san francisco
B R O A D WAY P O R TA L urban intervention
kent wilson city college of san francisco – arch24 spring 2010
san francisco
B R O A D WAY P O R TA L urban intervention
kent wilson city college of san francisco – arch24 spring 2010
CONTENT 1 Project Purpose Statement 2 Goals 3 Background and Research Issues Inspiration
4 Architectural Response Site Program Design Concepts
P R O J E C T P U R P O S E S TAT E M E N T
To restore and revitalize a portion of the urban grid, and renovate/adaptively re-use infrastructure (the Broadway Tunnel) in a way that brings new life to a neighborhood through more effective public space, celebrates a major gate way to Chinatown, and serves as a recognizable symbol of San Francisco’s leadership in sustainability. Guiding Concepts: Re-localization: Decentralization of Power Healing / Recovery from Corporate Domination Revitalization of the Public Realm Radical Re-prioritization of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Mobility Environmental Sustainability - Reconnecting with the Earth
GOALS
Transform the Broadway Tunnel into a pedestrian and bicycle friendly environment, and a prominent symbol of this re-prioritization. Re-activate Broadway Street (the surface street above the tunnel) to become a vibrant gateway neighborhood connecting Chinatown with Russian Hill, Polk Street, Pacific Heights and Cow Hollow. Transform the tunnel and the street above from primarily serving vehicular traffic and parking into public spaces that facilitate human interaction and respite – effectively enhancing the individual and collective health of the community.
BACKGROUND and RESEARCH Issues
The project began with research into the history and culture of San Francisco’s Chinatown, focused primarily on the ways in which the built environment there has been shaped by human conflict – specifically the conflict between forces which opposed and those which promoted the assimilation of the immigrants into the city and the larger American culture, These forces existed both within the Chinese-American culture of Chinatown, and the surrounding community. This conflict has manifested itself in some specific aspects of the built environment: • Public spaces, including the major gateways of the Broadway Tunnel, Stockton Tunnel, and Portsmouth Square where human-scale functionality has been compromised by successive attempts to impose a notion of modernity and progress • Gateways in which the physical configuration serves more to isolate, contain, marginalize and bypass the neighborhood than to celebrate its borders – primary examples include the Stockton Tunnel, the Broadway Tunnel and Portsmouth Square – while the main “celebrated” gateway is the largely symbolic and minimally functional Dragon Gate at Grant and Bush Streets. My research into these issues was done through extensive personal exploration, observation and photographic documentation in Chinatown, books and maps at the Chinatown Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, exhibits at the Chinese-American Cultural Center, and Internet research. This resulted in a series of documents that I produced as part of the process of selecting a site and eventually formulating an architectural response and design concepts.
BACKGROUND and RESEARCH documents that dealt with my presentation of the issues during the research phase
BACKGROUND and RESEARCH documents that dealt with my presentation of the issues during the research phase
BACKGROUND and RESEARCH Inspiration
Much of my inspiration was derived from my research into the symbolic and functional meanings of gateways. I was further inspired by examples of vibrant gateways and thoroughfares such as the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy, the Arc de Triumphe in Paris, the Golden Gate Bridge in San francisco, gateways along the Great Wall of China that became catalysts for the growth of towns (in opposition to the separatist agenda that instigated the building of the wall), and many of the lesser known public plazas and gateway spaces that are meaningful places in communities. I found it especially inspiring that Chinatown itself became a major gateway for Chinese and other Asian immigrants in spite of sometimes violent opposition from a vocal minority of people within the surrounding San Francisco community, and that even in spite of the now infamous efforts to evict the entire Chinese-American community from the area, Chinatown continued to serve this role - eventually making San Francisco home to the largest Chinese-American population in the United States, no longer restricted to the borders of Chinatown.
ARCHITECTURAL RESPONSE Site
The Broadway Tunnel, with its adjacent “gateway� spaces and the parallel roadway above, is a site that is emblematic of many of the excesses of past. It presents a unique opportunity to re-think the priorities for how urban space is utilized, and to envision a much needed re-prioritization of pedestrian over vehicular and integrated over separated.
Tunnel entrance under building (building was constructed atop the original tunnel entrance in the 1970s)
ARCHITECTURAL RESPONSE Site
Western Gateway - Hyde and Broadway
Broadway Street from Leavenworth (west) to Taylor (east)
Broadway, from Larkin Street on the west side to Powell Street on the east.
Tunnel - below ground,
Chinatown
San Francisco, California
Eastern Gateway - Mason and Broadway
The Broadway Portal plan involves removal of this building and conversion of the north (right) side of Broadway into pedestrian and bicycle lanes.
E A S T E R N G AT E WAY The existing tunnel entrance on the eastern (Chinatown) end is inhospitable to pedestrians and bicyclists. Its configuration is a remnant of an obsolete vehicle-dominated paradigm in urban design.
W E S T E R N G AT E WAY While the existing western entrance to the tunnel is more open than the eastern one, it nevertheless has great potential for improvement; and as a pedestrian and bicycle gateway, it could be a public space that would enhance the surrounding neighborhood.
B R O A D WAY S T R E E T ( a b o v e t h e t u n n e l )
B R O A D WAY S T R E E T ( a b o v e t h e t u n n e l )
B R O A D WAY ( i n s i d e t h e t u n n e l )
ARCHITECTURAL RESPONSE Program
Eastern Gateway (intersection of Broadway and Mason Street) • Remove two obsolete, poorly constructed and designed buildings which block views, obstruct pedestrian flow and obscure the tunnel entrance. Replace these with buildings that effectively honor and mend the urban fabric, and that open up new view corridors, public spaces and opportunities to reactivate this intersection and adjacent blocks. • Create a public plaza at the tunnel entrance which creates relationships connecting the intersection, the church, the new buildings, existing residences and businesses, and the pedestrian/bicycle side of the tunnel. Tunnel (primary focus on the Northern Vault as pedestrian/bicycle thoroughfare - with Southern Vault being reserved for vehicular traffic) • Restore the existing ceramic tiled barrel vault. • Remove fluorescent lighting and replace with natural and LED lighting. • Create pedestrian and bicycle streetscape within the northern vault. • Install periodic openings that connect the tunnel to the light and sound of Broadway Street above. Broadway Street (from Taylor to Leavenworth) • Create a park that incorporates neighborhood garden plots with traditional park space. • Create connections to the tunnel below, and to the eastern and western gateways, with sculptural elements that harvest light and sound from the surface and channel it into the tunnel. Western Gateway (intersection of Hyde Street and Broadway) • Create a public plaza (smaller scale than at Eastern Gateway) that celebrates the gateway.
I T E R AT I O N 1
DESIGN CONCEPTS Early gestural models explored ideas of energizing, reactivation and re-connection.
I T E R AT I O N 2
DESIGN CONCEPTS Early gestural models explored ideas of energizing, reactivation and re-connection.
I T E R AT I O N 3
DESIGN CONCEPTS Early gestural models explored ideas of energizing, reactivation and re-connection.
I T E R AT I O N 4
DESIGN CONCEPTS Early gestural models explored ideas of energizing, reactivation and re-connection.
I T E R AT I O N S 3 & 4
DESIGN CONCEPTS Early gestural models explored ideas of energizing, reactivation and re-connection.
I T E R AT I O N 1
DESIGN CONCEPTS Gestural expressions on a rough abstract terrain/site model
I T E R AT I O N 2
I T E R AT I O N 3
DESIGN CONCEPTS I T E R AT I O N 4
Iterations 3 and 4 of this early site model stage saw the emergence of an interlacing, stitching motif – inspired by notions of mending the urban fabric – that developed into design typologies used throughout the subsequent work.
DESIGN CONCEPTS Sketches emerged from the early site model gestures.
DESIGN CONCEPTS A second, more accurate site/contour model served as a substrate for drawings that began to integrate the various parts of this large site, and form the basis for programmatic and design development
DESIGN CONCEPTS This model began to address the subterranean areas of the site and explore ways, such as the introduction of natural light, of making the environment within the tunnel more conducive to pedestrian and bicycle use.
DESIGN CONCEPTS
DESIGN CONCEPTS Final model
DESIGN CONCEPTS Final model
DESIGN CONCEPTS Final model
DESIGN CONCEPTS Final presentation
DESIGN CONCEPTS Final presentation
DESIGN CONCEPTS Final presentation