INTERSTICE Architects

IA hosted a group of very special interns this year – three curious, passionate students who became integral to our office and gained valuable, firsthand knowledge of the inner workings of a busy studio.

Yuxuan (Left) and Houzhou (Right) at the new Transbay Center

Yuxuan Gu is currently studying landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been an enormous help to the team at IA, providing critical support on our active projects. Yuxuan also came to IA with an undergraduate degree in architecture and was eager to gain experience at a multidisciplinary firm. With an interest in materiality and its effect on the physical experience of space, her favorite tasks at IA included drawing details and learning how to redline construction document sets. She believes these tasks to be  a very important aspect of the design process and was excited to gain such valuable firsthand experience. Once Yuxuan completes her MA studies at Penn in 2019, she hopes to continue to work within multidisciplinary practice, where she is able to contribute to various facets of the built environment.

Haozhou Yang also came to IA from the University of Pennsylvania, and will be receiving his masters of architecture degree in December of this year. Houzhou became an integral part of IA’s tight-knit team, lending his support to different projects of varying sizes and at different phases. Haozhou really enjoyed the diversity of the firm’s project typologies , and he was excited to be able to learn Revit in such a hands-on environment. The greatest lesson he took away from working at IA is that communication is such a critical part of the design process, at every stage of a project, which is a lesson that he will carry with him throughout his career. Haozhou cited the elegant, detailed based solutions that he helped work on with the team at IA as being the most rewarding part of his time at the firm.

Enterprise for Youth Internship Program  Intern – Gavin Li 

Gavin Li at the IA office

For the second year in a row, INTERSTICE Architects participated in the Enterprise for Youth internship program, which empowers local youth to prepare for and discover career opportunities. Through this program, youth cultivate their individual interests and potential through training, guidance, and employment experiences in supportive and diverse environments. This summer, IA had the privilege of hosting Gavin Li, a recent graduate of Lincoln High School and who is starting as a freshman at Ohlone College this fall. As an intern this summer, Gavin was an immense help and an enthusiastic addition to the IA team. Learning about architecture while a senior at Lincoln High school, he was quickly inspired by the physical and emotional resonance of the built environment. This new found interest was enhanced further by a post-graduation trip to Greece, experiencing some of humanity’s greatest artistic and architectural achievements.

During his time at IA, Gavin’s was given first-hand experience of what it means to work in architecture - from sitting in on client and consultant meetings, going on site visits, and participating in design sessions with his coworkers. He was interested to learn that the design process is fundamentally about problem solving, and was inspired by the creative solutions that were devised in response to the whole host of challenges that inevitably arise throughout the design process. He cited our 160 Folsom Street project as a personal favorite, especially because he passes it every day on his commute and has witnessed the progress of the project firsthand.

This summer, INTERSTICE Architects was proud to participate in the Construction Workforce Initiative (CIWI) Internship program.  INTERSTICE participated in the CIWI program through our role as Landscape Architect on the Transbay Block 1 Project at 160 Folsom Street, being developed by Tishman Speyer and as the architectural team led by Studio Gang Architects.

CIWI is a non-profit initiative which is focused on the expansion of diversity within the Construction, Real Estate Development, Architecture and Engineering, Civic Engagement and Urban Design industries by providing career development opportunities for students interested in these fields.   Visit the CIWI website to learn more about their initiative.

INTERSTICE’s CIWI intern, Alanna Johnson, now entering her sophomore year at San Francisco State University with an interest in marketing and communications, gained valuable insight into the sheer amount of planning and due diligence it requires to get a project built by attending meetings with Transbay project stakeholders including architects, developers, engineers, city agencies, and contractors.   Alanna became integral to our team at IA, providing hands-on support and working side by side with our designers, collaborators, and the client.

“I would say that being able to be partnered with both the CIWI program and INTERSTICE Architects exposed me to a vast amount of opportunities. I no longer place my future outcomes in a box. I’ve learned to let them blossom.”

INTERSTICE Architects / CIWI Program Intern Alanna Johnson (Photo Credit: Karwanna Dyson)

INTERSTICE Architects Team at 1173 Sutter Street (Photo Credit: Karwanna Dyson)

INTERSTICE Architects is thrilled to support La Cocina and participate in our 4th annual Street Food Festival!

This year we designed and installed a 300-foot-long sinuous bench, called the INTERSTICE banqu(ette), which meanders down the center of the San Francisco Street Food Festival’s second annual Night Market.

Over 500 pallets were zip-tied together to form an interlocking, modular lounge furnishing  and bar-table kiosks with heat-lamps for people to gather, eat and celebrate the Market.

With 6 different global regions of foods represented, the Night Market is an opportunity for San Franciscans to taste the best the world has to offer, all prepared and sold by local vendors. The benches are color coded by global region and display way-finding signage also by INTERSTICE. Local artists painted the coverings for the seats.

This is the launch party for the San Francisco Street Food Festival, which spans 6 blocks along Folsom Street between 20^th and 26^th Streets.

Check out the team at work!

INTERSTICE's design in action

We’re pleased to share that IA received 3 awards in this year’s ASLA Northern California Chapter Design Awards!  We were awarded 3 Merit Awards for our work on the 555 Bartlett Courtyard, Bay Area Remediation Site: 1, and the San Francisco Botanical Garden Pathway Improvements.  You can see our award winning projects on the ASLA NCC website.

Check out the pictures from our volunteer day at the San Francisco Botanical Garden – IA spent a day helping SFBG Gardener Jason Martinez weed, aerate and plant a grove of Rhododendrons in a section of the Mediterranean Basin known as Heidelberg Hill.  If you’re interested in volunteering your time to assist the SFBG, check out their website – the Garden relies heavily on volunteers like yourself to assist them in a variety of different ways, and no prior gardening experience is required!

We’re pleased to announce that the Mission house has been published in West Coast Modern – a new architectural monograph by Zahid Sardar featuring “Breathtaking home designs that fit perfectly into the unique landscape of the West.” The book features work by offices such as Aiden Darling, Tom Kundig, Steven Ehrlich, and other notable names from California and the rest of the West Coast. San Francisco Live/Work – aka the Mission House – is on page 124 – the book is available for purchase on Amazon.

We’d like to thank everyone that joined us this past Friday for Parking Day 2012! We had a great time meeting all of you, and we hope you enjoyed our “Lighter than Air” installation and the tasty Malaysian food courtesy of mamakSF! If you have any photos that you’d like to share (maybe you and your friends riding Public Bike’s Whimcycle, or lounging on our yoga ball furniture?) please post them here!

Also, be sure to check out our Flickr photo album!

We’re pleased to share that the Saratoga Beach House was published in The Province!  The article recounts the construction and design of the newly completed home, including interviews with its owner and Andrew Dunbar of IA.  You can read the article online.

We’re pleased to share that the Mission House has been featured in Houses Designed for Famlies, a new architectural monograph published by Think Publishing.  The book contains almost 50 modern homes designed with the family in mind, and you can find the Mission House on page 53.

We’re pleased to share that this month’s Residential Architect includes a feature on IA’s warehouse workspace — turn to page 72 for the full story on the converted 1940′s era warehouse-turned-architecture office located in San Francisco’s Mission District.  Also, be sure to check out IA’s Andrew Dunbar and Zoee Astrakhan’s video interview with Nigel Maynard of Residential Architect!