Part 1 Rethinking Chronic Homelessness in San Francisco, CA / Architecture Thesis by Brazer Bozlak

PREFACE

I have lived in downtown San Francisco since I moved to the United States in 2009, in an area directly between Nob Hill and Tenderloin. Because I do not have access to a personal vehicle I travel by foot as my primary mode of transportation. Naturally, given the location of my home, I travel through the Tenderloin multiple times a day and have even made friends with homeless people in this area.

Before coming to the United States I lived and grew up in Sweden but also have family roots in Turkey. Throughout my life I have been exposed to two very strong but different cultures, Scandinavian and the Middle Eastern. These cultures differ both socially and economically. While, Sweden is seen as one of the healthiest, wealthiest, and peaceful countries in the world, Turkey is a Muslim democracy on the doorstep of Europe where social and political freedom is not a reality yet. Further, Turkey is a country where the gap between the rich and the poor is undeniable.

America has been seen as “the country of opportunity” in the eyes of many Europeans, and my eyes were not different. However, I was surprised when I first came to San Francisco and observed many socioeconomic features that mirrored Turkey’s. As I walked the streets of San Francisco, I watched the people if this city going about their daily lives, while many others were searching through rubbish bins and pushing around their mobile homes. Homelessness has therefore been an urban issue in San Francisco that I have always been intrigued by.

Mission Bay, has been deemed unworthy of development by the city of San Francisco over the years because it is seen as being highly disconnected from its surrounding neighborhoods. Today, due to the city’s high urban density and population growth the site of Mission Bay has been labeled the best parcel of undeveloped land between San Diego and Seattle. This site is a giant canvas of largely undeveloped waterfront land that is just a mile or so from the main business district in this major U.S city. After I was given this site as the focus of my thesis project, I quickly developed a vision to reconnect this large land parcel with the rest of San Francisco to address both the exponentially growing population density and urban homelessness issue of the city. Homelessness is indeed one of the biggest urban issues currently facing San Francisco. In fact, the city currently spends $200 million dollars a year, averaging $20,000 per homeless individual, and has in no way improved the condition of this issue.

Since I have spent most of my life in Europe and I am aware of how most European countries work, I was naturally interested in researching the socioeconomic trends and issues of the world compared to United States with the majority of my focus being placed on San Francisco. Unexpectedly, I found that San Francisco actually has the biggest homelessness problemof all the major cities in America, a country which ranks very high in poverty comparing to other developed countries. At the current situation 1 in 7 Americans are going to suffer from hunger today and 3.5 million Americans will be homeless tonight; ironically there is 24 empty homes available for each homeless individual in the country.

San Francisco has been labeled “the homeless capital of America” and has by far the highest number of homeless people per capita at one 1 in 64. Compared to other cities in America and the world, around 80% of the homeless individuals in San Francisco are located in the downtown area, back to back with the people working in the financial district. For this reason the city is known to have the most visible homeless problem in America. As I said earlier, the city has been trying to address this issue, but the economics of dealing with homelessness have turned into a deep financial hole for the city.

Statistics and surveys focused on homeless persons in San Francisco place individuals into different categories, and it has been shown that 42% of the homeless individuals are people who are both willing to work hard and know how to work hard, but they lack the skills or support to get a job, to pay rent, and afford food and utilities. In fact, most of this 42% of homeless people actually work but are unable to afford housing. These statistics lead me into another big urban issue of city of San Francisco, which is the growing housing deficiency. Unfortunately, a large portion has become gentrified and the middle class can no longer afford to live in the city.

This problem arises from a very unequal income distribution, where compensation goes to the top economic class. The United Sates is a country where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and today it is 5th in the world in GDP per capita with inequality levels comparable to very inequal countries as Nigeria. Further, the poverty levels are on the same magnitude as very poor countries such as Tanzania, making America the most unequal country of all advanced economies in the world. San Francisco is today the second most unequal city in the U.S., second only to Atlanta.

Interestingly, the people of San Francisco make the most money in America, and poorest 5% of San Franciscans make more than the average American. San Francisco has the highest minimum wage in the country at $10.74, but minimum wage in San Francisco is not living wage because this city is the most expensive in America to live in. The rental vacancy rates in San Francisco are today the lowest in America at 2.8, where below 4% is considered at emergency levels. In fact, the city of San Francisco is today among the least affordable housing markets of all the major cities in the world. Today the middle class in San Francisco is getting pushed out of the city and moving to the neighboring cities. For this reason, Oakland has got the nickname “the Brooklyn of San Francisco.” The working middle class in San Francisco can no longer afford rent in the city and has been forced to move to cheaper housing options in Oakland.

The city’s relatively fixed housing situation makes the rich and the poor compete for the limited housing units, forging a huge gap between the rich and the poor where as unprecedented housing vacancy rates unfortunately drive this gap even further. To address this divide, San Francisco must create more affordable housing options as well as take care of its homeless problem with a longer term vision rather than the city’s short term solutions today. A proposal has been laid out to guide the transition of homeless individuals back into society through job training, work and internships, as well as transitional housing programs.

A proposal through programmatic architectural strategies has been laid out to provide a blueprint to guide the transition of homeless individuals back into society through job training, work/internships and transitional housing. Supportive housing is thought as a temporary lifeline for homeless individuals, giving them a secure and caring home environment while going through the recreation program is critical to improve their stability in the society and to eventually reconnect them to the community at large.

Many homeless people lack the career skills necessary to find a job while other homeless people suffer from low-self esteem, not enough wage or mental illness. The recreation center will aim the focus towards earlier discussed minority groups from group 2 to group 6, people that unintentionally becomes homeless. The program will be specifically crafted towards people who will go through a process to determine their eligibility for the recreation through showing determination and willingness to get back into the community.

SITE LOCATION

SAN FRANCISCO, US

Mission Bay

“THE MOST VISIBLE HOMELESS PROBLEM IN THE COUNTRY”

HOMELESSNESS & POVERTY

Today 1 in 7 people are at risk of suffering from hunger in the United States. Just last year The National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC) estimated that somewhere between 2.3 million and 3.5 million people are without homes, which encompasses roughly 1% of the American population. Homelessness has been a chronic and controversial problem for San Francisco since the early 1980’s, and today has the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita in the United States,an undesirable status that has lead to the city being labeled as the homeless capital of America. The city’s homeless population has been estimated at 10,000 people. Approximately 80% of these individuals are located in the downtown area, and there are only 1,100 beds available in San Franciso’s crowded homeless shelters.

The city of San Francisco has been trying to fight homelessness for years, and today they spend around $200 million a year on homeless-related progr tive and cheaper for what the city already is doing. As of right now there appears to be no solution in hand, the economics of dealing with the homeless have turned into a deep financial hole for the city of San Francisco.

There is also a reason why San Francisco is called to have the most visible homeless problem in the country. Taking a walk through downtown San Francisco its shocking how many San Franciscans are going about their daily business while many others are looking in rubbish bins and pushing around their mobile homes all this being mixed with the tourists visiting the city. The worst of the neighborhoods is called Tenderloin which is a western extension of the Financial District, the last decade the homeless people around the city has started to settle down in the Tenderloin with reasoning that these streets in the centre of the city are so dense and diverse that they feel safer.

This problem is getting taken care by its branches today, through spending huge amount of money on homeless shelter. Rather than continuing San Francisco’s short-term ineffective homelessness program, a broader long-term vision that includes job training, work internships, and transitional housing is critical for the successful placement of homeless individuals back into society.

WORLD HOMELESSNESS & POVERTY

WORLD HOMLESS POPULATION

35 DEVELOPED COUNTRIES ON POVERTY

% of Population living with equivalent incomes below below 50% of National Median

“The United States ranks 34th of the 35 countries surveyed, above only Romania and below virtually all of Europe plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.”

SAN FRANCISCO HOMELESSNESS

ALCOHOL SALE % GRAFITI VANDALISM

Off-sale alcohol outlet

Grafiti Vandalism 1 - 102

SF HOTSPOT CRIME MAP

Total Health performance (Factors + Outcomes)

SF NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH

Neighborhood Health Comparison from West to East

Lack Of Parantel Care

Poverty

Violent Crimes

Lack Of Health

Insurance

Alcohol Abuse

Severe Traffic Injuries & Fatalities

Population Health

SeacliOuterSunset

Presidio PresidioHeights

OuterRichmondInnerSunset TwinPeaks

OuterMissionHaightAshburyWestofTwinPeaksInnerRichmond MarinaCastro/UpperMkt NoeValley

DiamondHts/GlenPk

PaciCrockerAmazon cHeights

VisitacionValley NobHill Excelsior

BernalHeights

RussianHillChinatown

NorthBeach

Mission Downtown CivicCtr

SouthofMarket

FinancialDistrict

Bayview

MissionBayPotreroHill

SAN FRANCISCO HOMELESSNESS SURVEY

How Long Have You Been Homeless?

Primary Event / Condition that Led to Homelessness

Residence When Respondent Became Homeless

What is Keeping You from Getting Employment? (Top 5 Responses)

In the Last 12 Months, How Many Times Have You Been Homeless, Including this Present Time?

Where Do You Usually Stay at Night? (Top 5 Responses)

49 Million IN POVERTY + 97 Million 146 Million “NEAR POOR”

In the richest country in the world... ...half the U.S Population

“The higher level of inequality in big cities reflects that, compared to national averages, big-city rich households are somewhat richer and big-city poor households are somewhat poorer than the national average.”

“More than other countries, we have a very unequal income distribution where compensation goes to the top in a winner-takes-all-economy”

ECONOMY & INEQUALITY

The United States has such an unequal distribution of wealth so that it's in the league of corrupt underdeveloped countries, no longer in the league of the developed nations, according to the latest study of wealth distribution in beginning of 2014, infact United States is today the most unequal country among all advanced economies in the world. In the U.S., the bottom 90% of the population own only 24.6% of all the privately held wealth, whereas in most of the developed world, the bottom 90% own around 40%; so, the degree of wealth-concentration in the U.S. is extraordinary

When it comes to total inequality, based on household income ratios comparing the top 95th percentile of incomes to the bottom 20th percentile, San Francisco is again at the top of the list coming in second to Atlanta among large cities. San Francisco also had the largest increase in inequality from 2007-2013. In comparison, New York city, commonly mentioned when discussing inequality issues, did not even make the top 10.

The top 5 percent of households in San Francisco make more than $353,000, $40, 000 more than the second city Washington DC at around $290,000. San Francisco is again also the top among the 20th percentile at over $21,000 nearly $5,000 more than the other cities together with Washington DC. These statistics clearly gives us the reasons why San Francisco is also at the top of the list among American cities in median house income, minimum wage and homeless people per capita. Inequality statistics also highlight that not all unequal cities are created equal. For example, comparing San Francisco and Miami, which have similar 95/20 percentile ratios. San Francisco’s ratio is high because its wealthy households have very high income while Miami’s ratio is high because its poor households have very low incomes. Interestingly, San Francisco is not a a typical city where the rich get richer and poor get poorer, instead the rich get richer and the poor seem to remain in the same ecomonic state. Unfortuantely, their financial condition is not sufficient enough to live in America’s most expensive city.

RESEARCH

GINI STATISTICS FOR 18 DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

GDP (PPP) PER CAPITA

HOW MUCH RICHER ARE THE RICHEST 20% THAN THE POOREST 20%?

COUNTRIES ON GDP VS POVERTY

GDP Rank, Country (Median Income), Poverty

3.Norway ($54 400)

5.Switzerland ($53 300)

6.Unites States ($49 965)

13.Sweden ($43 130)

14.Canada ($42 533)

17.Germany ($40 901)

50.Latvia ($20 969)

156.Tanzania ($1 601)

PORTRAIT OF GINI INCOME INEQUALITY IN U.S

INCOME INEQUALITY LEVELS

Inequality levels between 20th percentile vs 95th percentile

RESIDENTIAL HOUSING DENSITY

PROPORTION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN SF

Percent of housing that is affordable

PROPORTION OF HOUSEHOLDS PAYING 50% OR MORE OF INCOME TO RENT

AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD SIZE

HOUSEHOLD SIZE (NUMBER OF PERSONS)

HOUSING

The growing housing problem is another urban issue in San Francisco, and goes hand-in-hand with the homelessness issue. People coming into the city are usually shocked at the prices and the limited availiability of housing in the city.

Some of the issues are the growth of the technology (tech) industry in San Francisco driving up the demands for housing. It is estimated that around 25,000 people working in the tech sector in Silicon Valley commute there from San Francisco everyday with provided shuttle buses that can be seen more and more frequently on the streets. Young people in this sector don’t want to live in Palo Alto or other suburbs when they can afford to live in San Francisco and are provided with shuttle buses from the city to their work campuses by their employer. This luxury attracts the best talent to these areas.

San Francisco residents will be getting thousands of new neighbors in the next 30 years, the cities population is expected, whether planned or not, to increase from the 812,000 today to 964,000 by 2035, which is a average population growth by 7,000 people every year. Therefore also estimated that San Francisco will need to add 5 000 units a year for around approximately a decade to stabilize its housing issue. Today, San Francisco has produced only 1 500 units a year over the past two decades, while similar cities like Seattle has averaged 4 000 units a year and remember that it’s starting from a smaller population base than San Francisco. And also according to RealFacts, the average rent across all size apartments in San Francisco hit $2 800 the first quarter of 2013 compared to $2 300 the first quarter of 2011.

Doing the math, with the 152 000 residents San Francisco is supposed to add within the next 20 years, if the city continues to produce housing at the same rate as it has done, the average $2 800 rents will begin to look cheap.

According to Census data any number below 4% in rental vacancy rates in a city is at the ”emergency” levels and would make available renting options very expensive and hard to find. Today the city of San Francisco has a rate about 2.8%, which equates to a 40% below the ”emergency” levels.

MINIMUM WAGE

Today, San Francisco has the highest minimum wage in the nation at $10.74 per hour. This wage is $2.74 more than the Califoria state minimum wage, at $8 per hour, and just $3 over the minimum wage set by the federal government at $7.25. While these numbers seem promising, raising housing rents due to a very low rental vacancy rates and income inequality cannot be compensated for by these wages. For example, to afford rent for a two-bedroom apartment at a ”fair market value” in SoMA a minimum wage earner would have to work 7.4 full-time jobs, and an estimated 4 full-time jobs to live further away from the downtown area.

Mathematically speaking, if a single person in San Francisco made $10.74 per hour and worked 160 hours in one month, this would equate to $1,718 per month. Unfortuantely, this monthly wage is far from enough to be able to afford housing in San Francisco because the avarage one bedroom apartment in San Francisco rents for $1,885. Although many think that minimum wage of a city is the minimal living wage it is not true. San Francisco’s minimum wage is not a living wage even though it’s the highest in the nation, compared to a smaller city like Minneapolis where the living cost is significantly lower. In Minneapolis, the minimum wage set by the federal goverment is $7.25 per hour, providing a monthyl wage of $1,160. In contrast to San Francisco, a one bedroom apartment in Minneapolis rents for $821.

It is important to note that the values discussed above only consider rental costs and do not include taxes, food, health care, transportation, and many other expenses required to live comfortably. The basic lesson here to be learned is that minimum wage is not living wage in San Francisco, and this wage is not enough for San Franciscans to put a roof over their heads.

It is estimated that approximately 12% of the workers in San Francisco are receiving minimum wage rates, while 32% of workers are compensated at or below living wage minimum, estimated at $15 an hour for a single individual which would yield a monthly paycheck on $2400.

SF RENTAL

One bedroom Rents in SF Neighboorhods

VisitacionValleyOuterMission

CrockerAmazon OuterSunset InnerRichmondOuterRichmond SeacliInnerSunsetTwinPeaks

BernalHeights

GlenPark Mission

NobHillNoePresidioHeights Valley HaightAshbury Bayview WestofTwinPeaks

WesternAddition

Castro

Downtown/CivicCenter

PotreroHill MarinaNorthBeach

PresidioChinatown

RussianHillSouthofMarketMissionBayFinancialDistrictPacicHeights

2013 - 2040

Rent Increase In San Francisco Past 12 Months

Rent prices in San Francisco keep going up. Compared to one year ago, prices for 1 bedroom units are up 8.59% to $2857 and the average 2 bedroom unit costs $3701, an increase of 9.76%. Rents have gone up nearly every single month in the past 12 months.

AFFORDABILITY MARKET

Least Affordable Housing Markets Major Cities

+8.59 1 Bedroom 2 Bedroom

PRECEDENTS

The city of San Francisco generally considers housing ”affordable” if people are spending less than 30% of their household income on housing. According to the most recently released Census data, nearly 47% of San Francisco’s rented units are occupied by renters that are paying more than 30% of their income. Historically, San Francisco has been an expensive place to own and rent property, and unfortunately property prices continue to grow exponentially. At the turn of the century approximately 28% of San Franciscans were paying more than 30% of their gross income for rent. In 2007 this value increasesd to 36% and today is now a staggerin 47%, making the housing situation worse and worse for low and middle income San Franciscans each passing year.

City officials who once agreed that paying more than 30% of gross income for rent was econicmially unhealthy and unsustainable, also acknowledge the complexity and urgency of the problem today. These officails are aware that such inflatted rental prices strongly affect low and middle income San Franciscans.

San Francisco has about 16,000 units of “affordable” rental housing (not including public housing), most owned by nonprofits. These roughly 16,000 units the city has today were built over a period of four decades. This is a long-term social housing program of which San Francisco should be proud. But given San Francisco’s wealth and the city’s enormous problem of housing affordability, the city needs a long term goal of doubling the current count of affordable housing.

Doing this for the city may be an expensive prospect, but San Francisco have a very good base to work from: thousands of affordable projects is already in development, funding is already in place and we have lots of affordable housing developers who know how to produce and manage these units.

HYRBID HARBOR/INDUSTRY

Trafficated Urban Space

Golden Gate Park

Pier 39

Washington Park

Portsmouth Square

Union Square

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

Mission Dolores Park

Yerba Buena Gardens

Homeless Shelters

Next Door Shelter

Homeless Prenatal Program

The Salvation Army Harbor House

Homeless Youth Alliance

Compass Family Services

Safe Harbor Homeless Shelter

Washington Park

Portsmouth Square

Project Homeless Connect Inc

The Sanctuary

Safe House

Homeless Youth Alliance

A Home Away From Homelessness

Affordable Housing

RICHMOND

SUNSET PARK MERCED TWIN PEAKS SF STATE

CASTRO GLEN PARK NOE VALLY

HAIGHT HAYS VALLEY WESTERN ADDITION SOMA TENDERLOIN

CHINA TOWN NOBHILL NORTH BEACH RUSSIAN HILL

AFFORDABLE HOUSING PRECEDENTS

350 Friedell Family Apartments - David Baker

Bounded by Friedell Street, Kirkwood Avenue and Donahue Street on the Hunters View Shipyard hilltop, Block 49 will be home to the first 100% affordable housing development in the area.

The 60 rental units range from one- to three-bedrooms and are designed with families in mind.

The sustainable design will feature expansive city view and emphasize open space with two garden courtyards.

Fillmore Park - David Baker

An affordable community for working individuals and families, Fillmore Park brings 32 modern homes for first-time homebuyers to the heart of San Francisco. Flats and townhouses with private patios ring a landscaped courtyard, creating a quiet neighborhood a block from the bustling Fillmore District.

This development was the final project of the now-defunct San Francisco Redevelopment Agency's Limited Equity Program, which sought to increase affordable homeownership opportunities for San Franciscans.

The units were made available specifically to working families and individuals earning between 70 and 100% of Area Medium Income, with priority given to residents previously displaced from housing in the immediate neighborhood.

Richardson Apartments / David Baker

David Baker + Partners worked with Community Housing Partnership and Mercy Housing California to develop the Drs. Julian & Raye Richardson Apartments, which will provide permanent supportive housing for a very-low-income, formerly homeless population.

Richardson Apartments includes 120 permanent, supportive residential studio units for adult residents coming out of or at risk for homelessness. Each unit is approximately 300sf and is provided with basic furnishings, a full kitchenette, an accessible or adaptable bathroom, and a secure telephone line to the front desk.

HOMELESS SHELTERS PRECEDENTS

St. Vincent de Paul SocietyMulti-Service Center South (MSC South)

A multiservice center with space for 45 women and 335 men each night. There are 200 beds available of which 160 are Care Managed. 145 one-night mats are available daily. Sleeping hours are 10pm-6am. Clients must leave by 8am. The drop-in area is open during the day from 9am-2:30pm. Showers open from 9am-2pm and 4pm-9pm. Dinner is served at 4:30pm.

Multi-Service Center South is a 16 hour shelter. Clients must book a reservation for a shelter bed through a resource center. Clients who are referred by a resource center can stay 90 days at the shelter. Clients may stay for 90 days if referred by General Assistance.

Project Gubbio at St. BonifaceSanctuary of Sleep

Project Gubbio was founded around Easter 2004 by activist pastor Rev. Louie Vitale, who retired several years ago. He named it after the town of Gubbio, Italy, where legend says that townspeople befriended a killer wolf who they realized wasn't dangerous at all - just hungry.

Like the city's response to homelessness itself, Project Gubbio has had its fits and starts. In 2006, it was nearly shuttered due to lack of funds, and its sleep hours were slashed from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. to 8 a.m.-noon.

The project has regained some of its footing, in part due to a $100,000 gift from the Sisters of the Holy Family in Fremont. It's now open from 6 a.m.-1 p.m. every weekday.

WORLD CITIES URBAN DESIGN

Before zooming in to Mission Bay I did some research on understanding why American cities are so different than European, this way I would understand the urban design of San Francisco better and see reasonable reasons behing the system used in the used grid system. Being from Europe, I think I'm a bit biased but I will try and be as fair and balanced as possible. First of all, the major difference between European and American cities is history. Most European cities were built around castels hundreds of years ago, and as a fact most of them will still have remains of the surrounding walls inside the cities. I think this is the main reason why European cities are much denser than American cities at its very core. In United States city designers did not have to worry about previous settlements, they built the cities from scratch and in many cases over very short periods of time and in a rush to accomodate the incoming population. As a result most cities in United States have the grid style of streets, which I think is less appealing but more efficient from a scalability perspective. This is also why cities like Manhattan and San Francisco can house so many more people in a much smaller footprint of land. On the other hand in Europe streets are very random and narrow, because cities grew over a longer period of time and with each iteration a different idea or style was used.

The first true urban settlements appeared around 3,000 B.C. in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Ancient cities displayed both "organic" and "planned" types of urban form. Greek cities on the other hand did not follow a single pattern. Cities growing slowly from old villages often had an irregular, organic form, adapting gradually to the accidents of topography and history.

The Romans engaged in extensive city-building activities as they consolidated their empire. Rome itself displayed the informal complexity created by centuries of organic growth, although particular temple and public districts were highly planned. During the Renaissance, architects began to systematically study the shaping of urban space, as though the city itself were a piece of architecture that could be given an aesthetically pleasing and functional order. Many of the great public spaces of Rome and other Italian cities date from this era.

Toward the later half of the eighteenth century, particularly in America, the city as a setting for commerce assumed primacy. New towns founded during this period were conceived as commercial enterprises, and the neutral grid was the most effective means to divide land up into parcels for sale.

SAN FRANCISCO URBAN DESIGN

Comparing Urban Footprints of some of the most historical cities in European to Manhattan and San Francisco I got very interesting results. As the urban settlement moved from Europe to America, these people hade learned from the past and today San Francisco is much denser than almost all european cities. The reason behind it is basically, how American cities were designed, efficient use of land. Today San Francisco is ranked second to Manhattan among all major U.S cities in density, making the land in Mission Bay worth even more as it is just a mile or so within the main business district where 250 000 people works.

San Francisco was generally designed to accommodate the outrageous number of people that came to the city during the Gold Rush. The block-like patterns allowed for all the inhabitants to spend their energy and time on their work, as opposed to transportation to and from work.

San Francisco is a unique city filled with different geographical elements, packed with people of different backgrounds and cultures. In order to maintain such a city in a way that is comfortable and comfortable to its residents while adapting to the changing world, the city created a General Plan to serve as a base for making planning decisions for the city. The General Plan has nine elements that each focuses on different aspects of a city, and also includes sections that focuses on different neighborhoods of the city and its specific land use plan and housing states. The overall goal of the plan creates a city that balances out its people's needs and environmental and economic aspects in order to create a livable city while retaining its distinct San Francisco feel.

The shallow waters of Mission Bay were created about 5,000 years ago, and for thousands of years more, this tidal bay remained a cove of protected water. Native Americans lived in the area for over 5,000 years. Then came the Spanish missionaries in 1775, building Mission Dolores to convert and teach the natives farming. The Mission Bay site was used as a place to deposit soil and refuse from building projects throughout the growing city after the 1906 earthquakes. Much of the Mission Bay area is comprised of landfill from these projects. Shipping commerce and the introduction of the railroad were both important components of the transition of Mission Bay into an industrial district. The area was home to shipyards, canneries, a sugar refinery and warehouses from the mid 19th century well into the 20th century. Its interesting to look at the urban growth of San Francisco, as the city grows the site of Mission Bay stays untouched until the changes in the economy until the late 20th century.

NYC Philadelphia

Rio de Janeiro

Buenos Aires

MAJOR CITIES FOOTPRINT DENSITY

GRID COLLISION OUTCOME SAN FRANCISCO

MISSION BAY SITE ANALYSIS

The Mission Bay is a flat and centrally located area in San Francisco, as of today the area is very disconnected to the rest of the city mostly due to barriers such as the I-280 freeway, the Caltrain tracks and the Mission Creek dividing Mission bay from its eastern and northern neighborhoods. Today there are three ]ways to enter the Mission bay Area

1. From Mission and Potrero area – Through travelling under the 280 bridge as well as across the Caltrain tracks.

2. From Financial District/SOMA and north– Through two bridge crossings across Mission Creek.

3. From Dogpatch and south – Mainly through third street.

Mission bay is today very disconnected from its perhaps most important connetion to north, with the caltrain railtracks and the mission creek giving only two bridges connections to link the north and south sides. The same pattern follows the disconnection between Mission Bay and its western neighborhod Potrero Hill, the caltrain railtracks are once again running underneath the I-280 on 6 St and disconnecting the two neighborhods to eachother both for pedestrian and vehicular circulation.

Before developing Mission Bay into a another vibrant San Francisco neighborhod, this neighborhod needs first and foremost to reconnect to the rest of the urban fabric in San Francisco, and reconneting not only Mission Bay but also the master planned future areas in Dogpatch and Hunters point.

The main disconnection, the Caltrain rail tracks runs today from 22nd street through a tunnel in Potrero Hill. Coming up on street level from Mariposa and running on street level to Caltrain Station on Fourth and King St. With the future goals of the Transbay Central in the downtown area and Caltrain being planned as a extension to the main hub, the caltrain rail tracks are planned to run underground from the Caltrain station to Transbay, putting the Caltrain underground when entering the tunnel in Potrerio Hill would reduce the barriers between Mission Bay and Potrerio Hill on the West side as well as SoMA on the north side.

The I-280 freeway runs on grade level between 18th and 20th street and becomes once again a freeway when entering the city. After the Embarcadero and Central freeways were damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake, San Francisco took a tragic situation and turned it to great urban success story: the creation of the Embarcadero and Octavia boulevards. Taking down these freeways and replacing them with surface boulevards created enormous positive land use changes in the surrounding neighborhoods. This enabled San Francisco to reconnect with its waterfront and supported the creation of the Market and Octavia Neighborhood Plan and now San Francisco has another chance to take down a freeway and it could make a major impact on the city’s well being.

Site Topologies & Sections

2. Section Creek

3. Section Creek 3

PotreroHill

SOUTH OF MARKET DISTRICT