The Cachet of Culture

3nd Quarter 2016

Culture’s Cachet:

San Francisco

inside

CENTRAL MARKET • SFMOMA • SFMADE

I N SIDE THIS IS S U E

the VIEW EDITORIAL STAFF

From Pop-up to PACE Art + Technology

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Angel Profile

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San Francisco’s Central Market District

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Point of VIEW: SFMOMA

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Angel

Restaurant Report: In Situ

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Editorial Review

San Francisco’s 5M Project

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Live-Work Stories

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War Memorial Veterans Building

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Managing Editor

Donna Schumacher

Associate Editor

Angie Sommer

Contributors

SFMade 15 Building Stories: Minnesota Street Project

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InterVIEW: Kelly Gifford

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Emerging Artisan Food Culture

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Art and Architecture with Soundscapes

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A Word from Our Sponsors

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Graphic Designer

Laurie Gustafson Richard Isaac Jennifer Chan Kristy Dutch Tracy Everwine Carol Ann Flint Melissa Holmes Molly Jans Donna Schumacher Angie Sommer Kristina Owyoung Vinson Madelyn Yeung Lori Seaberg Mingus

©2016 CREW SF. All submissions are subject to editing for clarity and brevity, unless otherwise noted.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR | Culture’s Cachet: San Francisco That the city of San Francisco signifies a free-spirited individualism is indisputable. Known as much for our culture of the offbeat and the open minded as we are for the Gold Rush and Golden Gate, San Franciscans can also take pride in our global reputation as a creative capital where new ideas flourish. Beat poetry, ’60s rock and folk music, rainbow-colored peace signs, and yes, innovations in 21st century technology are all facets of the creative cachet of the Bay Area.

This issue of the VIEW explores how culture is both nurtured and challenged by the remarkable real estate boom of San Francisco. What institutions are being built and expanded, funded in no small part by all the newly created wealth? What options are being explored to continue to support the artists and mid-sized arts organizations that struggle to maintain a foothold as real estate prices escalate out of their grasp? What new partnerships can be created to forge solutions where only conflicts have previously been found?

Some examples: The Ferry Building illustrates how the highly quirky and deliciously creative can anchor the ongoing success of the project, with food market offerings distinctively of the Bay Area. Organizations such as SFMade dedicate their efforts to finding ways to make local manufacturing possible.

And yes, Virginia, people do care about art—and San Francisco knows this better than most.

The arrival of the Pace Gallery in Palo Alto and Menlo Park speaks volumes of the interest of major art dealers in the Bay Area on a national and international scale. The world is tuning in to watch what we do. We are in many ways at the forefront of global trends.

SFMOMA is new and improved, both quantitatively (currently it’s the largest museum of modern art in the country) and qualitatively (it has acquired a wealth of new art pieces thanks to the Fisher Collection and an elegant new addition designed by Snøhetta). A recent visit after the May of 2016 opening reveals a lively space jammed to capacity with locals and visitors alike, basking in new era of San Francisco cultural institutions. (Gagosian Gallery is soon to follow with a new space across from SFMOMA).

For the 3M project, Forest City Developers intentionally incorporated arts organizations in the fabric of the complex to create an immediate

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and undeniable sense of place. The newly created Minnesota Street Project hopes to ease pressure on the Bay Area arts community by creating a significant new art hub. Several blocks of Dogpatch specifically cater to artists’ needs: exhibition space, studios, places for production, office space, and room to store collections. And the City of San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) has found new ways to insulate arts organization from the squeeze of higher rents as part of the Central Market Economic Strategy, which employs a team as complex as its name.

At the other end of the country, ICA Boston can help us understand how city leaders can forge mutually beneficial partnerships between the arts and real estate development. After breaking the development ice in a challenging neighborhood, ICA Boston is now the focal point of a highly successful district, its “soul.” As the future unfolds, the relationship between this arts institution and the surrounding community will generate continued participation for years to come, by a new audience that defines culture in an inclusive and personal way. That audience comprises primarily (fortunately for us) the new millennial majority.

This millennial majority is the focus of the next issue of the VIEW. What real estate predilections can we glean by understanding their tastes and preferences, and what predictions can then be made? “Market Trends: Millennials” will feature the thoughts and writing of many of the members of our Rising Leaders committee as we to reach out to the newest members of CREW San Francisco for their insights.

Thank you, dear reader, for your continued enthusiasm for the VIEW. Readership continues to grow and expand as we move forward toward 2017. Look for our new tab on the home page of CREW San Francisco (www.crewsf.org) or for copies at your next CREW event.

Warmly, Donna Schumacher Managing Editor, the VIEW Donna Schumacher Architecture COVER: Snøhetta expansion of the new SFMOMA, 2016. Photo©Henrik Kam, courtesy SFMOMA

From Pop-up to Pace Art + Technology on the Peninsula © 2016 Madelyn Yeung, Oracle

If you’ve ever passed through Menlo Park toward Palo Alto on the historic El Camino Real, you’ve seen world-class Stanford University, a high-end mall, and a gateway to Sand Hill Road, the pinnacle for venture capital. You’ve probably also noticed that, among these iconic establishments, redevelopment plans may be evident in areas that were formerly used as car dealerships.

Vacant lots secured by chain-link fences and padlocks—desolate and abandoned—are also to be found in prime real estate locations. This could have been the case at 300 El Camino Real when Tesla Motors closed its Menlo Park dealership in 2013, but something else interesting took its place.

A NG E L P ROFILE LAURIE GUSTAFSON Partner | Sedgwick LLP

Company: Sedgwick LLP, San Francisco, founded 1933. I work with clients to assist them with all aspects of their commercial real estate needs: purchase and sale transactions, leasing, design and construction contracts, and financing.

Background: Born in Houston, I went to undergrad at UC Berkeley and law school at UC Davis. Right after law school I clerked for the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court.

After two more years practicing law in Anchorage, I moved to Seattle, where I lived for 21 years, raising my two children and two stepchildren and continuing my legal career at two international firms. I then relocated my law practice to San Francisco in 2008.

CREW history: CREW East Bay in 2008, Programs Committee.

CREW SF in 2010, Programs Committee. CREW SF Board from 2012 to 2016, serving as 2015 President, chair of the Governance Committee. Cofounder of the CREW SF Rising Leaders Committee.

Charities: CREW Foundation, KQED, and the UC Davis King Hall School of Law Class of ‘84 Endowed Scholarship.

First job: A garment factory in Indianapolis, while I was a high school student.

Extracurricular passions: Adventure travel, gardening, music, and dance (mostly Cuban!)

cooking,

Travel tips: Go the road less traveled!

Recent travel highlight: So many in the past few years: Panama, Cuba, Thailand (for my son’s wedding), Denver (for my daughter’s wedding), and New York City!

Top Bay Area restaurant picks: Café Colucci in Oakland (Ethiopian) and La Marcha Tapas Bar in Berkeley 15 minutes of fame: It was more than 15 minutes, but one of my most proud accomplishments was working on the Obama campaign in 2008, fundraising, getting out the vote, and voter protection.

President Obama and Laurie Gustafon

Light Sculpture of Flames. Image courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery

After all, what’s a landlord of prime real estate to do once a tenant like Tesla vacates? One option is to sit on vacant real estate with no-holds-barred plans to redevelop. This is ideal when things actually go as expected. But when it doesn’t, the property could remain underutilized indefinitely.

Another option is to find a temporary and flexible arrangement, which is why pop-ups have become key for situations like this.

So once Tesla left, the magic of networking took place, and the owner of 300 ECR offered Pace Gallery space to open a popup. Therein lies the reason you’ll see a slate-colored building with a monument sign that says, “PACE Art + Technology.”

Pace Gallery was founded in Boston in 1960 by Arne Glimcher, who later moved to New York and established the four galleries that exist there today. Over the span of 56 years, this leading contemporary art gallery has established additional locations (continued on page 4)

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Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12. Image courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery

in London, Beijing, Hong Kong, Paris, and more recently, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.

400 members in the collective worked around the clock to execute teamLab’s art and technological vision.

“It really happened organically, and it’s kind of amazing how it started,” says Liz Sullivan, president of Pace Gallery. She recalls coming to Menlo Park from New York in 2014 to set up an Alexander Calder show in the back of the ECM property.

A few months later, a Tara Donovan exhibit ensued and was well received. However, talks of tearing the property down caused uncertainty about whether Pace should continue its pop-up exhibitions. Eventually, it was confirmed that the building would stay, so the property owner and Pace kept the arrangement going.

The inaugural Pace Art + Technology exhibit “Living Digital Space | Future Parks” debuted on February 6, 2016. It invites participants of all ages to immerse themselves in multiroom environments among 20 digital works. While the rotunda building contains most of the installations, the back building is geared toward children. Both sections, however, are able to captivate all ages. “It’s a beautiful thing to have this living digital space, which is not generational at all. It’s wonderful and yet very hard to do,” says Sullivan.

At this pivotal moment, Mark Glimcher (Arne’s son) had also launched Pace’s art and technology program, which he piloted in Menlo Park. Technology-focused artists were to be highlighted at this new gallery space, and that’s how teamLab was chosen for the program. Founded in 2001 by Yoshiyuki Inoko and based in Tokyo, this interdisciplinary collective of “ultra-technologists” (who incorporate modern technologies into art) seeks to navigate the confluence of art, technology, and design. In a collaborative fashion, where there’s no hierarchy, they conceptualize digital technology into art, explore spatial awareness interpreted through ancient Japanese art forms, allow users to interact within a subjective space, and encourage collaboration and creativity among people through digital art. The media they use are LED lights, proprietary computer program codes, motion sensors, video projection mapping, scanners, touchpads, and mobile apps, all of which produce totally immersive experiences.

Since all 20,000 square feet combined from two buildings on the parcel could be used, Pace and teamLab collaborated on designing the space for the exhibit. All of the details for the buildout were engineered, even the sound. Forty of the over

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Since the opening, Pace has sold nearly 105,000 tickets without marketing and continues to generate buzz organically via word of mouth. As a result, the exhibit has been extended until December 18, 2016.

In April 2016, Pace opened a second, more permanent gallery space in downtown Palo Alto to attract foot traffic. With an expansive glass storefront, it features original works by James Turrell, an artist who, for over five decades, uses light and indeterminate space to extend and enhance perception, drawing inspiration from astronomy, physics, architecture, and theology. Also featured are a series of iPad drawings called “The Yosemite Suite” by David Hockney, one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century, especially during the pop art movement of the 1960s. Artworks will be rotated regularly at this location.

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About the Author Madelyn Yeung is a veteran commercial real estate professional, with expertise in investments, project management, and property management.

She is now a project manager in the real estate department at Oracle. She also is the publisher of Hue Journal, a semiannual publication that focuses on interior design, fashion, and the lives of creative people.

Preserving Arts and Cultural Institutions IN SAN FRANCISCO’S CENTRAL MARKET DISTRICT © 2016 Tracy Everwine, Central Market Community Benefit District

SHN Orpheum Theater. Photo courtesy of SHN SF

Many real estate professionals know the importance of the arts and culture in community economic development. What some may not know is how complex it can be to stabilize and attract such assets in an area with rentable space at peak absorption and with construction costs at an all-time high.

Prior to 2011, the economic vitality and public perception of San Francisco’s Central Market area—which includes parts of Civic Center, SoMa, and the Tenderloin—was extremely weak. With the exception of a robust network of social service organizations and office buildings that function 9-5, the arts and cultural organizations were its only shining stars.

Large theater houses, such as the Orpheum, Golden Gate, and Warfield, featuring world-renowned Broadway productions and internationally recognized musical acts, operated alongside smaller venues like the Luggage Store Gallery and CounterPulse Theater, driving San Francisco’s core as a hub of cultural and creative expression. (Two of area’s newest brickand-mortar venues, PianoFight and the Strand Theater, were featured in the 2015 Q4 issue of the VIEW.) In 2011, the economic tide started to turn. According to San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), from 2011 to 2013 alone, Central Market’s office vacancy rate dropped from 25% to 4%. New technology companies have moved to the area alongside three new coworking spaces and 40 new small businesses.

Without a doubt, it had become time for anyone without a long-term lease to begin strategizing their real estate future, especially the area’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.

Those with expiring or short-term leases, lean budgets, and limited staff capacity would have to improve these

circumstances quickly if they were to remain part of the future of this rapidly changing area.

Fortunately, San Francisco is showing incredible foresight, providing an example other municipalities can learn from.

OEWD, as part of its Central Market Economic Strategy, is working with the arts and cultural community to achieve an aligned vision for City support. A team was brought together to work on this complex issue, a team as diverse and multifaceted as the problem it hopes to address: Amy Cohen and Ellyn Parker at OEWD; Joshua Simon and Leiasa Beckham, formerly of the Northern California Community Loan Fund (NCCLF); Kary Shulman and Khan Wong at Grants for the Arts; Tom DeCaigny and Judy Nemzoff at the San Francisco Arts Commission; Helene Sautou at Urban Solutions; Marlo Sandler at the City’s Planning Department; and Shelley Trott at the Kenneth Rainin Foundation.

Just as important is the alignment of stakeholders to implement that vision. While real estate is often the biggest challenge, retention efforts more often than not require solutions from multiple disciplines. Thus, a special team has been organized that includes public and private sector experts in the arts and nonprofit finance, as well as real estate, in order to further retention efforts.

The team is composed of smart and dedicated people, but perhaps most unique to the group is their diverse skill set and undaunted approach to complex projects. Several interventions thus far have involved complicated property ownership issues, extremely blighted properties with decades of deferred maintenance, and public-realm conditions not for the faint of heart. Additionally, property owners and tenants (continued on page 6)

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LINES ballet Summer Program Class

Strand stage. Courtesy of A.C.T.

Luggage Store gallery. Courtesy of Luggage Store

alike often have unrealistic rent expectations. So the wellrounded team must work in unison to bring parties toward the actualization of mutually shared goals.

theater at 80 Turk Street near Market. The building, which formerly housed the Dollhouse adult theater, offered a rare opportunity to purchase space already designed as a theater.

Thanks to CAST, CounterPulse will continue to provided space and resources for emerging artists and cultural innovators.

This highly specialized and very deliberate effort to provide wraparound services and shepherding of projects from start to finish has been met with resounding success: 13 existing organizations have been stabilized and seven more have been attracted.

The team focuses on relationship management, pushing through City bureaucracy with regard to zoning and building permits, and intense guided support when devising facilities’ strategic plans and navigating the complexities of nonprofit real estate finance. Leases are often renegotiated with more favorable terms for tenants, and in some cases landlords too; funding mechanisms, such as City-sponsored grant programs and New Markets Tax Credits, are utilized to make physical upgrades for safer, more appealing, and code-compliant facilities—also a boon for the lessor, lessee, staff, patrons, and community.

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On behalf of the Luggage Store, CAST acquired the Walker Building at 1007 Market near Sixth. The purchase has allowed the Luggage Store to remain in its space, which was at risk of sale to private investors, and ultimately the chance to assume full ownership.

What has happened and continues to unfold in Central Market is a testament to what is possible through closely coordinated public-private partnerships and strong political will. Any municipality struggling with the challenges of rapid economic development, where arts and culture are pivotal points in the history and character of a place, would be wise to look at what’s happening here.

Perhaps the most profound stabilization effort came from Northern California Community Loan Fund’s creation of the Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. CAST purchases and leases space for nonprofit arts organizations, creating a new approach to asset development for cultural organizations.

Breaking news! The renowned Magic Theatre recently announced it will occupy space at Central Market’s 950-974 Market Street hotel and residential project being developed

by Group i. Group i is providing the space rent-free as part of its commitment to developing a vibrant and inclusive mixeduse project that benefits the community.

CAST’s initial beneficiaries were CounterPulse and the Luggage Store Gallery. On behalf of CounterPulse, which was at risk of losing its lease a few blocks away, CAST acquired a neglected

About the Author Tracy Everwine is executive director of the Central Market Community Benefit District and a board member of CREW SF.

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POINT of VIEW:

SFMOMA:The New Wing in Context © 2016 Melissa A. Holmes, Holmes & Associates

Roberts Family Gallery featuring Richard Serra’s Sequence (2006) at SFMOMA; photo © Henrik Kam, courtesy SFMOMA

For most of the most of the 20th century, San Francisco was generally viewed, both nationally and internationally, as a charming city with a lively arts community, but hardly avant-garde.

This was particularly true in the context of modern art museums— which is astonishing, since SFMOMA predates the contemporary art museums in both LA and Chicago by several decades.

From its humble beginnings—long viewed as provincial by the New York and LA art communities—SFMOMA represents the tortoise’s proverbial progress to San Francisco’s art greatness, via its stellar collections. And with the design of its new wing, SFMOMA is now bringing out the architectural critic in everyone.

Briefly, SFMOMA began as the San Francisco Museum of Art in in 1935 (it became SFMOMA with the addition of “Modern” to its name in 1975), on the fourth floor of the Veterans Memorial Building, adjacent to the War Memorial Opera House on Van Ness Avenue. It grew with a number of key donations, which included works of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and soon after, a stunning collection of photographic works. Its location, while technically in the center of town, felt removed, as it took an elevator to reach it, and the building architecture was starkly neoclassical. All the while, contemporary artists in New York,

Chicago, LA, and, of course, Europe were growing in stature, and even the collections of SFMOMA included them.

Yet, San Francisco was a veritable stepsister in the contemporary art world. However, through strong curatorial leadership and savvy local collectors, the museum’s works grew steadily both in content and breadth.

With the 1988 announcement of the Third Street site and of Mario Botta as the architect, it was hoped then that SFMOMA would come into its own, which it did with opening of the new museum in 1995. Then, as with every successful venture, SFMOMA outgrew its exhibition and permanent collection galleries, as well as conservation, storage, and administrative areas.

It was also clear in 1995 that the way of viewing art was quickly changing. PCs and email were coming into schools and homes. The Internet was linking universities and companies.

Most of us got our first cellphones around that time. Many offices, classrooms, and homes were getting wired…just in time for wireless. From then onward, museum staff everywhere witnessed the advent of online marketing, website information (continued on page 8)

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(continued from page 7) on exhibits and artists, and interactive exhibits, and that contemporary art itself was adding tech media to its “palette,” beyond canvas, paint, pencils, clay, film, bronze, and stone.

And of course architecture is viewed as art. In this context, in 2009, SFMOMA announced its expansion, with Snøhetta as the architect of the new wing. When SFMOMA reopened in the spring of 2016, a world-class contemporary art museum was unveiled. Its location, adjacent to Moscone Center, walking distance to downtown businesses and hotels, and near local public and regional transportation, made it easy for visitors to access. Its expanding collections (including the acquisition of the outstanding Fisher Collection) and exciting exhibitions have made it a magnet for art aficionados and casual visitors. Its successful gifts campaign brought in $610 million, and it further elevated its knowledgeable and arts-connected leadership.

And people are talking about Snøhetta’s design.

In SFMOMA’s press release, the description of the architecture states that “the iconic eastern façade of the Snøhettadesigned expansion, inspired in part by the waters and fog of the San Francisco Bay, is comprised of more than 700 uniquely shaped and locally fabricated FRP (fiberglass reinforced polymer) panels. Throughout the day, the movement of light and shadow naturally animates the rippled surface. Silicate crystals from Monterey County embedded in the surface catch and reflect the changing light.” Breezy, to be sure. (One of the most interesting opportunities the design affords is that while the primary entrance to SFMOMA remains on Third Street, there is now an intriguing “back-alley” entrance leading to and from Howard Street.)

In the media, Snøhetta’s design has been compared to an iceberg, a cruise ship, a pueblo, a gigantic meringue, and IKEA. Many architecture critics don’t see a viable relationship between Botta’s original brick structure and the Snøhetta expansion, and they wonder if SFMOMA might have been better served by tearing down the 1995 building and beginning afresh with a new design from the ground up.

Alexander Calder’s Untitled (1963) on view in the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Atrium at the new SFMOMA; photo © Iwan Baan, courtesy SFMOMA

A broad view comes from the Chronicle’s John King: “Inevitably, the debut of such a prominent building in today’s San Francisco can be viewed through many lenses—as a symbol of wealth, or a manifestation of the tech boom, or the final step in this part of town’s half-century transition from Skid Row to a posh address.”

His last point is salient in that, for years, all the SoMa convention halls and adjunct businesses have been decried as urban revitalization that took out viable older housing and blue-collar businesses back in the 1960s, then were left vacant for 15 years.

For me, the questions are twofold: First, is San Francisco better for all the urban renewal in SoMa that began decades ago?

Second, clearly, the Third Street location has been good for the museum, but is the design of SFMOMA’s new wing additive from an urban design perspective?

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The new SFMOMA, view from Yerba Buena Gardens; photo © Henrik Kam, courtesy SFMOMA

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About the Author Melissa Holmes’s career has included spearheading pivotal planning, urban design, entitlement processing, and building permit approval for a major theme park; resort hotels; retail, dining, and entertainment complexes; and mixed-use projects throughout the western United States. Principal and owner of Holmes & Associates, she has her BA in art history from UC Berkeley, with an emphasis on architectural history.

RESTAURANT

REPORT

Photos provided by Eric Wolfinger

IN SITU:

SFMOMA’s New Restaurant Brings Culinary Art to the Expanded Museum © 2016 Angie Sommer, ZFA Structural Engineers

In November 2015, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announced a partnership with three-Michelin-star chef Corey Lee (of Benu) to create In Situ, a new restaurant on the ground floor of the museum. It opened earlier this year, along with the longawaited expanded museum space.

Chef Lee’s approach is to engage the global food community and reimagine the traditional restaurant experience by curating and executing a menu of dishes from recipes contributed by over 80 chefs from around the world.

Participants include René Redzepi (Noma), Alice Waters (Chez Panisse), Thomas Keller (The French Laundry), Hajime Yoneda (Hajime), Virgilio Martínez (Central), Martin Picard (Au Pied de Cochon), Olivier Roellinger (Les Maisons de Bricourt), Andoni Luis Aduriz (Mugaritz), and Dominique Ansel (Dominique Ansel Kitchen). While some chefs have chosen to share a dish from their existing repertoire, others are creating something specifically for In Situ.

Neal Benezra, director of SFMOMA, describes it like this: “Similar to how we identify and support original creative voices and celebrate great masters, Corey is looking to the innovators, the emerging chefs, and the legends to create the menu for In Situ. Corey will partner with the chefs who are pushing the boundaries of the culinary world and bring global collaboration, excitement, and flavors to our restaurant. What a terrific coup for SFMOMA!” In Situ features a rotating à la carte menu that changes to balance seasonality, style, and geography. Lee works closely with each chef to faithfully represent the dish both in technique and spirit.

In Situ remains open beyond the museum’s hours, serving both lunch and dinner. With a total capacity of 150, the restaurant is divided into two areas: a smaller section with tables available for reservations and a larger, open space that encourages walk-ins, activity, and use of the restaurant as public space.

In Situ is located adjacent to the museum’s Third Street entrance and nearly doubles the square footage of the previous restaurant. Designed by Aidlin Darling Design of San Francisco (Bar Agricole, the Windhover Contemplative Center at Stanford University, and Scribe Vineyards), this project represents a unique intersection of art, design, food, and community. The design of the restaurant emphasizes visibility from the street and accessibility to visitors, in a simple, comfortable, open environment. Spaces are designed to engage all of the senses, with an emphasis on acoustics and tactility. The interior shell of the building is partially exposed and is inhabited by carefully considered “artifacts” in the form of lighting, art, furniture, and a wood ceiling canopy, all with the intent of drawing contrast between the rough and the refined.

“I see this project as an extension of the museum’s larger mission: to present great works worldwide and make them accessible for greater public engagement,” says Lee. “In Situ will build appreciation for culinary traditions and hopefully encourage dialogue about our relationships to food, not unlike the way SFMOMA collects and cares for important works of art.”

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About the Author Angie Sommer is an associate at ZFA Structural Engineers, a 60-person engineering firm with five Bay Area offices and a broad range of experience in the commercial, educational, residential, retrofit, and hospitality sectors. In her spare time, she volunteers on a variety of industry committees, including in CREW SF and the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California. She also helps people write wedding vows, ceremonies, and speeches via her business, Vow Muse (vowmuse.com), which was featured in the New York Times in June 2015.

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ARTS AND INNOVATION TAKE CENTER STAGE at SAN FRANCISCO’S 5M PROJECT © 2016 Jen Chan, White Tiger Condo Conversion

Minna view, Image courtesy of Forest City

The recent reopening of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art after a three-year, $610 million expansion has been hailed as a major milestone in the city’s cultural history. But while art critics and the public celebrate SFMOMA’s splashy makeover, another story affecting the city’s cultural life has gone largely unnoticed.

Faced with skyrocketing rents—the average for a one-bedroom apartment is approaching $4,000, and commercial real estate prices are the highest in the nation—artists and other creative types have been fleeing the city in droves.

How does San Francisco continue to grow while preserving a key element of its cultural identity—its vibrant arts community?

One answer might be found at the corner of Fifth and Mission Streets in downtown San Francisco, where artists and other innovators have taken center stage in a groundbreaking development project.

Dubbed 5M—for Fifth and Mission Streets—the project will transform a four-acre site currently occupied by aging office buildings and unsightly parking lots into a mix of office, retail, residential, and art-infused open spaces. The site is located in the rapidly developing South of Market (SoMa) District, near the Moscone Center and at the crossroads of several of the city’s most prominent neighborhoods, including Union Square, the city’s premier shopping district; Yerba Buena Arts District, home to SFMOMA and several other museums; and the Financial District.

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“It’s a location at the hinge point of a number of very different neighborhoods,” said Deborah Cullinan, CEO of the nearby Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, who was involved in preliminary planning for the 5M project when she was executive director of Intersection for the Arts, a nonprofit arts group. “We saw an opportunity to create a collision of these different worlds.”

Anchored by the iconic 1924 San Francisco Chronicle Building, with its signature clock tower, the project will feature three new buildings, including a 400-unit condominium tower, a 288-unit rental building, and a 614,000-square-foot office building.

It will also donate land for, and fund, an 83-unit building for senior citizens on fixed incomes and provide $18 million toward a low-income housing development a few blocks away, in the city’s hardscrabble Tenderloin District.

The project includes restoration of the historic Dempster Printing Building, a four-story brick structure erected shortly after the 1906 Great Earthquake, which will be devoted exclusively to community arts, cultural, and educational programs. 5M will also include a pair of ground-level courtyards with artwork, landscaping, and furnishings and a large public space on the rooftop of the Chronicle Building—accessible by a dedicated elevator—featuring a deck, a large lawn, gardens, and opportunities for urban agriculture. All three open spaces will be programmed to include community arts and cultural events. (continued on page 11)

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“The old model was to make a restaurant, a café, or a big department store like Bloomingdale’s the placemaker,” Arena said. Forest City decided to use the arts as a foundation for the project because “it’s a universal language that drives enormous value for placemaking.”

When it’s completed in about a decade, 5M will be one of the more ambitious real estate developments in recent San Francisco history, but what makes the project so unusual is not just its scale but also the fact that the arts are being used as a key component.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that the arts can be a powerful tool for building a more just society,” said Cullinan. “We are keenly interested in inclusive and equitable development— and it’s going to be more equitable if art is involved.”

The developer, Forest City, spent months researching the best use of the site. It spoke to executives at small and large companies and visited Burning Man, the infamous festival of arts, culture, and mischief in the Nevada desert. In addition, the team held a series of focus groups with community members, including small business owners, artists, and residents. Forest City determined that the optimum use of the property was a mix of housing, retail, corporate offices, and public space, but it also concluded that it needed a dynamic core of artists and other innovators to build on the energy already in the area.

“We wanted to create a unique place that people want to be around, a place that creates a lot of opportunity,” said Alexa Arena, a former senior vice president at Forest City, who was one of the visionaries behind 5M. 5M will be an unusual amalgam of offices; coworking spaces for tech startups and other creatively inclined businesses; offices for nonprofits; a mix of market-rate and below-marketrate housing; and restaurants, bars, and shops. Creative organizations and a large collaborative workspace are envisioned as anchors to draw traffic the same way a shopping mall might rely on a major department store.

The developers are well aware that 5M represents a new prototype for urban development. “The old model was to make a restaurant, a café, or a big department store like Bloomingdale’s the placemaker,” Arena said. Forest City decided to use the arts as a foundation for the project because “it’s a universal language that drives enormous value for placemaking.”

Several new tenants have already moved into the Chronicle building and adjacent spaces on an interim basis, including tech giant Yahoo and TechShop, a DIY workshop. Nonprofits such as SFMade, which supports companies producing locally made products, and SOCAP, which connects investors with

Image courtesy of Forest City

foundations and institutions devoted to social good, have also set up shop on the site.

The project faced strong opposition from some neighborhood groups who feared the development would eventually lead to displacement of neighborhood residents. To assuage those concerns Forest City agreed to build or fund 241 affordable housing units—an amount equal to 40% of the project’s marketrate units. The majority of those units will be available to people making up to 50% of the area median income (AMI)—$35,700 for a single person living alone or $50,950 for a family of four.

Another 87 units will be dedicated to middle-income households making a maximum of 150% of the AMI. In addition, 83 units will be dedicated to senior citizens on fixed income, and 19 units will be set aside for formerly homeless families.

Rather than turn its back on disadvantaged neighborhood residents—as large urban development projects have often done in the past—5M has made efforts to empower neighborhood residents. Working with the nonprofit Intersection for the Arts, Forest City has organized a steady stream of activities designed to engage 5M’s neighbors, including theatrical performances, art exhibitions, workshops, and after-school programs. One of the most popular events is Off the Grid, a twice-weekly food truck event underneath the bridge of the Chronicle Building, which typically attracts several hundred people.

There is much potential for 5M to transform the area and create a new model of what a 21st century urban development can look like.

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About the Author Jen Chan, MBA, is the founder, president, and creator of White Tiger Condo Conversion, a pioneering San Francisco real estate company specializing in small-scale residential condo conversions. Jen has more than 25 years of experience in business, residential, and commercial real estate. White Tiger is committed to making the American dream of home ownership more accessible and building a more vibrant, diverse, and sustainable city through the creation of more market-rate affordable housing. For additional information visit WhiteTiger.us.

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Live-Work Stories

© 2016 Carol Ann Flint, NGKF Capital Markets

An Old Story In 1904, Oakland’s disparaging daughter Gertrude Stein sat for Pablo Picasso in a former piano factory in Paris. The building, dubbed “the laundry barge” for swaying in inclement weather, was an atelier-commune to a dozen painters determined to challenge classical painting. Iconoclastic poets and philosophers joined the community.

Then as now, cheap rent combined with natural light and tolerant neighbors draw those who work with noxious materials and pioneering ideas to empty factory and warehouse buildings.

New York Story The SoHo Effect describes the evolution of New York’s SoHo district from a largely vacant and dilapidated industrial area, through habitation by artists and animation of the area’s lifeless streets, to its current streetscape of chain stores and boutiques with exorbitant luxury condos above.

The story starts in the 1960s, when the manufacturing industry that created the architecture of SoHo was waning. Artists began renting the high-ceilinged spaces for studios and living there as well to save money. After all, art studios fit the industrial zoning code, since artists “manufacture” art, and machines (artists) could stay in factories overnight. Event spaces opened and attracted performers and musicians. Galleries and cafés opened too. The industrial-chic live/work prototype was born, and rents started to climb.

Urban planners sought to shape and legitimize the evolution of the neighborhood by creating mixed-use districts that permitted residences and retail activities in the former manufacturing zone.

Fast-forward to early in the new millennium. Condo pricing in SoHo is rivaled only by its southern neighbor TriBeCa, the most expensive neighborhood in America. For poor, young artists, SoHo is now unaffordable.

A West Coast Story A parallel to New York’s creative community flourished quietly in the Bay Area, where the artists such as sculptor Bruce Beasley made art in West Oakland’s sunny warehouses. Container shipping had changed the way industry stored goods, leaving multistory warehouses with high ceilings, heavy floor load capacities, and wide entrances underutilized and vacant.

Early in the 1990s, architect and landscape designer Tom Dolan collaborated with Beasley to create South Prescott Village in West Oakland, eight live-work units developed specifically for the needs of artists. The development incorporated lots of natural light, large spaces, and oversize exterior doors that artist need for their work.

Features typically missing from haphazard occupation of warehouses, such as gardens and closets and kitchens, were purposely designed.

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An art access opening. South Prescott Village, Oakland.

All photos courtesy of Thomas Dolan Architecture

South Prescott, and subsequent projects of Dolan’s, emphasized community-creating common areas where the natural flow of daily life encouraged interaction between residents who can be isolated simply because they do not commute to a workplace.

The nineties spawned live-work warehouse conversions along the waterfront in West Oakland, Jack London Square, and the Peralta Hacienda and Jingletown districts near Fruitvale BART. Berkeley and Emeryville host conversions from that era as well.

What each community shares is its willingness to be located adjacent to industrial neighborhoods. Most are served by BART. Planning and Development Stories East Bay planners, aware of and on guard against the SoHo Effect, have created zones in the estuarial regions of the bay where live-work has now coexisted with industrial uses for a quarter century. Planners recognize that housing is much in demand, and so they encourage proliferation of warehouse conversion and new-construction live-work housing supported by retail businesses.

Funding for early live-work development was challenging, as the end product did not produce units with residential certificates of occupancy. Zoning initiatives creating transitional zones allowing retail and live-work alongside industrial uses are attracting less risk-averse, larger pools of capital for live-work development.

This new zoning seeks to preserve vibrant industries that employ Bay Area workers and keep the Port relevant to modern (continued on page 14)

San Francisco WAR MEMORIAL VETERANS BUILDING © 2016 Kristina Owyoung Vinson, Pankow Builders

Memorial Court. Photo courtesy of Pankow Builders

On September 16, 2015, San Francisco dignitaries and veterans gathered for the rededication of the historic War Memorial Veterans Building, built in 1932 and now a state landmark.

Hundreds of people came to witness the momentous event, and the energy and appreciation was palpable.

The rededication marked another significant day for the Veterans Building. In 1945, President Harry S Truman and other heads of state signed the United Nations Charter on the stage of the Veterans Auditorium (now the Herbst Theatre), and the Treaty of San Francisco, formally ending WWII hostilities with Japan, was signed in the Veterans Building in 1951. The building has served as a major American performing arts center ever since.

For 25 years, the safety conditions of the Veterans Building were an important concern of the City of San Francisco.

Deficient building features—including a seismic hazard rating of 3, lack of completed fire alarm and sprinkler systems, and continued reliance on other building systems mostly comprising equipment from 1932—made earthquakes and other emergencies significant threats to the building and the safety of its occupants.

Since the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, most other Civic Center buildings have been retrofitted and restored to their original Beaux Arts glory. For nearly a quarter century, the Veterans Building (as well as the Opera House and Memorial Court) had been waiting patiently for its beautification and retrofitting turn.

In July 2013, Pankow Builders began to restore the once-vital historic civic asset into a vibrant venue for the arts and veterans organizations, including a site for veterans’ gatherings; the Green Room; the 916-seat Herbst Theatre; the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery; and future theater spaces, including a rehearsal hall and a San Francisco Opera performance space.

Restoring this old building was in many ways more complicated than building a new one. Great care was required to ensure that all work on the project complied with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, including the Department of Public Work’s commitment to the stewardship of the historic resources within the Civic Center Historic District. Mayor Edwin Lee commended the construction team on the well-executed and detailed work on the iconic Beaux Arts building, remarking that “every one of those construction workers were not construction workers but...artists in this building,” as he expressed appreciation for the remarkable restoration.

The project exceeded its goal of local business participation by over 9%, and 27% local talent. “Local people who love this building have been the great piece of restoring this building to the standard [of] which we are all proud,” stated Mayor Lee. While the opulence of the Herbst Theater and Green Room are dazzling eye-catchers, a large majority of the work is beyond what meets the eye. The 238,342-square-foot building was (continued on page 14)

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Hannah Studios, Oakland

Working at home in a loft, Oakland

shipping, while both creating connectivity and buffering residential and commercial areas from heavy industrial uses.

deliveries are offering more than bare-bones finishes, which may appeal more to the desk set than the easel set. In Jack London Square, as in a new development in Richmond, live-work spaces with high-end kitchens and baths are asking $3,575 per month for a 1,200-square-foot space—or $3.25 per square foot per month—not far from some luxury live-only rentals asking about $3.50.

A Disrupting Story A new kind of no-commute worker has come to love the warehouse. Tech giants have embraced the aesthetic for their offices. The demarcation between life and work is softer, and lines blur between maker and hacker. Gig-economy and entrepreneurial types’ preference for natural light, high ceilings, no-commutes, and community make some live-work configurations appropriate for chocolatiers, woodworkers, and techies.

New entrants to the category may be changing what developers build and how it is priced, though. New East Bay live-work

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About the Author Carol Ann Flint is an investment sales broker at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Walnut Creek office. Carol Ann relocated to the Bay Area from New York City in 2015, where she had many disposition advisory assignments involving adaptive reuse conversions.

(continued from page 12) rebuilt top to bottom for seismic safety and earthquake damage repair. In addition, a majority of the facility preservation and modernization improvements; code-mandated mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems replacement; new fire alarm and sprinklers; and drinking water and stage system upgrades are all behind the scenes.

were performed by MCA Architects, and key subcontractors included Kwan Wo (steel), Bay City Mechanical (mechanical), Liquidyn (plumbing), Helix (electrical), KHS&S (drywall, plaster), and Jerry Thompson (painting). San Francisco craftspersons included Phoenix Day (historic lighting refurbishment), Noriri Restoration (millwork), and Cirecast Florian (custom bronze castings).

The building emphasizes the City of San Francisco’s commitment to its military veterans, with the restoration and preservation of the historically significant interior spaces. In October 2014, Pankow completed the renovation of the Memorial Court public open space that invites contemplation and remembrance. The octagonal Memorial Court is a repository for battlefield soils to honor fallen veterans. (Soils from World War I battlefields were consigned there in 1936, and a similar ceremony depositing soils from World War II battlefields took place following the 1945 signing of the United Nations Charter in the Veterans Building.

In 1988, veterans groups held a ceremony interring battlefield soils from 14 nations; in 2016, parents of fallen soldiers held a ceremony to add soils from Iraq and Afghanistan.)

This $129 million seismic upgrade and improvement project contributes to the vitality of the Civic Center District, reflecting the values of San Francisco’s residents.

The project manager and architect of record was the San Francisco Department of Public Works, Building Design, and Construction.

The engineer of record was Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, and the general contractor was Pankow Builders. Tenant improvements

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About the Author Kristina Owyoung Vinson is dedicated communications, marketing, and learning and development professional with a passion to lead and inspire others to communicate more effectively. As Director of Culture and Communications for Pankow Builders, she is responsible for developing and implementing corporate initiatives to build a strong internal community of purpose, centered on Pankow’s vision, mission, values, and goals.

Kristina serves on the board of directors of CREW SF and is the director of the Rising Leaders committee. This year, Kristina received multiple nominations for the Commercial Real Estate Industry Impact Award from ELEVATE: Honoring Diversity & Women Leadership in the Bay Area. Kristina is a fourth-generation Bay Area native and lives on the peninsula with her husband Todd. In her spare time, she enjoys scuba diving, traveling, dancing, and wine tasting.

SFMADE: CREW SF Extension Leadership Series Presentation © 2016 Molly Jans, Paradigm General Contractors

An employee poses in Mafia Bag’s workshop. Here, sails are repurposed and re-used, transformed into unique bags and backpacks. Photo courtesy of SFMade

In April, Kate Sofis, executive director of SFMade, gave CREW SF and guests an overview of the manufacturing industry in San Francisco in her presentation for the Extension Leadership Series. Founded in 2010, SFMade is considered a national model for creating a more equitable and diverse local economy by growing local manufacturing. Its innovative programs help manufacturers access expertise, capital, and real estate, through its over-500 member organizations and 4,000 employees, who provide jobs to lower-income workers and youth by harnessing the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development.

SFMade is a fresh take on an economic model to promote locally made businesses as public-private partnerships with San Francisco. In my opinion, this truly is a program cities across the country should want to learn from and copy in their communities for their economic revival.

San Francisco is home to manufacturers of apparel, auto parts, bikes, body products, maternity and children’s accessories, food and beverages, home accessories, jewelry, and pet accessories, as well as print publications. SFMade provides workshops on how to manufacture locally, find and secure production space for manufacturing, and hire.

Kate is also the cofounder of the Urban Manufacturer Alliance, which provides education and workshops to other cities throughout the country. She recently returned from a trip to Detroit, where

redevelopment efforts are underway, and spoke of Shinola, the offshoot company of Fossil Watches, whose manufacturing of watches and leather goods has put Detroiters back to work.

Kate serves as a mayoral appointee to the Eastern Neighborhoods Citizen Advisory Committee in San Francisco. For those of you putting together deals for new office and commercial space, it would benefit you to know that the eastern neighborhoods include East SoMa, Showplace Square, Mission, Potrero Hill, and the Central Waterfront. These neighborhoods are highly soughtafter by emerging tech companies due to their noncorporate feel, proximity to neighborhoods where employees live, and lower rent.

However, they are also home to much of the city’s industrially zoned land. For the last 10-15 years, the neighborhoods have been changing and have seen growing land use conflicts, where residential and office development has begun to compete with industrial uses. These neighborhoods are mostly zoned production, distribution, and repair (PDR). The Citizen Advisory Committee works to advise on these conflicts, and Kate’s insight on existing and emerging local manufacturers is critical.

Kate is incredibly articulate and has an interesting background in manufacturing. Having grown up in Buffalo, New York, and (continued on page 22)

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Building Stories: Minnesota Street Project © 2016 Donna Schumacher, Donna Schumacher Architecture

Minnesota Street Project

http://minnesotastreetproject.com/about “Located in San Francisco’s historic Dogpatch district, the Minnesota Street Project offers affordable and economically sustainable spaces for art galleries, artists, and related nonprofits. Inhabiting three warehouses, the project seeks to retain and strengthen San Francisco’s contemporary arts community in the short term, while developing an internationally recognized arts destination in the long term.

“Founded by entrepreneurs and collectors Deborah and Andy Rappaport, the Minnesota Street Project was inspired by the couple’s belief that philanthropic support for the arts today requires an alternate model—one suited to the innovative nature of Silicon Valley and the region as a whole.

struggling to find a suitable replacement for my studio on Yosemite Street. I even tried out a new space in Oakland, one of the live-work spaces that are perhaps too beautiful to work in as a real studio. But it wasn’t working for me. When I heard about Minnesota Street, I jumped at the chance to put together an application and was thrilled when I was awarded one of the spaces. I knew the communal spirit would suit me.”

Eleanor Harwood • Gallerist, Eleanor Harwood Gallery “From the very first meeting, I thought, “Yes! I want to hear more about this.”, and then Sign me up.“ I was intrigued

“Their vision of a dynamic, self-sustaining enterprise that shares its economic success with arts businesses and professionals aims to encourage heightened support for the arts from newcomers and established patrons alike.”

Taraneh Hemami • Artist/Studio Resident “The Minnesota Street Project offered me the opportunity to become a part of a vibrant arts community, and that excited me. Not just artists but arts organizations, galleries, a restaurant, pop-up events—all with a promise of contacts and greater visibility for all. There will be so much going on in one location. The invitation to join the community was a perfect synergy Absence. Courtesy of of timing for me as well. I had been Taraneh Hemami

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Installation view of Paul Wackers, Slow Wave, April 28 – June 11, 2016

by the idea of collaborative environment of like-minded colleagues and have found it to be even more inspiring than I had imagined. My foot traffic has improved considerably.

Lots of people are coming in and out of the gallery. I find it’s a very approachable space, and has been intentionally designed to be easy to enter and navigate. Upon entering, a visitor sees all of the spaces at once. It makes it welcoming enough that we have newcomers to the art world come by, as well as more of a veteran art gallery crowd stopping in.

Minnesota Street is such an open space, it prompts people to be inquisitive and come in to explore.”

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InterVIEW: Kelly Gifford

Deputy Director of Public Engagement and Planning, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston © 2016 Donna Schumacher, Donna Schumacher Architecture

In 1998, Boston’s Seaport district was a field of parking lots and abandoned warehouses. To stimulate potential growth to this up-and-coming neighborhood, then-Mayor Menino created the Boston 2000 Commission with the specific mission to award one lucky cultural institution a waterfront site free of charge, Kelly Gifford then just a mark in the sand of this urban wasteland. This new landmark would provide the needed draw to an area sadly lacking in a sense of place.

By providing a “soul,” as Kelly Gifford, Deputy Director of Public Engagement and Planning, would so aptly put it, a life, a destination to an otherwise forgotten area of the city, the rest would surely follow: the residential towers, the hotels, the retail, the office space.

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) was perfectly suited to be that institution, putting forth a proposal for a 65,000-square-foot project. With this move from its former location on Boylston Street, it became the first new arts museum to be constructed in Boston in over a century. Surely a bold move, but something one could easily expect from an arts museum dedicated to the experimental and unexpected.

With her choice of architects Diller, Scofidio, and Renfro (DSR), ICA director Jill Medvedow followed the spirit of being “the laboratory for experimentation,” the inaugural motto that set the course for the institution since its inception in 1936.

At the time, DSR, while firmly in the limelight of architectural thought, had yet to oversee the construction of an actual building; until then, its opportunities had been limited to art installations, MacArthur Genius awards, and academia. The rest, as they say, is history, with DSR gaining in prominence as a “starchitecture” firm on an international scale.

The ICA is a highly successful example of how a cultural institution can function from an urban design point of view: establishing a sense of place in a new neighborhood, elevating the status of the host city as a world-class leader, and providing new opportunities for real estate development— all during the longest recession of this generation. Today the

Fan Pier

area is a tangle of construction sites, wire fences, and cranes, intermixed with trendy and traditional restaurants, residential towers filled to capacity, and an intermittent swath of public space along the water, known as Harbor Walk.

Kelly sat down with me on a steamy summer afternoon in the conference room of the ICA to talk about the relationship between the ICA and Seaport. I was curious to hear what worked and didn’t work about this relationship from the point of view of the cultural institution.

DS: When the ICA opened, it was the only magnet in the area, but it was a significant one. As soon as you moved from your former location on Boylston Street, you immediately started attracting 200,000 people a year, which was a big change from your previous numbers of around 20,000. Why was it such a boost for the ICA to move to the Seaport area?

KG: It was a combination of a lot of different factors. The building is itself is a landmark that people internationally were writing and talking about. There are no other buildings like this in the Boston area.

Along with that, the exhibition schedule was continuous for the first time. Here, with expanded galleries, we could be open all the time, rather the Kuntshall format we used at Boylston Street, where we forced to close between exhibitions due to our limited size. More space meant more exhibitions per year, as well as room to begin a permanent collection. That was a huge shift.

One of the benefits of starting a collection in the 21st century is that you can shape the direction of what it needs to be. We have made a point to collect artists that are underrepresented in the canon, artists of color, women artists, to present a more global perspective of contemporary artists. We recently received the Barbara Lee Collection of Women artists.

We then were lucky—or perhaps savvy enough—to have a string of incredibly high-profile artists one after another in (continued on page 18)

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Boston’s ICA, Photo by Iwan Baan

our first years of operating in Seaport. Anish Kapoor, Tara Donovan (who was awarded the MacArthur Genius Award while she was having her show), and Shepard Fairey (who got arrested for what he was doing here). All of Boston and beyond came. These factors changed not only ICA’s attendance but really the landscape of contemporary art in Boston. People started thinking of Boston as a destination for contemporary art.

rhyme or reason. But two years from now, this neighborhood will be transformed. It will be an incredible opportunity for the ICA to introduce what we do and who we are to huge amounts of people that will be coming down to experience the waterfront first and then happen upon the ICA, rather than the other way around.

DS: Do you feel that the ICA helped to attract real estate developments to the area? Both by the sheer number of visitors being introduced to the neighborhood initially and now as a way of making a neighborhood out of an unidentified landscape very quickly?

DS: An interesting statistic I noticed on the WS Development website for their Seaport project was an anticipated demographic of future residents heavily skewed towards millennials. I wonder if the proximity of the arts is a strong draw for millennials. Could that be part of their thinking about targeting this market to the site?

KG: Absolutely, if you look at the website of any of the developments in this area, the ICA is always listed as this key cultural gem, for the neighborhood and for Boston. Our attendance alone provided an anchor through the longerthan-anticipated wait for development during the recession.

Yes, the ICA provided a life. A soul. Definitely.

DS: That’s a good way of putting it: a soul.

KG: The ICA is the center point of that development, even though we are in the midst of chaos. At times, the construction level is so busy and confusing, there seems no

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Yes, the ICA provided a life. A soul. Definitely.

KG: I would say yes. I actually know it is. There have been a couple of studies done to illustrate this point. One is called Culture Track, by Laplaca Cohen. Started in 2001, Culture Track is a national survey, that asks culturally engaged Americans about their attitudes about art. Breaking down the audience segments by generation (millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers, and post-war), Culture Track found that millennials are the generation that consumes more culture than the rest, which is a wonderful opportunity for us and the future of the arts. (continued on page 19)

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ICA Summer Concert, Photo by Kristyn Ulanday

One thing I found very interesting was looking at exactly what their definition of what culture is. It is an expanded definition that includes much more than going to a symphony or museum; it also includes watching a documentary on PBS, sampling a new restaurant, looking at street art.

With our move here, we started thinking about who the audience for the ICA was and could be, and how to map those demographics onto our exhibitions. Originally the ICA had a traditional audience: a white woman between the ages of 55 and 65, highly educated, with a high income. Where were there opportunities to broaden that audience? In this neighborhood specifically, who are the people that would be living and working here as it continues to fill in? We have started to experiment with creating a social atmosphere where, though you came with a friend to walk down the Harbor Walk, you could pop in [the ICA] to see a short video work you hadn’t seen before, meet for a glass of wine, or sit on the grandstand and enjoy the harbor.

Connection to community is an increasingly important element to engagement. If you think about social media, there are no walls. We are always participating; we are always making things happen. It is our on-demand experience. It is true that institutions have formerly been the curator that gathers a selected group of work, writes text on the wall, and presents this material to the public to be consumed. How

can we start to shift that relationship so there is a dialogue rather than the voice of authority?

DS: This is then reflected in the design of the museum. The design of the ICA building was one of the first museums to reflect this contemporary need for interaction, openness, and community connection directly into the physical space of the museum. I have seen this shift dramatically in the addition/ renovation/explosion of SFMOMA: The original building was a brick fortress designed by Botta, solid and impenetrable, reflecting a design seen as protective vault for precious works of art. The Snøhetta design blasted this open with lots of glass, light materials, and forms that express fluidity. Spaces that serve the community have been made available to the street, accessible without literally visiting the museum in a formal way. It is a physical interpretation about what you are saying regarding programming. The ICA building was one of the first buildings created on that premise.

KG: Jill Medvedow, working with DSR, felt strongly that the ICA is an important civic space in Boston and wanted to ensure that we were giving public access to the waterfront, knowing that the waterfront was going to be completely built out with private entities. We gave over a huge portion of the site to the outdoor grandstand pavilion with this in mind. The idea is (continued on page 20)

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(continued from page 19) that as Boston changes, the harborfront will more and more become the entrance to the museum, which would be ideal.

DS: Does the ICA’s cultivation of the contemporary art scene of Boston encourage the cultural cachet of the city as global city of international prominence? Boston is similar to San Francisco in that SF is not one of obvious “world-class” cities in the United States. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago come to mind first. Yet we have a specific story, a unique and particular story that is of note to the global scene. Boston has its incredible academic moxie, a great breadth of renowned universities attracting a never-ending pool of young talent.

San Francisco has its creativity and invention. What is the balance for the ICA between being uniquely of Boston, and yet not regional but international in reach?

KG: The ICA thinks of itself nationally in terms of what we show and what we program. We strive to be a leader in what contemporary art museums are doing across the country: the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Walker Art Center, The Hammer, the New Museum.

Yet, it is also true that the ICA is shaped by the town that we live in. It is a highly intellectual city, which brings a diverse array of students and professors and academics to live and learn and play. That atmosphere grows something different.

The personality of the ICA is that you will come here to see something that you have never seen before. Whether you like it, love it, or hate it, it is going to cause a dialogue. Expect the unexpected.

DS: Part of what I like to do with the “interVIEW” articles is to talk a bit about who you are, how your career came to follow the path that it did? What is your story?

KG: Originally from Boston, I got introduced to the museum world through working in the public relations department at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA). I was an English major undergrad and then American Studies in graduate school. So I started off in public relations as many do, first at an agency.

Then I shifted into the nonprofit world by first working with WGBH, the public television station, and then for the MFA. They were looking for people who were not steeped in an arts background to think about how to engage new audiences. I worked there for 15 years; it was an amazing opportunity—a huge encyclopedic museum with an incredible collection and the most amazing curators and conservators.

But what drew me to the ICA was both the energy of the director, Jill Medvedow, and the fact that if you had an idea—and that idea could come from any place, from the coordinator to a senior staff member—and did the research behind it, that idea could get green-lit and launched two

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Courtesy Liza Voll Photography

The personality of the ICA is that you will come here to see something that you have never seen before. Whether you like it, love it, or hate it, it is going to cause a dialogue.

Expect the unexpected. weeks from that presentation. The institution is small enough and nimble enough that it really does experiment, in terms of the work that it shows, the curatorial and exhibition ideas that it tries, and its role in the community as a whole.

DS: Do you feel that your being a woman has influenced the trajectory of your career?

KG: I have to say that I feel very fortunate in that way. I have been given such incredible opportunities, way beyond my education, experience, or expertise. Perhaps it’s because I work in the nonprofit arena; perhaps it’s that my directors have all been women. Jill is often ready for me to go further and jump higher than I might feel ready to go. She is the one that is saying to me, “yes, you can do it.” My direct supervisor at the MFA also allowed me to push to my limits, to be super creative with ideas and not worry about the traditional approaches.

I strive to give these same opportunities as a boss as well. At an institution like this, a lot of the people are young and they have great ideas. My biggest role in this institution is hearing what younger staff are saying and bringing it up so that it can be heard.

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About the Author Donna Schumacher is the founder and creative director of Donna Schumacher Architecture (DSA), a boutique architecture practice for small-scale commercial and residential work in the Bay Area. DSA projects range from oneof-a-kind signature elements for architectural interiors utilizing Donna’s fine arts background, to projects requiring complex permitting, tapping into her 30 years of experience with the San Francisco building department.

Donna has been Managing Editor of the VIEW since 2012.

EMERGING ARTISAN FOOD CULTURE: Surviving or Thriving? © 2016 Kristy Dutch, Pfau Long Architecture

Most locals and visitors alike understand that good food is a quintessential part of San Francisco’s much-talked-about culture.

In the past few years, there has been a lot of emphasis in both online and print media on local, hand-crafted food and products often described as artisan or artisanal. This has become popular as more and more folks want to buy locally made food and support local businesses. I relished the opportunity to explore this aspect of San Francisco’s food culture.

And where better to explore artisanal food products than at the Ferry Building? With vendors such as Cowgirl Creamery, ACME Bread Company, Blue Bottle Coffee, Miette, and scores of others, I thought it would be a good place to taste and to talk to local business owners.

First, I stopped by the La Cocina retail store. It’s a local nonprofit with a mission of cultivating low-income food entrepreneurs; its fantastic incubator program bestows education, training, and support to those wishing to run a food business.

I was fortunate enough to speak with Lisa Marie Murray, La Cocina’s retail manager, who also kindly demonstrated some of the incubator graduates’ products. So many varieties of artisanal food have resulted from the La Cocina incubator program! For instance, NeoCocoa makes handmade shell-less truffles with unique flavor profiles (the lime is sublime). Don Bugito makes chocolate-covered worms and crickets (don’t worry, they’re farm-raised for human consumption). Another notable graduate is Clairesquares, which makes delicious treats such as its namesake, which has a shortbread base, caramel center, and a dark chocolate top (yes, you need to try these tasty bites!).

I asked Lisa Marie what happens to graduates after they leave the La Cocina incubator. Specifically, how do fledgling food entrepreneurs find space in today’s challenging real estate market? A lot of graduates have had to move out of the city due to the sky-high costs of real estate, she told me. NeoCocoa moved to Belmont; another graduate moved to Antioch.

Inspired by what I had learned (and eaten) at the Ferry Building, I had the opportunity to chat with Claire of Clairesquares herself. She related that after she moved here from Ireland, she missed the homemade biscuits (what we call cookies) that she grew up eating. She looked to see if something similar was available via mail order. It was not. Inspired by these childhood memories, she decided to see if her favorite treats would be popular in the Bay Area, and so Clairequares was born.

What impact, if any, did the pressurized real estate market in San Francisco have on getting a small business up and running in SF?, I wondered. “We have managed to make it work by

sharing a commercial space with another baker. That helps to keep the costs down, by sharing equipment and overhead.

Renting office space in a non-CBD [Commercial Business District] area lowers overhead too.”

I had the chance to speak with another food entrepreneur, Chef Hyunjoo Albrecht of Sinto Gourmet, which makes locally sourced kimchi, a traditional Korean fermented side dish that Hyunjoo learned to make with her grandma during her childhood in Korea. Kimchi is made with cabbage, daikon radish, and fish sauce (though Sinto Gourmet uses seaweed powder instead), resulting in a sweet, spicy, and sour dish.

How do fledgling food entrepreneurs find space in today’s challenging real estate market?

Hyunjoo said she started her business by making the kimchi of her childhood to share with friends; gradually friends of friends started requesting it. Once she realized she was onto a good thing, she looked for space in the city. She was fortunate enough to find a deal on shared kitchen space with a catering company with which she had a relationship. Sinto Gourmet expanded to shelves at Rainbow Grocery, then Whole Foods, and now is even on grocers’ shelves in the Pacific Northwest.

When Hyunjoo’s business started to expand, she started searching for a bigger kitchen. She says that a shared kitchen with enough room was very “difficult to find.” Eventually she made the decision to build out her own kitchen. She leased space in an industrial part of the city and custom-built her kitchen, using most of her savings to create the space. Hyunjoo says she would recommend other fledging food entrepreneurs find and use shared space as long as possible to avoid such a costly buildout.

Since I wanted to dig deeper on how food entrepreneurs make it work in one of the hottest real estate markets in the world, I called SFMade, a locally based nonprofit whose mission is “to build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco that sustains companies producing locally made products, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation, and creates employment opportunities for a diverse local workforce.” (Local food artisans and producers are also considered a part of the local manufacturing economy.)

I asked Abbie Wertheim, the Director of Policy and Real Estate for SFMade, about the challenges local food artisans face when trying to find a space: “New food manufacturers, graduating from the kitchen or LaCocina or somewhere else, (continued on page 22)

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(continued from page 15) having witnessed firsthand the decline of manufacturers and the impact on the city’s education, arts, and economy, her perspective on job creation and promotion of San Francisco’s manufactured goods is ingrained with a sense of how to recover from an economic downfall.

The next time you are in SFO, look in Hudson News for SFMade products, as this locally made brand is catching on with the souvenir market. These goods far surpass the typical magnet or coffee mug manufactured offshore or otherwise imported. Goods with SFMade branding will not only be a cool commemorative or souvenir but they will also give back to the San Francisco community.

About the Author Molly Jans is a Project Manager and Operations Director for Paradigm General Contractors.

She oversees the construction process for the duration of the project. She works with owners, architects, subcontractors, and suppliers from project conception through completion. Her management of Paradigm’s operations includes business development, human resources, and safety to provide consistent product delivery. When she’s not at work, she’s on an adventure in the northern California wilderness.

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Sinto Gourmet. Photo courtesy of SFMade

A worker is tufting a mattress, one of the last steps of the manufacturing process at McRoskey. Photo courtesy of SFMade

Building the unibody composite structure of a ukulele at Blackbird Guitar’s workshop in San Francisco. Photo courtesy of SFMade

(continued from page 21) face a dearth of the right kind of real estate for their fledgling businesses. They find that the available kitchen space is very high-end (and therefore unaffordable), so they end up sharing space or renovating old restaurants to make it work.” SFMade is a champion of production, distribution, and repair (PDR) zoning, which was introduced by the City of San Francisco Planning Department in 2008 in order to dedicate space to local manufacturing (including food and beverage production).

So in all, while the real estate market is challenging, food entrepreneurs with passion and vision have found creative solutions to make it work in the city.

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About the Author Kristy Dutch is the marketing director for Pfau Long Architecture. With over 16 years’ experience in the marketing communications field and 14 years in the architecture/engineering/construction industry, Kristy enjoys the fast pace of the relationship- and results-driven business. She also has a passion for cooking and sampling local cuisine.

Art and Architecture with Soundscapes © 2016 Madelyn Yeung, Oracle

Art and architecture are often perceived in different ways, but when the two combine, events such as Soundwave (7): Architecture are born. Soundwave (7) is Mediate Art Group’s seventh season of intertwined, cutting-edge visual, sound, performance, and installation art, at various locations around San Francisco. The SF-based group collaborates with artists who use various media to display their experimental art, whether an electronic musical production coupled with photo-mapped projections that react along with the sound, or beautifully constructed, intricately detailed instruments.

Alda Tchochiev, production manager, discussed Soundwave (7) with the VIEW: The inspiration for this season’s theme, architecture, is the way that buildings and environments shape the way we hear sound, and how sound is directly related to our experience in space.

Additionally, the rapidly changing economic climate of the Bay Area at large—the economy is bustling, and there has been a giant influx of people, as well as many being displaced. How can these phenomena and these experiences (of the individual and of the community) be translated through sound? We thought these were interesting angles to explore for this biennial, and since last

Drought Spa by David Stout

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year we have been working with our artists to reexamine these experiences of sound, design, and inhabited spaces.

About the Author Madelyn Yeung is a veteran commercial real estate professional, with expertise in investments, project management, and property management.

She is now a project manager in the real estate department at Oracle. She also is the publisher of Hue Journal, a semiannual publication that focuses on interior design, fashion, and the lives of creative people.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS AND THAT WORD IS...

Well Building

Haworth Inc. recently announced that the San Francisco showroom will move to the Financial District. The new showroom, scheduled to open in September, will be on the ninth floor of the historic Mills Building, situated in the heart of downtown on one of the most vibrant urban corridors.

Perkins+Will and the Haworth design team are creating a layout for the new San Francisco space that complements unique aspects of the Mills Building. The showroom will highlight examples of the 20th century Chicago School of Architecture details, such its as 16-foot ceilings, abundant natural light, and brick accents. The furniture layout will include a variety of group and individual spaces to accommodate a mix of work styles and collaborative modes.

This is a pilot project for the Well Building Standard (http://delos.com/ about/well-building-standard), a performance-focused system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment to promote health and wellness. Grounded in medical research, Well Building requirements cover air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind. The showroom design incorporates increased levels of fresh air exchange, ergonomic furniture, sit-stand options for desks, non-toxic and non-off-gassing materials, and air and water quality filtering and testing.

Foresight

In 40 years of business, we’ve seen a lot of change in the Bay Area, but what remains constant is our desire to build spaces the right way, with the right people.

We build the space you need—to work, to grow, to succeed.

We consider our clients our partners. What matters to them matters to us.

As your partner, we anticipate and plan for the unexpected. Moreover, from start to finish, we set clear expectations and meet them. We take pride in our profession and feel fortunate to work with new partners and people we’ve built relationships with.

You can trust Field Construction to lead you with solutions for success into the future.

The new Haworth space will also meet LEED Gold certification through energy, lighting, and water reduction, as well as use of recyclable and recycled materials.

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