IA Team Volunteers in the Presidio
Recently, INTERSTICE switched up their usual routine by getting outside and getting involved. They headed due north to work with Golden Gate Parks National Conservancy on a habitat restoration project in The Presidio. The project was located at Wherry Corridor, a narrow section of natural habitat threading between man-made structures. For the past 15+ years, the Golden Gate Parks National Conservancy has been nurturing this area back to a healthy landscape filled with native flora and fauna. INTERSTICE assisted with watering and weeding new growth and removing invasive plant species. Not their first volunteering project in the Presidio, INTERSTICE once again enjoyed the opportunity to improve their local habitat.
PARK(ing) Day 2017 – Mirror Mylar Forest-Field
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.
Park Valencia at Santana Row Nearing Completion
The new Park Valencia at Santana Row is nearing completion and is now open to the public. This newly designed space provides a fun environment for all to enjoy while visiting the vibrant Santana Row District in San Jose. The playful and engaging atmosphere is made complete with large concrete chameleon sculptures, brought to life by Scientific Art Studio, based in Richmond, California. Read more about the design of the project here!
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.
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 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.
ASLA NCC 2014 Professional Awards
Park-a-licious: The Ultimate Public Bubble! PARK(ING) DAY 2013
YOU’RE INVITED!!!
Please come and join
INTERSTICE Architects for PARK(ING) Day 2013 this Friday, September 20th in front of Tacolicious, 11a – 5p
at our installation: “Park-a-licious: The Ultimate Public Bubble!”
We’re going bubblicious, inflating inhabitable bubbles!
…for our PARK(ING) Day installation at 741 Valencia Street.
Come share a tasty taco with the IA team in the bubbles!
IA wins 3 Merit Awards at 2013 ASLA NCC Awards
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.