San Francisco Trip - Visual Notes

San Francisco Trip University of Oregon Department of Architecture, Portland Program First Year Option II Students

Visual Notes Booklet

San Francisco Trip

Page

SOM Office visit San Francisco Arts Institute Grid Typologies Culture Urban Fabric Waterfronts Public Space Golden Gate Park Thank you

1 2 3 5 8 11 13 14 15

The first Year Option II students would like to thank SOM for their contribution to our annual class trip. It was inspiring to hear John Kriken speak of his passion for shaping the city and to see Leo Chow present the firm’s groundbreaking projects at home and abroad. As many of the students had never visited San Francisco before, the information provided on the city’s history and urban design enabled students to explore their surroundings with better insight of its layout and structure. Having only begun classes weeks before, our experience in San Francisco was an excellent way for the students to come together as a group while having the opportunity to discover a different milieu.

Learning about San Francisco’s urban design was particularly significant as it provided a comparison to typologies in Portland with regards to different grid, street and housing types. This served as a great reference for our programs Principles of Urban Design class which many of the first year students were involved with. Furthermore, one of this semesters entrance studios dealt with stitching together the leftover space between the historical Portland grid and new developments along the Willamette River waterfront.

Learning how multiple San Francisco Grids are juxtaposed provided insight to possible design solutions.

We would like to thank you for the tour of your office and the lectures on your past and current projects.

As upcoming architects and designers it is always a pleasure to be inspired by new and interesting built forms. From individual buildings to large scale urban planning initiatives, the lecture gave a complete overview of the types of projects SOM in involved in.

Included in the following is a visual representation of our experiences in San Francisco and reflections of what we learned from the trip. Common themes studied by students included individual building design, cultural inspirations, grid typologies, public spaces and urban fabric. Media ranges from sketches, pen and ink drawings, to watercolors. Once again, we thank you for your contribution. We hope this trip is a tradition we can continue for future classes.

01

01

02

On the second day of the trip, we visited the Art Institute.

The campus provides a remarkable mix of traditional and modern architecture styles. The buildings provides abundant open space in the front courtyard and the public roof top, which presents an amazing view of downtown San Francisco.

03

04

01 - Front Courtyard. San Francisco Art Institute 02 - Rooftop public space. San Francisco Art Institute 03 - Rooftop public space. San Francisco Art Institute 04 - Rooftop public space. San Francisco Art Institute 05- Photo. Rooftop public space. San Francisco Art Institute 02

05

01

02

The trip provided an opportunity to study the different grid typologies of San Francisco. Areas of interest included studying the steep grades creating by laying a constant grid over the topography as well as where historic grids merge. As one of this year’s entry studios dealt with merging Portland’s historical grids, we enjoyed learning about how San Francisco's platting developed around its natural features through the striking graphics of Peter Bosselman.

03

03

01 - Lombard Street - Topography.

02 - Historical grid overlaps. San Francisco and Portland.

03 - Grid overlay on Sanfrancisco’s topography and resulting conditions.

02

Students were interested in learning more about San Francisco grid patterns, housing types, and block pattern typologies. While on walking tours, the class had the opportunity to study irregularities in the grid patterns such as the alleyway conversion of Belden Plaza into an outdoor dining space.

01 - Belden Plaza. Alley condition.

02 - Typologies. Housing, block and grid.

03 - Photo. San Francisco block paterns.

01

03

04

01

02

For the studio class focused on designing a Chinese cultural center in the Old Town neighborhood of Portland, it was helpful to visit different cultural sites of San Francisco for inspiration. Each different cultural district provided insight in the areas distinct neighborhood character. Areas of interest included Chinatown, the Mission District, and Little Italy.

03

04

05

01 - “Truth.” Mural on the Oddfellows Building near San Francisco Civic Center.

02 - Chinatown Streetscape.

03 - Balmy Alley, Mission District.

04 - Photo. Balmy Alley, Mission District.

05 - “Truth.” Mural on the Oddfellows Building near San Francisco Civic Center.

05

02

01 - Saint Patrick’s Church, Little Italy.

02 - Saint Patrick’s Church, Little Italy.

03 - Yerba Buena Garden, across from Saint Patrick’s Church.

01

Our visit to North Beach, the Little Italy section of town, provided students with an abundance of great public spaces and classical architecture mixed with new developments. An extremely walkable neighbourhood, the vibrant street life provided an opportunity to compare and contrast the different cultural neighbourhoods we visited, experiencing their distinct feelings, atmospheres, and building typologies.

03

06

02

01

01 - Streetscape, Chinatown.

02 - Street lanturns, Chinatown.

03 - Photo. Portsmouth Square 04 - Streetscape, Chinatown.

03

Visiting San Francisco’s thriving Chinatown provided a stark contrast to Portland’s Old Town/Chinatown district. Though the Old Town neighbourhood was historically a Chinese center, it lacks the abundance of street life that we observed in San Fancisco’s streets, gardens and public spaces, such as Portsmouth Square.

07

04

02

03

01

Walking tours provided an opportunity to explore the city on multiple levels, taking notice of details such as sidewalk widths, the scale of building facades and lesser recognized aspects, such as clothing lines. All of these aspects add to the complexity that creates the unique urban fabric of a city.

01 - Belden Plazza. Urban street cafe.

02 - Hanging Laundry lines. China town.

03 - Downtown urban streetscape 04 - Photo. Large pedestrian sidewalks.

04

08

Candy corn on the sidewalk.

The pavement of the city was interesting to watch due to the abundance of candy and confetti left over from Halloween and the World Series.

02

01

Many students chose to study civil and industrial elements that contribute to a city’s appearance. Civil structures such as bridges, pavement, and trolley lines all add to the city form. Studying these often forgotten elements revelaed their artistic potential.

01 - Bridge. 3rd Street and Berry Street.

02 - Bus trolley lines, near City Hall.

03 - Urban pavement graffiti

03

09

01

02

01 - Traffic patterns, and public plaza stairs.

02 - Downtown urban streetscape 03 - Outdoor cafe on Ashbury Street.

03

Special conditions within the regular grid pattern add to the complexity of the urban fabric. On Ashbury Street, a cafe uses an existing parking spot to create an outdoor seating opportunity.

This patio on the street utilizes existing city conditions to create unique design solutions.

10

02

01

01 - Ferry Building. Interior Concourse 02 - Ferry Building. Interior Concourse 03 - Photo. View from Ferry Building.

04- Plan layout of Ferry building and exterior plaza.

03

Waterfront developments are vital components to both Portland and San Francisco’s past and future urban designs. Visiting popular locations, such as the Ferry Building, show the city’s strong identity with its water’s edge.

04

11

02

01 - Exploratorium in the Palace of Fine Arts in Presidio Park.

02 - USFC Community Center

01

Tours of the Mission Bay and Ballpark districts showed similarities to Portland’s developing South Waterfront with areas of mixed use housing combined with commercial developments. It was beneficial to see how this area has developed compared to our own waterfront. During free time, many students chose to visit famous San Francisco waterfront attractions such as the Fisherman’s Warf and the Presidio Park.

12

01

02

03

04

Over the course of our trip, we had the opportunity to visit different public spaces, gardens and public plazas. Different districts of the city had different reactions to their natural surroundings. The city provides an abundance of public spaces found in all different sizes from Golden Gate Park, to small urban neighbourhood plazas and promenades.

01 - Japan Town Plaza.

02 - Sundial Bridge, Turtle Bay CA 03 - Public space, Ballpark District.

04 - Front Courtyard. San Francisco Art Institute

13

01

02

04

03

01 - Biosphere: Roof of Acadamy of science 02 - Exterior garden. Acadamy of Science.

03 - DeYoung Museum rooftop 04- Biosphere: Roof of Acadamy of science

While visiting Golden gate park, students had time to explore on their own, taking in the park itself or spending time at the DeYoung Museum before receiving a tour of the San Francisco Academy of Science from Dr. Frank Almeda.

Our tour of the facilities ended with an in-depth look at the iconic green roof structure of the building.

14

Contributing Students Natalie Albright Jerome Alemayehu Claire Alyea Alysia Baldwin Jodi Bristol Meagan Dickemann Seth Dunn Chad Ethridge Kathryn Fehrenbacher Hannah Feil Alexander Jackson Ashley Koger James Lutzke Erika Malpaya Daniel Nowell Michael Prohov Abraham Rodriguez Sara Ruzomberka Daniel Scofield Luke Smith Arpad Takacs David Taylor Adam Wilson Fredrika Witt

Compiled By Alysia Baldwin

15