Part 2 - Rethinking Chronic Homelessness in San Francisco, CA / Architecture Thesis by Brazer Bozlak

FREEWAY PRECEDENTS

Central Freeway

Halfway across town is another boulevard where yet another highway damaged in the ’89 quake once stood. Octavia Boulevard replaced what was known as the Hayes Valley portion of the Central Freeway, a spur off of I-80. Then-mayor Jerry Brown closed this unsafe part of the Central Freeway in 1992. A decade later, it reopened as a landscaped boulevard that accommodates pedestrians and cyclists as much as it does cars.

Before the destruction of the Central Freeway, condominium prices in the Hayes Valley neighborhood were 66% of San Francisco average prices. However, after the demolition and subsequent replacement with the new Octavia Boulevard, prices grew to 91% of city average. Beyond this, the most dramatic increases were seen in the areas nearest to the new boulevard. Furthermore, residents noted a significant change in the nature of the commercial establishments in the area. Where it had been previously populated by liquor stores and mechanic shops, soon the area was teeming with trendy restaurants and high-end boutiques.

Embarcadero Freeway

Highway removal in San Francisco is not without precedent. Following a 1989 earthquake that damaged the elevated Embarcadero Freeway, city officials opted to tear the structure down instead of repairing it. The result: An inviting six-lane boulevard along the city’s eastern waterfront flanked by bike lanes and 25-foot-wide sidewalks. A February 2012 report from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy has a good rundown of the history and after effects of the Embarcadero removal.

2. Railtracks

MissionBaySouth

Mission Bay South

Mission Bay North

3. Mission creek

MISSION BAY PLANNING

In the late 1990s, a master plan to revive and convert over 300 acres into a planned community was roduced by the city. Known as the Mission Bay Project, it is the largest urban development initiated by San Francisco since the construction of Golden Gate Park in the late 1800s. After completion, Mission Bay will become home to a mix of residential and commercial properties. Apartments, condiminums, retail stores, restaurants, corporate and science businesses will all be anchored by the already completed AT&T Ballpark and a new research campus for UCSF. Within these developments will be 49 acres of open space for parks and recreational facilities.

The development program for Mission Bay also includes 6 000 housing units with 1,700 (28%) affordable to moderate, low, and very low-income households. Dealing with the cities gentrification and housing issues Mission Bay may turn out to be the San Francisco neighborhood with the most socioeconomic integration, with wealthier and lower-income homeowners and tenants living side-by-side.

“Here, after all, is a giant canvas of largely undeveloped waterfront acreage in a major U.S. city and has been labeled to be the best parcel of undeveloped land between San Diego & Seattle“

“Just a mile or so from the main bussiness district it is the largest development in the history of SF, a $4 billion plan spread over 303-acres offers one of the last opportunities for major development in the city.”

“Mission Bay is predicted to be the new hot spot in 2-3 years. Right now the entire neighborhood is under construction, but soon enough this neighborhood is predicted to be full of life and the talk of the town.

Mission Bay today is fast becoming a bit of suburbia implanted in San Francisco. The developer and landowner of Mission Bay, Catellus, to facilitate their exclusive development rights over their enormously valuable real estate, they donated 40+ acres to the University of California to build its new biomedical campus, which in turn greatly increased the value of the surrounding acreage.

Since breaking ground in 1999, the development of the $3 billion Mission Bay campus is considered the single most important endeavor that UCSF has undertaken in its nearly 150-year history and it’s one of the nations biggest university expansions.

“The leading university exclusively focused on health, the Mission Bay campus will eventually be of the world’s leading centers for innovative health sciences,”

“In the heart of it all, serving as the anchor tenant every development needs, sitting on 43 acres of land donated by the developer and the city, is a second campus for the economic engine of San Francisco, UCSF Medical School”

J. Michael Bishop, MD Chancellor, UCSF

“Any institution that aims to illuminate the processes of life must be more than an observer. It must be a driver, a risk-taker, an exploiter of opportunities that promise to improve the health of humanity.”

University of California San Francisco

Carl Warnecke I.M Pei

Envisioned a set of high rise buildings on either side of Mission Creek. The Density & Space of Offices on the masterplan seemed with its image so different and seemingly unconnected in plan or economic pattern to the city, it had a short life.

Attempted to maximize the waterfront by carving out an oval shaped channel south of Mission Creek, resulting an island. This plan was also opposed for its density and like the Wernecke plan before it, the scheme lacked in open space along the waterfront.

Dan Solomon Skidmore Owings Merrill

Was an elegant Beaux-Arts scheme that provided a clear hierarchy of streets arranged around a linear park and was pleasing as a graphic design, but was considered to have confusion on the ground level because streets were constantly changing in direction.

The scheme by the giant architeture firm SOM was an inelegant copy of the one by Dan Solomon. This plan offered a extension a bay front linear park and providing more space for commercial construction. The scheme was seen as a very poor attempt by SOM.

Fain started work on Mission Bay in 1996, after being hired by the private developer Catellus. The construction of Mission Bay redvelopment started in 1998 and today nearly half of the project is built or under construction. The great success with the scheme is to knit Mission Bay into the existing fabric of the city, rather than previous schemes with setting it appart as a separate “campus” or mini city of its own. Most of the site is organized with the north-south grid of the city, while the diagonal streets are limited to either side of the channel. Fain designed after research of block structure of SF and other cities throughout history to establish the optimum block dimension for Mission Bay.

John

“The history of planning efforts at Mission Bay shows the tensions between the need to integrate the area into the city, while creating a memorable place in itself.”

Johnson Fain

Mission Bay Plan Distribituion

MISSION BAY URBAN PROPOSAL

The issue at this point is quite clear, because of its booming economy, mostly due to the growing tech industry, San Francisco has a natural rising popularity and population. A great quality of life and a lot of high paying professional jobs means that a lot of people want to live here but the city does not currenly supply its housing need to keep up with the demand.

Today San Francisco is down zoned by the city, meaning the density of housing or expansion of construction to go taller is at a minimum. This has been enforced to protect the city’s charming character with its views and hills. Because the city is an approximately 7 x 7 mile portion of land, and is geographically bound in the East and North by the San Francisco Bay, the west by the Pacific Ocean, and the South by the Peninsula, only 1,500 units have been constructed within the past two decades. This deficient growth in housing has clearly accelerated the rise in housing and rental prices and made low and middle income earners not be able to afford housing.

The city’s relatively fixed housing today makes the rich and the poor compete for the limited housing units, forging a huge gap between the rich and the poor. And, unprecedented housing vacancy rates unfortunately drive this gap even further. To address this divide, San Francisco must create more affordable housing options.

San Francisco is today a very fascinating city with its diverse and unique neighborhoods compressed within and around a very dense and vibrant core. The new masterplan of Mission Bay area will seek to mimic the successful urban design of its city with a new neighborhood focusing towards dealing with its urban issues such as housing and gentrification. The intention will be to create a modern, multifunctional mixed use development with all the possibilites and services required for a new vibrant and diverse neighborhood in San Francisco. This will include affordable housing as well as public housing, schools, local shops, businesses and public park spaces. The goal will be to create a mixed-income housing where the ratio of public housing and affordable housing will be as close to 1:1 as possible. This will be a very important move for the community as a whole as it will ensure homes for workers and keep the economic development on a stable level as well as keep the Mission Bay area diverse, making it possible for the working middle class incomers to live close to where they work.

With the new planned gentrification in the Mission Bay area the traffic counts in the area will raise between now and the built development. The aim with the new masterplan will also be to reconnect the Mission bay to its eastern and northern neighborhoods.

WHY AFFORDABLE HOUSING?

In order to keep San Francisco what it stands for today, a liberal and diverse city where all types of people can live the barriers to adding more housing needs to get removed. We’ve seen the social consequences of what happens otherwise, low income earners gets pushed out of their homes and long term renters and elderly are getting evicted by landlords so that rents can be raised. This simply due to that housing in San Francisco has become the most costly in the nation and has brought an affordability problem to the city because far more people now want to live here than it currently can fit which is simply the reason the city has gone into this housing crisis.

Today we have come to a point where the high cost of housing is making homelessness not a choicebut a must for most of the homeless San Franciscans. The important issue moving forward is addressing how San Francisco will deal with this devistating urban issue.

As said, in order to keep San Franciscos as the liberal and diverse city where all types of people can live, the city needs to become what it once used to be, affordable for most people. A place where a young person or an immigrant can move to pursue their dreams or a place a parent can raise kids without needing to spend every minute at work, San Francisco is today in need of specifically affordable housing.

With more affordable housing in San Francisco the city will maintain its diverse and vibrant soul, with individuals from all backgrounds. It will secure the local jobs and support for a better transportation choice where residents can live near where they work.

Urban Green Space

Program Along Waterfront

Physical Urban Connection

City Growth Pattern

Connecting Neighborhoods Through Program

WORK WORK WORK PROGRAM

Program Along Waterfront

Sport Clubs

Aquatics & Outdoor Rec.

Health & Fitness Center

Team Building / Leadership

Kids Sport Club

Public Programs

Public Green Spaces

Food Courts

Public Library

Community Services Center

Educational Centers

After School Recreation Program

Child Care Center

Adult Education Program

Language School

UCSF Medical Clinics

Mini Medical School for the Public

Cancer Care Rehabilitation Center

Library

Student Rec. Program

GLOBAL HEALTH SCIENCES

UCSF Global Health Sciences (GHS) is dedicated to improving health and reducing the burden of disease in the world's most vulnerable populations. It integrates UCSF expertise in all of the health, social, and biological sciences, and focuses that expertise on pressing issues in global health.

From free children’s health screenings to providing care for the low-income, homeless and under-insured, from innovative partnerships attacking the roots of poor health care to cutting-edge biotechnology that will cure some of the most pernicious diseases, UCSF GHS brings significant resources to an public mission and not only does so every day, but has done so for nearly 150 years.

MISSION STATEMENT

- To address the ineffective short-term homeless program of San Francisco, 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. An Innovative building typology has been laid out through programmatic strategies to provide an alternative approach.

Case Example -

Anyone can become homeless. One example is Trevor Condon which in the homeless category Group 2 / Sickness. He had a successful job in San Francisco with even savings in the bank. Which was until he got diagnosed with leukemia. Unfortunately, he had no insurance and the cost of the treatment he had to undergo took away all his savings which also in the longer run meant loss of job. With no money or job, he was homeless until a helpful woman rented him a room on a "you can pay me when you can" basis. After an unsuccessful job search, Trevor received security guard training. He patrolled dangerous construction sites in the middle of the night for $5 an hour -- a salary that would never be enough to afford a home in San Francisco. Eventually with time, Trevor found himselfon the streets and had no longer a place he could call home. Trevor seeked help at the Mission Bay Homeless Support & Training Center and qualified as being unintentional homeless after going through the application process. He was provided with temporary housing at site and went at the same time through the recreation program. Today, Trevor has a steady job as a campus security at Academy of Art Universities multiple campuses.

% 37

Said that not having clean clothing and a shower prevented them from finding employment

“Homeless people don’t need one helping hand or homeless shelters. They need access to a whole support system”

HOMELESS SUPPORT & TRAINING CENTER

The masterplan will include a Homeless Support & Training center which will have a concept of helping homeless people back into society through offering them education, work and temporary housing. Supportive housing is a 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 mentall illness. The recreation center will aim the focus towards earlier discussed minority groups from group 2 to group 6, people that unintentionally became 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 willingnessto get back into the community.

Homelessness remains a chronic problem in the city of San Francisco that has been driven by financial inequality and unprecedented property and rental costs. Each year $200 million is allocated by the city to address this issue, but, unfortunately, statistics show that the population of homeless inhabitants has not changed over the last decade. The current proposal provides a blueprint to guide the transition of homeless individuals back into society though job training, work/internship, and transitional housing programs.

The Support & Training centers first job training program will seek to bring people back into the society through hands on job training, internships, mentoring, job placement and social service support. The hands on job training will include being a worker at the site of mission bay, potentially housing managers, farmers, construction workers, cleaners.

TYPES OF HOMELESS PEOPLE

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6

There are many ways people become homeless. It is usually a series of events, such as loosing a job, getting divorced, dropping out of college, facing a death or tragedy, drug addiction, mental illness, etc. With that being said I want to break down the different people that you see on the street into some logical groups.

Group 1 ADDICTION Group 1 SICKNESS

One of the most common stereotypes of homeless people is that they are drug and alcohol addicts, U.S cities report that 58% of the homeless people has addiction as their largest cause of homelessness. This group is likely to return to homelessness no matter what kind of help they get except help to deal with the addiction.

A serious illness can mean lose of a lot of money and some people finds themselves on the streets after undergoing a treatment which will in a longer run also mean lose of job and possible savings in the bank. On ther other hand, serious mental illnesses prevent people to live and carry out a daily life and without assistance these people have a very little chanc e to stay stable and will soon be on the streets.

Group 3 No Support Network Group 4

Some homeless people have no social network of friends and family to ask for help when times get hard. This category of individuals can be a result of long stemming histories of verbally or physically abusive family lives and/or family deaths/tragedies. In addition to these life altering circumstances some people in this group have made the concious discission to be homeless due to an unexplained feeling of disengagement from society.

A job loss can leave individuals and families in desperate circumstances. Unemployment benefits and savings eventually run out, leaving people homeless who never thought it could happen to them.

Group 5 LOW WAGES

Group 6 VETERANS

This group of individuals simply can't afford to have a home because minimum wage is not a living wage.

It has been estimated that one-third of adult homeless men have served in the armed forces and 200,000 veterans may be homeless on any given night in the US. Additionally, veterans are considered to be at risk of poverty and can lack support from family and friends.

To summarize these groups Group 1 / Addiction represents the majority population of homeless individuals in the city (58%). Treatment programs that treat the root causes of addiction is needed as a first step for these people. The other 42% in the minority groups are all 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.

Above all else, homelessness is a human issue. The people on our streets are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. They are not strangers to be ignored and passed by. Homelessness is an issue that affects us all, and I believe these people are in need of a helping hand to get back into society. Therefore it is time we have a renewed focus on the issue.

Homeless Support & Training Center

JOB TRAINING

Adult Education Program

Employment Assistancy

TRANSITIONAL HOUSING

WORK & INTERNSHIP

Skilled Trades & Apprenticeship Education

On-Site Mission Bay

Transitional Housing / Affordable Housing

MEDICAL CARE RECREATION & CARE

Medical Care & Counseling

Child Care Center

Before & After School Recreation Program

PROGRAM STRATEGIES

GLOBAL HEALTH SCIENCES

IMPROVING HEALTH & POVERTY THROUGH RESEARCH , EDUCATION & CARE

SAN FRANCISCO

Homeless Support & Training Center

1. Research

With a mission of advancing health worldwide, UC San Francisco’s Global Health Sciences Department (GHS) is dedicated at every level to serving the public. GHS, as one of the world’s most esteermed health science research and teaching institutions, will uses it’s experience and expertise across multiple disciplines to address the needs of disadvantaged populations in San Francisco, United States, and Worldwide.

As a relatively new organization (founded 2003), GHS aims to continue the rich legacy of international health programs and projects in the training and research established by the UCSF faculty. Today GHS work on a growing number of educational, research, and action-oriented projects under way in more than 50 countries around the world.

With the new addition of San Francisco Homeless Support & Training Center to the Global Health Sciences Department in collaboration with the City of San Francisco, UCSF will now work locally to solve San Francisco’s biggest social issue as being “the homeless capital of America.” A title based on the staggering number of homeless people per capita at 1 in 64.

Based on these credentials, the goal of the current research program will be to develop a blueprint to guide the transition of homeless individuals back into society through job training, work and internships, as well as transitional housing programs. This opportunity will act as a win-win solutions for both the GHS faculty and homeless individuals enrolled in the educational programs at the training center. Further, faculty and underepresented individuals will now have a chance to work side by side to learn from eachother.

2. Education

Adult Education Program

This program will be for specific needs of individuals and provide on campus education support and assist in defining and completing specific educational goals. Classes and one-on-one tutoring will be provided in reading, writing, math and computer literacy. Classes in the GHS department will also be available to educate individuals about health sciences. Available ciricula will include: GHS 208 - Women's Health and Empowerment, GHS 210 (A,B) - Emerging Topics in Global Health, GHS 202B - Chronic Diseases and the Environment, and GHS 201A - Foundations of Global Health

Employment Resource Center

Will provide job readiness training to best prepare individuals for employment opportunities in the community. Some examples of skills taught will be: resume and cover letter building, interviewing skills, job searching and applying. Counseling and supervised job search will also be part of this program.

Skilled Trades & Apprenticeship Education

This program will be designed to prepare and train individuals for careers in the skilled trades and crafts. Apprenticeship combines on-the-job experience with technical classroom training. For some apprentices the classroom training can be taken upfront through a educational system, followed by on-the-job training.

After completing both the classroom and the on-the-job training, apprentices can receive a certificate of qualification allowing better employment prospects and increased opportunities for individuals. Available curricula will be Culinary Arts, Plant Nursery, Desktop Publishing, Medical Assistant Professions, Public Safety, Construction Trades, Carpentry & Welding.

The main purpose of the this training program is to stimulate and assist individuals in training programs designed to provide the skilled workers needed to compete in a global economy, but this program will also allow for a collaboration with the GHS Faculty, where ideas from the GHS Students can become a reality with the skills individuals will gain while attending the apprenticeship training program and lead to developments in new tools and technologies.

3. Care

Transitional Housing

This program will provide temporary residence for individuals and families qualifying for the Support & Training Center Program. Housing will be provided throughout the education and until people will develop stability in their lives.

Medical Care & Counseling

Homelessness is hazardous to a persons health and the experience of homelessness causes health problems and therefore a Medical Care & Counseling program will be available on site which will provide comprehensive medical services including primary care & treament, screening & health education.

Child Care center

Before & After School Recreation Program

Offering a before and after School Recreation Program throughout the school year would engage whole families. The program provides students with recreational, educational, and social opportunities in a safe environment while their parents get trained.

PROGRAMMATIC COMPOSITION

Skilled Trades & Apprenticeship

Program Space Requirements

Fabrication Shop

Welding Shop

Wood Shop

Gardens

Kitchen & Dining

Computer Lab

Workstations

Classrooms

Auditorium

Conference Room

Library

Reception

Open O ces

Private O ces

Medical Rooms

Consulting Rooms

Adult Education

Program Employment Res. Center

Medical Care & Counseling

Spatial Concept Diagrams

TRANSITION

INTERACTION

PHASING

SUPPORT

FORM GENERATION

GROUND FLOOR SECOND FLOOR

ATMOSPHERIC RENDERINGS

R.1

R.3

R.2

R.5

R.4

ATMOSPHERIC RENDERINGS

ATMOSPHERIC RENDERINGS

STRUCTURAL PLANS

SECOND FLOOR FRAMING

PLAN SCALE 1/24”=1’ 0”

W16 WIDE FLANGE BEAMS METAL DECKING CONCRETE TOPPING RADIANT FLOOR HEATING GYPSUM BOARD FINISHED FLOOR

WIDE FLANGES BEAMS WELDED TOGETHER & TO THE COLUMNS

MOMENT CONNECTION

DETAIL A-A-1

SCALE 1/2”=1’ 0”

Z CLIP CONNECTS PANELS TO BEAMS

BUILDING SYSTEMS

1. Green Rooftop

2. Reduced Heat Island Effect

3. Diffused Daylighting

4. Operable Windows

5. Natural Cross & Stack Ventilation

6. Daylight Sensors

7. Stormwater Collection & Re-use

8. High Performance Glazing System

9. Perforated Copper Facade

10. Daylight Acess to Save Energy

Diffused Daylight into Major Atrium Space through Parametric Skylights

XDirect Sunlight

X Interior Glare

X Interior Overheating

X Not ideal in working spaces due to high level of distraction.

Perforated openings enable interior spaces to benefit from Diffused Natural Light, filtered in such a way that it reduces the glare of direct sunlight and resulting in an environment that is conducive to relaxation and working.

LEED Standard

Blocking Direct Sunlight

Provides insulation during Winter & Reduction of heat gain in Summer

Green Rooftop - Transforming Dead Space into Garden Space 1

1.1 Thermal Mass Effect - Poorly insulated roofs, as found on many existing buildings, will lead to overheating of spaces beneath them during summer, and excessive heating demand during the winter. The Green Roof will provide thermal insulation helping keep the conditioned space cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter while reducing energy costs.

1.2 Lessen the Urban Heat Island effect - Like most big cities, San Francisco is a hot spot. The solar energy absorbed into the concrete buildings and asphalt street surfaces is transformed into heat, making it significantly hotter than surrounding rural areas. Green Roofs absorbs the energy from the sun and converts it to sensible heat.

1.3 Local Grown Organic Food - The Green Rooftops will provide natural and organic food options for the local community to buy in the Deli Fresh Market located at the corner of 3rd and 16th street. This will reduce transportation emissions being used in roof-to-plate deli fresh market concept and establish a business model by selling locally grown organic food.

2.1 - Rainfall Retention- Green roofs significantly reduce stormwater runoff, typically retaining 65% in dry season and 30% in wet season of the annual rainfall in San Francisco and retarding the runoff of most of the remainder.

2.2 - Stormwater Collection - A Stormwater Management system is added to supply the buildings irrigation system and grey water requirements. 1. Gutters will collect and funnel the water to the pipes. 2. Pipes channels the water to a filtration system. 3. The filtered water flowing under gravity fills a underground water storage tank, this process of filling requires no external power. 4. The building requires water pressure which is provided by a pump and water is provided by the storage tank.

2.2 - Rainwater Re-use - After treatment the rainwater will be re-used in toilet flushing in the building and to irrigate the green roofs which will reduce use of city water up to 286 000 gallons per year.