Minimalism for the Future

This project is a minimalist, open-ended event space for an avid maker-client and his creative partners to experiment and ideate. Located in the central Mission District of San Francisco, this simple plywood-lined tube serves as a hybrid office, event, laboratory, and workshop space all organized around a single three-level, vertical service core of reclaimed myrtle wood. The unencumbered volume integrates circulation, aperture, glazing, and high-performance systems to prioritize flexibility and future change.

 

The Multipurpose Core

The three-level core at the center of MAKER:Space vertically consolidates all the functions of mechanical room, wet-lab, kitchen, and bathrooms within a three-level column. Accessed by a sculptural twisting stair, this service column allows the mezzanine office to be isolated from the workshop with glass curtains at two strategic locations. The smooth glass street façade dematerializes the dense urban fabric in which it is inserted, creating a shimmering void reflecting the sky by day and a glowing interior by night, while seamlessly integrating both vehicular and pedestrian access from Minna Street.

 

Workshop

The original auto repair garage building was mostly demolished to allow the new generously open (both formally and programmatically) tube-like volume to connect the street to a private outdoor yard workspace at the rear of the site. Maximizing glazing on both ends allowed for natural light and passive cross ventilation, including a fully retractable skylight at its core where one can access the native meadow roof garden.

 

Floating in the Prismatic Void

Walls and ceilings are laid out in a rational full sheet plywood pattern to minimize waste. INTERSTICE Architects introduced light tracks into the joints in a randomized pattern to allow flexibility of future program possibilities and a myriad of light types, from orientable spots, floods, pendants, and line voltage theatrical spots, to plug-in projectors and accessories. Six dimmable, high-intensity industrial fluorescent fixtures float like oversized balloons in the prismatic void—an unencumbered volume which integrates circulation, aperture, glazing, and high performance systems to prioritize flexibility and future change, all within a clearly defined space that breathes natural light in constant dialogue with the sun and the ever-changing seasons.

• Commercial