Problem

The need for public open space in urban places like San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) is not new. SoMa, as a light industrial / warehouse district, has always been home to thousands of workers as well as residents who could have benefited from such spaces. The area was not, however, planned with open space in mind, and existing public spaces are limited in number, size, and accessibility. Now the need for open space is even greater. But this is not only an issue of infrastructure; the lack of places in which the community can come together and thrive is a detriment to the neighborhood. The future health of this diverse urban fabric depends, in large measure, on finding creative ways to alleviate this need.

Response

Public Architecture's Open Space Strategy proposes to reconfigure Folsom and Howard as two-way streets, while still accommodating intensive traffic. At the heart of the plan is a proposal to make Folsom more pedestrian-oriented, with generous sidewalks creating new spaces for a variety of outdoor activities and urban amenities. These generous sidewalks would be created by installing sidewalk bumpouts, or Sidewalk Plazas. The Sidewalk Plazas would be installed incrementally and strategically placed. They would also be programmed with diverse public amenities, keyed to the particular conditions of SoMa’s varying uses. It makes for a responsive, rather than prescriptive, urban plan. Prototypical in nature, the Sidewalk Plazas in particular are designed as a tool that can be adapted and deployed to meet the needs of countless communities facing similar issues.

In San Francisco, this open space proposal quickly earned support from the San Francisco Planning Department, Redevelopment Agency, and Transportation Authority. Elements of the plan have already been incorporated by the Planning Department in a masterplan for a new development elsewhere in the city and been part of the growing progressive movement about the public realm within the city.

CMG Landscape Architecture, a San Francisco-based design firm and a member of Public Architecture's 1% Program, is collaborating with the design of the project as part of their pro bono service to design an installation of a sidewalk plaza in front of Brainwash Cafe and Laundromat in SoMa. The Design for BrainwashPlaza was honored by San Francisco Magazine in 2008 with a "Best of the Bay" award for bringing forth an idea for creating community-supporting open space out of bare concrete.

From co-sponsorship of REBAR's Park(ing) Day to participation on the San Francisco Mayor's Open Space Task Force, Public Architecture has strived to articulate a vision and solutions in which the street can serve as a nexus, not a divider, of the community.