INTERSTICE Architects

PARK(ing) Day 2017 – Mirror Mylar Forest-Field: Pedestrian Safety Along the Polk Corridor

For Park(ing) day 2017, INTERSTICE Architects created an interactive Park(ing) Day installation on Polk Street at Hemlock Alley.  Visitors experienced the wind-activated Mirrored Mylar Forest to explore questions of pedestrian safety and share their experiences of being a San Francisco pedestrian. Which spaces are prioritized for pedestrians?  Where is there room for improvement?

Recording individual experiences as a pedestrian, cyclist or driver, the public was asked to register their information directly onto the installation surface.  An enlarged a map of the Polk Street Corridor [built from data collected from the California Highway Patrol & highlighting pedestrian-related traffic incidents] created the “ground” for discussion.  This interactive pedestrian Park(ing) map evolved throughout the day as a palimpsest that visitors could walk through – orienting themselves within the parking space, the neighborhood, and the city streets.

The installation was inspired by the Polk Streetscape Improvements recently underway and INTERSTICE’s collaboration as part of an initiative to enrich The Lower Polk Alleyways District.  The new Lower Polk Alleyways Vision Plan (LPADVP) recently adopted by the Lower Polk Neighbors, proposes a future vision for the 12 blocks of alleyways located within the boundaries of the Lower Polk Neighborhood.  INTERSTICE Architects guided this community-driven process which has resulted in a unique community-initiated set of strategies and guidelines designed to understand these alleyways, not as singular back-streets or isolated funding opportunities, but instead to consider them as a whole – as a District.

YOU ARE INVITED!

Please join INTERSTICE Architects in celebrating PARK(ing) Day 2015 this Friday, September 18^th.  As a hybridized architecture and landscape architecture firm, much of our work is steeped in the creation and design of public spaces and how they improve the urban condition; and we are proud yet again to share in PARK(ing) Day’s call attention to the need for more urban open space. Now in our 9^th year participating in the festivities, we’d like to reflect on IA’s past PARK(ing) Day contributions.

Our PARK(ing)Day network page: http://my.parkingday.org/profile/INTERSTICEArchitects

Parking Day 2013

Parking Day 2012

Parking Day 2011

Parking Day 2010

Parking Day 2009

Parking Day 2008

Parking Day 2007

Parking Day 2006

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)

Recycled pallets, zip ties, gloves, Folsom Street and the IA team: it’s time for the San Francisco Street Food Festival!

Come join INTERSTICE Architects in celebrating the final year of the San Francisco Street Food Festival on Folsom Street. IA has designed and led the volunteer effort for the fifth year running, transforming Folsom Street in the Mission neighborhood to a dining district filled with people, food and festivities.

IA’s street furnishings design re-purposes shipping pallets to create banquettes for seating, eating, socializing, dining and drinking.

Thank you to La Cocina, the festival’s organizer, for your community leadership and inspired support of local food!

For more information about the schedule for the day, head over to the SFSFF website. The festival runs from 11 am – 7 pm.

INTERSTICE hosted this esteemed group of renowned Dutch architects at MISSION:house this September. Since 2010, Dutch Architect and Designer Edwin Oostmeijer has organized and led the Amsterdam-based Summit Tour, which highlights key works of Northern California Modern Architecture.
For The Summit’s fourth annual study visit to view examples of “NorCalMod,” MISSION:house hosted the distinguished guests and demonstrated a contemporary vision of this classic, architectural theme. The celebrated, signature blending of architecture with local and regional geographic influences that characterizes the Modern Architecture of Northern California was a highlight for the visiting Dutch architects, designers and developers, who traveled to experience and learn about local variations of this motif. The tour features project-based housing interspersed with private homes. “The Summit,” named for an intriguing apartment building in the Russian Hill neighborhood, refers to “the peak” of architecture both metaphorically and literally.

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’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!

IA was happy to assist La Cocina in preparing for the San Francisco Street Food Festival which took place this past Saturday in the Mission! We helped the festival with the design and construction of over 120 platform benches made from almost 500 locally sourced recycled wooden palettes. We hope you had a chance to visit the festival, and click the link above to take a look at our Flickr set of photos from the event. We would like to thank all the food vendors, volunteers, and especially La Cocina for organizing another successful food festival!