Honoring History through Revitalization

Located in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, 555 Larkin/500 Turk Streets is a new mixed-use development comprising ground-floor retail space and 108 units of 100% affordable and supportive housing for formerly homeless residents, along with a shared courtyard, community room, and rooftop urban agriculture. INTERSTICE Architects is working with the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) to convert what was formerly Kahn and Keville automotive garage, a beloved Tenderloin business for over 100 years, into the lively, community-oriented development that will provide much-needed housing to this San Francisco neighborhood.

 

In the (Playful) Details

The courtyard landscape is at the heart of this project, acting as a place of relaxation, play, and community for the complex. INTERSTICE wanted to create a youthful space where those of all ages  can enjoy a welcoming and playful environment. With close programmatic connections to the surrounding neighborhood, the ground and street level is designed to serve the community and contribute to environmental resiliency through the use of permeable paving throughout the courtyard and a soil support system in the sidewalks to improve the viability of the urban forest. A brightly-colored ping-pong table sits beneath overhead festoon lighting adjacent to the community room where residents can gather and socialize. Wooden sculptures meant for passive and imaginative engagement are situated in a loose circle, acting as a focal point for the courtyard.  The terraced planter wraps around this centerpiece and provides wood-clad seating beneath the canopy of adjacent birch trees and ferns. INTERSTICE designed a banded textural paving pattern underfoot that extends from the planters at one edge of the courtyard to the foyer and to the ground-level studio apartments. These ground-floor apartments feature small planted garden spaces, providing a sense of private oasis at the residents’ front doors. The courtyard wall, meant to provide privacy and security from the neighboring Phoenix Hotel and surrounding buildings, is designed with vertical board form texture, reflective inserts, lighting, and quotes to create an activated and engaging perimeter.

 

A Beloved Billboard Reimagined

Kahn and Keville automotive garage was established in 1912 on Golden Gate Avenue—not far from 555 Larkin/500 Turk where it moved 23 years later. In 1956, the now famous letter board sign was erected at the corner of Turk and Larkin Streets as a way to amplify what had once been written on simple pen and paper inside the garage: quotes, poems, and observations soon appeared in bold, black letters above the intersection. The sign became a fixture in the Tenderloin neighborhood and the design team has integrated it into the new project. The sign can be seen from the front entry reception on Larkin and upon entry to the courtyard. Visitors and residents will continue to experience and honor the genius and history of its presence on this particular city block.

 

 

• Landscape
• Residential