Point Pacific Apartments in Bayview reaches Completion!
The Pacific Point Apartments, located in the Hunters Point Shipyard in Bayview, is now complete! In partnership with David Baker Architects, INTERSTICE Architects served as the associate architect and landscape architect for the project. The apartment complex, which is the first 100% affordable housing development in the new Hunters View Shipyard Hilltop development was designed for families and features 60 rental units ranging from one-to three-bedrooms.
You can learn more about the project on our Project Page, but check out some of the latest images, courtesy of David Baker Architects, below.
Selecting Big Trees!
With our Park Valencia project about to start construction, the hunt for the perfect, mature trees began last week. Searching high and low, from Farmington to Los Angeles, the selected trees will be a signature part of IA’s design for centrally located park. In the heart of Santana Row in San Jose, Park Valencia will serve as a public open space for the busy shopping district. The rejuvenated park is a playful, highly programmed and richly colored space for visitors and patrons of the many businesses – providing new seating areas, kiosks, a play area, a performance stage, vendor amenities, and unique sculptures. Learn more about the project by visiting the project page.
At Valley Crest Tree in Los Angeles, picking trees
Existing Park Valencia
IA Staff Volunteer at GLIDE in Tenderloin
INTERSTICE took a break from the office to volunteer at GLIDE – a nonprofit located in the Tenderloin whose mission is to create a radically inclusive, just and loving community mobilized to alleviate suffering and break the cycles of poverty and marginalization. For one afternoon, IA traded CAD files and trace paper for serving spoons and aprons. The experience was humbling, rewarding, and eye-opening experience for all of us. If you are looking to support a great organization with incredible, hard-working people who work every day to make their neighborhood better, please check out the volunteering opportunities at GLIDE.
INTERSTICE prides itself on being inextricably linked to the neighborhood we occupy. Our office is being situated just a few blocks from GLIDE made it all the more important to us. Currently we are working with the wonderful literacy organization 826 Valencia on their new Tenderloin Center [ http://www.intersticearchitects.com/?project=826-valencia-tenderloin-center ], as well as the Lower Polk Neighborhood Organization on the Alleyways Master Plan. These are projects that aim to positively activate the neighborhood through placemaking, creating welcoming spaces for residents and visitors alike.
826 Valencia – Tenderloin Center Undergoing Construction
Construction is under way on the 826 Valencia Tenderloin Center. Located on the corner of Leavenworth and Golden Gate in the heart of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, INTERSTICE Architects, along with an energetic team of contractors, suppliers, and other professionals is working with 826 Valencia to create their new space, supporting under-resourced students in developing their creative and expository writing skills and help teachers to inspire their students to write.
The large, two story brick building was built in 1908 and has lived many lives from carriage workshop, movie film storage and distribution, and popcorn maker and supplier. IA is in charge of completely overhauling the façade, systems and interiors of the ground floor corner. Read more about the project on the INTERSTICE Architects project page.
Recent construction updates include the completion of the electric rough ins, and the installation of the heating and cooling system. The contractors have also added additional columns and beams to the space to make it structurally safer, though the landlord claimed that the building survived the ’89 earthquake without damage. Stay tuned for more construction updates on the project, which is slated for completion in early 2016.
Photos courtesy of 826 Valencia // Jonas Kellner
IA Balloon Design at AIA San Francisco NEXT Gala
This year at the 2015 AIA SF Next Conference, INTERSTICE teamed up with the AIA to transform the SF County Fair Building for the NEXT Conference gala and AIA SF Annual Meeting. In collaboration with Studio VARA, IA deployed various sized balloons ranging from 24 inches to eight foot diameter weather balloons; and an array of lighting elements from theatre lighting, and projectors to strings of mini-LEDs; to bring the Hall of Flowers at Golden Gate Park up to party speed, with vivid color and gargantuan spheres for a festive evening of eating, drinking, and general shenanigans. Extensive balloon testing was conducted at the INTERSTICE office prior to the event, where the intermittent popping of balloons managed to keep all on their toes.
Bay Area Impact Challenge #Vote826
Today we’re asking for you to invest in this exciting project by voting and helping us spread the word to as many voters as possible in this short time frame. Voting is global, so please engage your networks in every corner of the world!
FIRST:
Vote: https://impactchallenge.withgoogle.com/bayarea2015/charity/826valencia. You can also visit and share vote826.wordpress.com for the latest news about the campaign.
THANKS FOR DOING THAT! NOW YOU CAN DO THIS:
Share your reason for supporting us on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram with the hashtag #vote826. You can also spread the word to friends, family & colleagues via email, other social networks, word-of-mouth, texts, carrier pigeons, any and everything to get more votes for 826 Valencia. Here’s a post you can copy, paste, and customize:
I #vote826 because (insert reasons why you think writing skills and our Tenderloin expansion are important here) g.co/bayareachallenge
WHY YOUR VOTE MATTERS
After 13 years of successful programs in the Mission, the doors of our second writing and tutoring center at 180 Golden Gate Avenue are set to open in January 2016. We intend to serve 2,000 students, grow our volunteer force by the hundreds, and provide a safe and magical space for under-resourced kids in the Tenderloin and throughout San Francisco. The Google Impact Challenge grant will help us to:
- engage students in essential writing programming that builds skills and creative self-expression
- positively leverage the resources of the larger community to improve young people’s lives
- outfit our center with technology that supports learning and amplifies students’ voices
- work collaboratively with neighborhood partners to transform a crime-ridden corner into a haven for creativity and wonder.
Sounds good, right? Any questions? Feel free to ask.THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
We couldn’t do it without you. Consider this your chance to advocate for the student voices we have yet to hear in the Tenderloin!Quick links:
vote826valencia.wordpress.com
g.co/bayareachallenge
https://impactchallenge.withgoogle.com/bayarea2015/charity/826valencia
PARK(ing) Day 2015 at INTERSTICE
On Friday, September 18th, the parking spot outside of the INTERSTICE office on Sutter Street in San Francisco was dominated by the presence of inflatable dancing tube men, or “Air Dancers” in celebration of Parking Day.
These Air Dancers were quite simply, the most hilarious, exuberant objects conceivable and brought joy, laughter, and awe to those who encountered them. INTERSTICE laid out a large area of turf and bright yellow chairs between the Air Dancers for passersby to share in some laughs and respite along the busy street.
IA has established a tradition of participating in the PARK(ing) Day festivities, 2015 being our 9th year celebrating the event. Sharing in PARK(ing) Day’s call to action for more urban public spaces, this year’s installation demonstrates the joy that can come from such environments. Check out our previous post for a history of IA’s Park(ing) Day celebrations.
INTERSTICE Architects PARK(ing) Day 2015 – This Friday, September 18th!
YOU ARE INVITED!
Please join INTERSTICE Architects in celebrating PARK(ing) Day 2015 this Friday, September 18th. 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 9th 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
INTERSTICE Participates in Construction Workforce Initiative Program (CIWI)
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 Begins work on the Lower Polk Alleyways District Initiative
In coordination with Lower Polk Neighbors, LPN, and the newly established Lower Polk Community Benefit District, CBD, INTERSTICE Architects has begun working with the community on an Improvement Initiative to create and define a new Polk Alleyways District in the heart of the Lower Polk neighborhood. There are six uniquely situated Alleys in the Lower Polk Neighborhood that extend outward from the Polk Street commercial spine. These two block long intimate alleyways form a finer urban grain to the central core of this rapidly changing neighborhood – extending from Olive at the South to Austin Alley at the North, and bounded on the West by Van Ness Avenue and East by Larkin Street.
INTERSTICE recognizes the dramatic need to understand and re-envision these five alleys as open space opportunities, instead of underutilized “back-alleys”often viewed as problems, and is collaborating with the LPN and CBD to identify opportunities for community engagement, physical changes, and future funding opportunities. In recognition of these public streets cumulatively as a significant open space resource, IA proposes studying them as a whole and as integral parts of a neighborhood core. In this way each can be uniquely and individually integrated into a larger, planned amenity for the whole neighborhood, which is desperately in need of improved green spaces and quality shared public space.
IA has completed the initial phase of existing resource documentation and introduced the existing conditions studies at the LPN meeting on August 12, enjoying initial feedback from the community. All who attended this meeting, as well as any persons in the Lower Polk neighborhood, are encouraged to join the upcoming workshop in October to share ideas and aspirations for the alleys.
Please link to the LPN newsletter and visit the site to keep up with announcements and community outreach workshops in the months ahead, as a comprehensive Master Plan evolves treating the Polk Alleys as a treasured asset and destination in this vibrant San Francisco neighborhood.
