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.
Alleycat Bench Fabricator Visit
We paid our fabricator a visit to see the progress being made on the prototype for our Alleycat Bench – a dynamic bench that folds down for general public use, and folds up and locks after hours. Check out some of the images from our visit!
826 Valencia – Tenderloin Center Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
May 19th, 2016 marked the opening of the new 826 Valencia Tenderloin Center. This is the second location for the nonprofit, whose original location is at 826 Valencia in the Mission Neighborhood. The organization will bring tutoring, writing, and publishing programs to thousands of children in the Tenderloin neighborhood. The design and construction of the space features design and construction contributions from INTERSTICE, MKThink, Gensler, Jonas Kellner, Valerie Veronin, BCCI Construction Company, BBDO San Francisco, and Office.
IA was there to partake in the celebrations along with the other firms and representatives from the Mayor Ed Lee’s office, Supervisor Jane Kim, 826 Valencia Co-founders Dave Eggers and Ninive Caligari, 826 Executive Director Bita Nazarian, and hosts of other friends, supporters, and family of this incredible organization.
The 826 Valencia Tenderloin Center is located at 180 Golden Gate Avenue, formerly the home of Big Boy Market, at an intersection known for drug trafficking. “We’re excited to be joining a neighborhood with a strong network of community partners and a great need for free services, and to help the students of the Tenderloin amplify their voices through writing in a beautiful space that fosters creativity,” says 826 Valencia’s Executive Director, Bita Nazarian.
The center is fronted by King Carl’s Emporium, a nod to the beloved Pirate Supply Store at the Valencia St. location. At the Emporium, the pirate store’s original puffer fish, Carl, sells supplies for explorers as well as the wares he gathered on worldly travels. The store also sells student-written publications and serves as a gateway for the community to learn about 826 Valencia’s work. All proceeds benefit the free programs within. The Writing Lab behind the store is full of wondrous details dreamed up by the students and community members, like an indoor tree house and a magical wall of doors, that activate the imagination.
You can visit our project page to learn more about INTERSTICE’s involvement in the project, and see the SF Chronicle’s write up, “Kids and Writing and a Royal Puffer Fish in the Tenderloin“.
A crowd begins to gather for the opening of the new 826 Valencia Tenderloin Center
Awesome Octopus Mural by the wonderful team at Office
IA Principal Andrew Dunbar waiting with crowd for the ribbon cutting ceremony to begin
IA designer John Tuthill in a crown, awaiting the grand opening
King Carl’s Emporium
The Fog Bank, where you can deposit and withdraw fog instead of money.
INTERSTICE gets its own lock box in the fog bank!
826 Executive Director Bita Nazarian, presenting INTERSTICE Principals Andrew and Zoee with a thank you gift during the program
IA designers John and Steven having too much fun on the bearcycle
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.
INTERSTICE Designs interactive furnishings for the San Francisco Street Food Festival 2015
This year the SFSFF is at Forest City’s Pier 70 on the SF waterfront. Now in our sixth year of partnership with La Cocina, INTERSTICE Architects designed and led the volunteer construction effort to reanimate thousands of shipping palettes and recycled plywood to create banquettes, serpentine benches, bars and entire islands for stage seating, eating, socializing, dining and drinking at this year’s fabulous three day event hosting the festival’s growing popularity and fan base.
Personally and professionally, INTERSTICE Architects create from an immersed point of view with a deep commitment to the ephemeral urban experience. We strive to explore the potential of communities through their appropriation of urban space, and enhancing the connection between San Francisco’s food culture with the greater community through design by using unconventional materials to create inventive forms. This festival and its important contribution to the Non Profit La Cocina – an inspiring woman centered entrepreneurial kitchen incubator is a perfect venue for our dual disciplinary focus.
La Cocina is a groundbreaking food business incubator that has serving the Bay Area since 2005. Their mission is to cultivate low income food entrepreneurs as they formalize and grow their business by providing affordable kitchen space, industry specific technical assistance and access to market opportunities.
Come support and celebrate La Cocina’s fantastic efforts by joining us in enjoying all of the food at the San Francisco Street Food Festival! And relax on the islands of giant street scale furnishings that we developed for the ephemeral event. – before they all go back to being shipping pallets again next week!
Pier 70, near the corner of 22nd Street and Illinois Street, in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco’s bayside waterfront.
Preparation underway for the SF Street Food Festival
Andrew Dunbar, "How to Succeed in Architecture" Panelist
Our Principal and co-founder, Andrew Dunbar, will be one of four panelists for Novedge’s live Google+ Hangout on the topic of “How to Succeed in Architecture: Third Places – The Architecture of Sharing”.
In keeping with the theme of “Home” for the SF Architecture and the City festival, Novedge will lead this discussion on the topic of “Third Places”, or how we create innovative “homes” in our public environments through opportunities to eat, exercise, engage and collaborate.
Tune in on September 4th at 11am. More information can be found here: http://www.novedge.com/how-to-succeed-in-architecture/Third-Places-The-Architecture-of-Sharing/
Architecture is invention. Oscar Niemeyer
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!
