public Architecture saw their request as an opportunity to advocate that quality design could further Habitat’s mission. We used The 1% program to match a select group of architecture firms, recognized for their residential design excellence and commitment to public service, to work with Habitat affiliates vetted for their building track record and enthusiasm to partner with designers to bring innovation to their plans. Through the generous support of Formica and their commitment to advance the dialogue of sustainable affordable housing, the teams have been challenged to design and build a home that exceeds Habitat’s typical design and sustainability standards. Read more
By Brad Leibin
Original Architectural Rendering. Image courtesy of San Francisco History Center/San Francisco Public Library
Public Architecture is working to revitalize the exterior of a major electrical substation to enhance the building’s relationship with its transitioning neighborhood. Originally designed to celebrate and maximize its function as infrastructure, today the substation is being retrofitted to make a more holistic contribution to the vitality of the neighborhood by stimulating the public realm.
Public Architecture
Public Architecture is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in San Francisco. It engages architecture firms, nonprofits, and manufacturers to commit to design for the public good through its nationally recognized 1% program; it acts to bring about positive community change through public-interest design initiatives and pro bono design service grants; and it shares the potential of design to change the world through advocacy and outreach.
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The 1% Program
The 1%, a program of Public Architecture, connects nonprofits with architecture and design firms willing to give of their time pro bono.
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