Insidelands: Beyond the Backyard

INSIDELANDS beyond the backyard

McCall Design Group | Sana Jahani | Lauren Aguilar | Summer Studio 2014

McCall Design Group | Sana Jahani | Lauren Aguilar | Summer Studio 2014

Insidelands Beyond the Backyard: A design manual on sustainable intra-blocks

Sana Jahani & Lauren Aguilar Edited by Mike McCall, Erica Nelles, and Megan McCall

Press

Press McCall Design Group 550 Kearny Street Suite 950 San Francisco, CA 94108 ISBN978-0-9793914-1-5 San Francisco, CA 2014 All rights are reserved. No part may be reproduced without permission ii

FORWARD The 2014 McCall Design Group Summer Intern Studio marks the reemergence of our summer program and the official end of the Great Recession. Rather than proposing a grand theoretical construct we are intent on reestablishing a process and gaining momentum toward the future. We begin again simply. We embrace site, program, and design process. We demand research, investigation, selection, and arrangement into new meaningful forms. This year we choose to study the San Francisco intra-block open space, so familiar, yet so underutilized. The impetus for this study is akin to a found object discovered in our own backyards. This text is a simple artifact of our collaborative exploration.

The Hypercollaboration: Reimagining the San Francisco Backyard Chapter is the result of our participation in the AIASF Architecture in the City Festival 2014. We thank the AIASF for their support and collaborative spirit.

I would like to thank everyone in the firm for their support and encouragement, and especially I want to thank our two remarkable interns from the University of California, Berkeley, Lauren Aguilar and Sana Jahani.

Michael McCall San Francisco, California December 30, 2014

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FROM THE AUTHORS San Francisco is a lot of things: home of the tech industry, home of the Giants, but mostly home to 837, 442 people. And we believe those people, and people everywhere, deserve the best home possible. Yet San Francisco is in a state of flux, adapting to an ever changing demographic, increasing in density, and recovering from the economic recession. As a result, housing and land prices are skyrocketing; and now more then ever its a necessity for us to rethink how we use urban land in order to make the city, and cities everywhere, good homes.

We chose to explore the potential of the backyard because the backyard is both part of the city and part of the dwelling, and for that reason it could be part of the community. The backyard is a finite space, typically undeveloped, that physically connects to other backyards and other dwellings. While it is generally insular, we set out to study the possibilities if the backyards were shared semi-public land.

We began this study with an innate curiosity regarding urban spaces, community building, and architecture. In order to best frame our study and have a clear understanding of how the city works within our context and scale, we hit the streets determined to find out what “community” meant to San Francisco. Along the way we visited community gardens, ate in parklets, played in public spaces, and visited some of the best backyards in the city.

We continued our study back at the office before opening up our findings to the larger community at AIASF’s Architecture and the City Festival hosting a charrette Hypercollaboration: Reimagining the San Francisco Backyard. Now we are delighted to share our process and findings in this book.

We would like to thank everyone who shared their yard, garden plot, and stories with us. We’d like to thank all those at McCall Design Group for always believing in us and facilitating this study. We’d also like to thank the AIASF and all those that inspired us with their ideas at the charrette. We hope this book inspires you to think deeper about the city, community, and the potential of the urban backyard.

-Lauren Aguilar and Sana Jahani

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OUR STREET VIEW

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Intro 1-2 Precedent Studies 3-10

Large Scale-City

Medium Scale -Community

Small Scale-Backyard

Site 11-16

Site Description History Zoning

Weather Conditions + Soil

Demographic Profile Interventions + Impact 17-42

Fog Collection

Urban Farming

Laundry to Landscape

Rainwater Harvesting

Permeable Grounds

Wind Turbines Hypercollaboration: Reimagining the San Francisco Backyard

Organization + Stratification Hypercollaboration Charrette

43-54

Application 55-62

New Media Simulations Conclusion 64 Bibliography 65-66 Acknowledgments 68

What if San Francisco had one backyard?

What if there were no fences, no private gardens?

What if the cultivated spaces beyond our homes were open to become part of a civic economy?

What are the possibilities and challenges of livability through thoughtful and sustainable community design?

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Mapmakers are keen to strip, extract and combine information from raw geographical data in order to add value to a map. Simply plotting the location of objects on the Earth’s surface does not suffice. They find opportunity in the process of reduction and their final products are telling, compelling and beautiful.

The image on the far left above is familiar. We are use to seeing maps that highlight the footprint of city blocks. We are able to see districts, nodes, landmarks and all the paths that connect them through a “solid and void” relationship. All the buildings on a single block are combined into one geographic shape, as paths and edges illuminate the map by breaking through the redundancy of the solid blocks.

The simplification of information in this manner has led to the creation of some of the most popular and famous figure ground maps; however, the reduction of specificity in visual representation leaves out an important space: the INSIDELANDS. The act of not mapping the spaces that exist between buildings – backyards and private open spaces – allows us to have an attitude of negligence and passivity towards the INSIDELANDS. The open spaces behind our homes have the potential to become more than just abandoned landscapes.

This project is a formal investigation of the potential impact of removing fences from private backyards in order to add value to the landscape that exists between buildings.

By examining the methods of growing food, harvesting energy, cleaning the environment and creating a more resilient economy, the McCall Design Group Summer Studio has calculated the impact that different systems can have if designed and implemented on the scale of the intra-block.

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PRECEDENTS

Observing, analyzing, and exploring precedents was fundamental in the study of INSIDELANDS. Projects similar in intent have been proposed and implemented; however, none exist at the scale of the intra-block. In order to understand the impact of creating a fence-less intra-block, it is essential to look at similar projects that have been done on different scales and understand how the impact changes when the public space is not an entire city nor a single backyard.

In the following chapter, we will look at projects with similar incentives that exist on different scales.

The scale at which a system is observed is critical in the understanding and incentivizing of opening up our backyards for the community to use.

Community gardens exist, but why turn our backyards into them? Homeowners can install rainwater retention tanks, so why should we remove our fences in order to do so?

There are a number of questions that rise in the discussion of the INSIDELANDS and the primary answer to many of them is incentive. The incentive behind removing your fences is often related to the matter of scale. In looking at our own systems, we will demonstrate why scale matters in this project.

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LARGE SCALE - THE CITY On the city scale, we find that alley renovations, parklets , railway parks, and plazas share common goals with the INSIDELANDS project.

San Francisco has...

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Urban Parklets

38

Community Gardens

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Public Parks

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POPOS

(privately owned public open space)

The map above depicts all open space, natural areas, and parklets within the city limit. The map was synthesized from info provided by the San Francisco Planning Department and San Francisco Recreation and Parks; neither source provides info on the plethora of urban backyards.

These spaces inspire us to turn the abandoned land behind our homes into active, social and valuable spaces.

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Large scale parks including Golden Gate Park and the Presidio contextualize the city and physically connect neighborhoods. They provide large, accessible stretches of open green space and house other public amenities including museums and recreation facilities. These parks become part of the city’s culture and are a shared urban experience.

Neighborhood parks are medium scale parks that are accessible to and largely used by residents of the adjacent neighborhood. These parks usually have selective amenities specific to the communities needs. The image to the left depicts Patricia’s Green; a neighborhood park in the Hayes Valley. The surrounding area consists of mid-rise apartments as well as multi-family housing in which residents might not have access to a backyard. Patricia’s Green provides green open space, a playground for kids, public art, places to sit, and paths to walk. The neighborhood park becomes a nucleus or hub for community activity, involvement, and development.

Mini parks serve to reclaim public land for people from the automobile and create intimate spaces for smaller groups and neighborhoods. The San Francisco Parklet initiative allows individuals to develop parking spaces into parklets for public use. The example to the right, found on Valencia Street, is the Deepistan National Parklet, San Francisco’s only residential parklet.

The parklet features a built planter that can be used as seating. The site has hosted the owners wedding, world series viewing parties, live music, and Shakespeare in the parklet among other activities.

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MEDIUM SCALE - COMMUNITY On the community scale, programs and spaces connect and relate the residents to each other.

These include group gardening, education, mental health programs, as well as others dependent upon the communities needs.

t

ee Hayes Str

The Proxy Hayes Valley Playground

Patricia’s Green

Octavia rd

Bouleva

et

e Page Str

Page & Laguna Mini Park Koshland Community Park & Learning Garden

After the removal of the Central Freeway in 2000, a series of vacant lots along Octavia Blvd. in the Hayes Valley were converted to the Growing Home Community Garden. The garden aims to connect the housed population with the homeless. The garden provides space to grow food as well as a safe place for the homeless to be active within the community. Gardens like these have proved to benefit mental health and help the homeless get back on their feet.

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Growing Home Community Garden

The Proxy, a commercialized community plaza in the Hayes Valley holds group fitness classes and hosts outdoor movies. The space engages commercial retail and food with public and private community events.

It connects directly to Patricia’s Green, a neighborhood park and together they form a community center or hub for medium scale urban activity.

A great example of a community space being utilized to promote sustainability are the many community gardens that are starting to pop up in urban neighborhoods in the United States, namely in Chicago and San Francisco.

An exemplary precedent is San Francisco’s Koshland Community Garden. Koshland park was built in 1994 in the Lower Haight district of San Francisco. This garden and park were built in response to high crime, drugs, and prostitution that plagued the area in the 1990’s.

Today, the garden has 54 plots–half reserved for K-5 graders from John Muir Elementary School, and the other half for the community. They conduct daily science classes for students, workdays every other month, and many events and workshops for youth and the community.

When we went to visit the garden, we found students attending a workshop at the garden while local community members picked vegetables from the garden! This space is utilized by children, teenagers, and educators and is a prime example of how space can bring people together.

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SMALL SCALE - BACKYARD Several bay area home owners have utilize their backyards for the installation of clean energy and harvesting systems.

Cabrillo St

Balboa St

7th Ave

8th Ave

The above map looks at the intra-block, a land parcel composed entirely of connected backyards. The single highlighted backyard shows the discrepancy in scale between a single back yard and an intra-block. As detailed in the examples, a single backyard can host rainwater collection, gardens, and leisure space. These concepts can be expanded upon and applied at an intra-block scale. A single backyard presents limited opportunities and has limited space, an intra-block increases available space, feasible program, and allowable scale.

The singular backyard represents a basic level of organization and spatial division which can translate to the intra-block and influence further developments. The singular back yard is also autonomous, it represents the space one has to contribute to a potential communal backyard. In terms of legality, unlike community spaces or public parks the singular backyard is private and lawfully belongs to the owner of the property. In order for an intra-block to be developed, the yard must be relinquished to the community or an agreement on use must be reached. Also in contrast of other community spaces, the singular backyard is less likely to be well documented or over-developed. The singular backyard is a blank-space and remains flexible and dependent upon the tenant.

The opposite page contains singular backyards that served as precedents for the intra-block study. The following are all Bay Area backyards designed and maintained by a single owner in order to fit their own needs. Their solutions are space-savvy, site specific, and sustainable. They also display varying degrees of commitment and maintenance.

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Backyards Seen in San Francisco

The homeowners of the Gottfried Residence in Oakland, CA have installed six rainwater HOGs in their backyard.

The HOGs are connected to a pump, cartridge filters, and a UV filter, that treat the rain water to potale levels before delivering it indoors to a lowflush toilet.

Two of the HOGs are used to capture and store greywater in a crawl space underneath the house, one HOG acts as initial “surge� capacity, and the other is used to store the filtered greywater that has been run through an attached sand filter.

The homeowners of this private residence in Piedmont, CA installed a 2,500 gallon rainwater storage tank to collect the water that had been sitting on their pool cover after rain showers and used that water for toilet flushing.

Their projected water savings a year is estimated to be 4,380 gallons of water.

With a low-flush toilet, the homeowners can flush 2, 737 times using the rainwater reservoir.

The treated greywater is then pumped to landscape via the drip irrigation system.

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SITE In order to calculate the impact of different interventions on an accurate basis, it is imperative to our project to choose a specific site. After venturing through different San Francisco neighborhoods –including Hayes Valley, the Mission District, and the Castro District– we determined that the Inner Richmond District has the most appropriate typology for our project. Because of its relatively flat topography, grid plan and clearly defined intra-blocks, this neighborhood has the most potential for our research. This study will focus on the area of the Inner Richmond bound by Fulton St. in the South, California St. in the North, Arguello Blvd. to the East, and Park Presidio Blvd. to the West. For our project, the analysis includes the affect climate and soil/sand will have on the production of food and water harvesting technologies as well as the use of clean energy technologies.

California Street

Park Presidio Boulevard Fulton Street

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Arguello Boulevard

Geary Street

HISTORY OF THE INNER RICHMOND DISTRICT In the 1800s, what is now the Richmond District was part of “The Outside Lands” or the “Great Sand Bank” because it was primarily composed of sand dunes. The weather was – and still is – cold and foggy during the summer.

In the 19th century, because the “Great Sand Bank” was far away from where most people lived, it became the center for cemeteries. Although the cemeteries were dug up prior to being landscaped for new housing developments, it is necessary to research the implications of growing food from that type of soil/sand.

Looking at pictures from the Richmond District, it is evident that intra-blocks have always been part of the typology of the land. In pictures we see families maintaining their front yards and growing plants even in the luminous soil. Today, however, we find that most backyards are unmaintained and underutilized. It is an exciting moment to intervene and re-imagine how the intra-blocks of the Richmond District can add value to the community.

By first understanding the conditions of the land, we will examine and research potential design solution for spaces that provide food growth, clean energy and sustainable systems for living – and of course, play.

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SITE ZONING The following drawing examines how the site is used: where people live and their relation to commerce, the roads, and open space. The site is largely a medium density residential area. Outside of the site, Golden Gate Park is accessible to the South and the Presidio is accessible to the North. However, these types of public spaces operate at a city scale, and are not as easily changed by the adjacent neighborhood. By examining zoning and use within a neighborhood, one can begin to discern the types of interventions that would best serve the intrablock.

California Street

Park Presidio Boulevard

Arguello Boulevard

Geary Street

Fulton Street

Mixed-Use Commercial 13

Intra-block Space

Public Open Space

Public Institution

WEATHER CONDITIONS 5

2

6

1

3 4

7

Area 1: Cool temperatures, foggy to clear days, light winds, sandy and loamy soil Area 2: Cool to moderate temperatures, foggy to clear days, light winds, sandy and loamy soil Area 3: Cool temperatures, foggy, salt air, heavy winds, sandy soil Area 4: Cool to moderate temperatures, foggy to clear days, light winds, sand, clay, loam, rock soil Area 5: Cool to moderate temperatures, clear days with light fog, light winds, sand, clay, loam, and rock soils Area 6: Moderate to hot temperatures, clear days, light winds, sand, clay, loam, and rock soil Area 7: Moderate to hot temperatures, clear days, heavy winds, sand, clay, loam, and rock soil

With the Pacific Ocean on its west, the Richmond is known for its foggy weather and colder climate due to the wind chills blowing from the ocean. The Inner Richmond District is considered part of Fog Zone 2, as the second foggiest zone within the fog map. The average year-round temperature for the Inner Richmond District is 54 degrees Fahrenheit.

SOIL CONDITIONS As mentioned before, the soil in the Inner Richmond District is highly luminous. 40% of the soil found in the Inner Richmond District is sirdrak soil. Another 45% is urban land, which means infrastructure is built upon it and cannot be used for other purposes. Sirdrak soil is sandy and therefore extremely porous. This allows for water to drain quickly through the soil, which is sometimes a bad thing because the water will drain before plants have an opportunity to absorb it. The soil is moderately acidic (pH 6.0) which determines what type of plants will survive in this soil.

0-41cm/A1 - Very dark grayish brown sand; moist; single grained; loose, very friable; many very fine and few course roots; many very fine interstitial pores; moderately acid (pH 6.0); clear smooth boundary 41-91cm/A2 - Very dark grayish brown sand; moist; massive; soft, very friable; few fine and common medium roots; very fine interstitial pores; slightly acidic (pH 6.3); clear smooth boundary

91-122cm/AC - Dark yellowish brown sand; moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable; few fine and common medium roots; many very fine interstitial pores; slightly acidic (pH6.3), clear wavy boundary 122-157cm/C - Yellowish brown sand; moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable; few fine and medium roots; many very fine interstitial pores; slightly acidic (pH 6.5) 14

DEMOGRAPHICS Relative to the city of San Francisco, the Inner Richmond district represents a typical urban neighborhood. In total it occupies a .6 square mile swath of the city, 95 acres of which are open space.

The district is primarily residential, and hence, has a density that is 57% higher than the city average. Through this investigation, it was determined that the average intra-block is 1 acre and the interventions presented in the following section reflect the scale of the intrablock. By measuring in accordance with the acre, we were able to profile a typical intra-block, looking at density, green space, and permeability. In reference to anthropology, this study also looked at usage of resources, accessibility of public spaces, and income. The data presented illustrates the lack of sustainable resources within the community as well as the profile of the population. The following section reflects interventions that could fit these profiles.

only 7 trees per acre

only 26.9% of the ground is permeable

42 people per acre

only 11.3%% of the neighborhood is open space

The average intra-block is 1 acre 15

9% of households are within 1/4 mile of a community garden

The average person in San Francisco uses...

3% of households are within 1/2 mile of a farmer’s market

Median household income $69,949

40% of public schools have access to a school garden

23% of households have children

Total population 17,074

38% of population within 1/4 mile of a recreation facility

Average value of detached single family homes $1,169,468 Average value of a housing unit in a structure with 3-4 units $955,212

95 gallons of water per day

.74 tons of garbage per year

14% renewable energy

Median Rent $1,360/ month or $16,320/ year

13.4% of the population is below the poverty line

Average value of a housing unit in a structure with 5 units or more $220, 654

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INTERVENTIONS + IMPACT From the beginning, it was important that the Insidelands Project be grounded in feasible interventions. The chosen systems have to be affordable, use on-site resources, be scaled to fit within an urban block, and should provide value at a feasible cost.

The following chapter explores and introduces a select sample of potential interventions for the intra-block. Each intervention is broken down to explain the basic mechanics of how it works and what its impact could be for the block. The interventions in this sections are presented as autonomous units in order to compose a tool that sets the framework for use in the intra-block. There is no one-size fits all design solution for the intra-block, a community can use a series of interventions that best fits their needs.

After presenting interventions and their impact, we will speculate upon how communities can connect systems to design the best solutions to fit their intra-block.

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FOG COLLECTION Fog catching is an ancient practice of collecting water from fog by using large pieces of dense yet porous fabric that attract the fog and allow it to condense into droplets of water. The droplets of water flow down towards a trough below the canvas, and are collected by the gallon.

A single net in Bellavista, Chile can collect more than 150 gallons a day

Newer nets can collect 5 times more water than before

Fog catching allows rural villages to be sustainable and have access to clean drinking water.

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Researchers have yet to conduct a study on the effectiveness of fog catching in San Francisco’s Richmond District. The Canadian non-profit FogQuest, however, is devoted to setting up small-scale fog collectors made out of polyolefin mesh – a kind of plastic that is readily available and inexpensive - in remote areas around the world.

The fog systems in rural areas provide enough water to sustain small communities, so one can argue that the amount of water produced from installing fog catchers in the intra-block are far from adequate to support an entire community. However, we do know that currently the fog catching material is far from optimized. Unfortunately, the size of polyoefin’s pores are often too large, which allows a lot of water to slip through the cracks.

Research teams are claiming that they can drastically improve the efficiency of fog harvesting systems. Detailed calculations and laboratory tests indicate that the best performance comes from a mesh made of stainless steel filaments about three or four times the thickness of a human hair, and with a spacing of about twice that between fibers. In addition, the mesh is dip-coated, using a solution that decreases a characteristic called contact-angle hysteresis. This allows small droplets to more easily slide down into the collecting gutter as soon as they form, before the wind blows them off the surface and back into the fog stream.

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1 Inner Richmond intra-block = average of 475 ft long 1 fog catcher = 13 ft x 26 ft 18 fog catchers/intra-block Oakland’s Hyphae Design Laboratory estimated that a 2 ft x 2 ft Fog Catcher in San Francisco can catch about 2 gallons of water using standard mesh. With 18 fog catchers, a single intra-block can catch 3,042 gallons of water a day.

That’s without taking into consideration the effect of using high-tech mesh that can increase your fog catching abilities by five times!

Fog catching might seem like an expensive endeavor, but you’d be surprised to find that the most expensive fog catchers cost $1,500. That’s $4.43 a square foot. The cost of installing a 6 foot tall privacy fence, on the other hand, is around $13.12.

3,042 gallons of water a day can...

flush 1901 low-flush toilets

provide water for 172 showers

wash 121 loads of laundry in a high efficiency machine

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URBAN FARMING In reference to the intra-block, an urban farm could serve as green space dedicated to the growth and production of food. Like a community garden, an urban farm within an intra-block has potential to provide food for the block, can aid in educating the community about horticulture, biology, and food production, and can serve as a place for gathering and connecting to the larger community. The San Francisco Bay Area has a climate that supports plants all year round, and the “farm� can be rotated to benefit soil and continuously produce crops.

On average, food travels 1500 miles to reach your plate.

Grown in your backyard, it would travel less than 1 mile

On average a head of lettuce costs $3, a package of seeds cost $2 and produces many heads of lettuce

Most Americans only eat 2-3 of the recommended 5-13 servings of vegetables per day

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Vegetables Already In the Backyard

The potential for an urban farm is nearly limitless. An urban farm can operate at a multitude of scales, site conditions, can be adapted to be vertical, or can be raised for greater accessibility.

The farm can be adapted to adjust to timing (slow crops versus fast crops), maintenance, and cost. The urban farm is easily the most malleable and feasible potential intervention at any site.

This includes aquaponics, hydroponics, and traditional methods. An urban farm gives residents easier access to more nutritious food and can generate discussion or support educational programs dedicated to biology, botany, or food systems. The farm potentially produces food for the residents or food to be sold at local markets. This reduces food miles, cost, and use of packaging. It costs very little to start an urban farm and can engage a broad spectrum of the population including children and the elderly. San Francisco’s climate and geography supports growth year round which, if planned correctly, produces a consistent crop yield.

The 200 Sq Ft Year Round Garden Harvest

Plant

Harvest

Plant

Wait

Plant

Harvest

Plant

Harvest

Plant Harvest

Early Spring Bed Harvest plants from Winter

Spring Bed Harvest plants from Fall

Summer Bed Harvest plants from Early Spring

Fall Bed Harvest plants from Spring

Winter Bed Harvest plants from Summer

Plant 1st 100sqft

Plant 2nd 100sqft

Plant 1st 100sqft

Plant 2nd 100sqft

Plant 1st 100sqft

A study on New York community gardens listed that a square foot in a community garden yields approximately 1Lb and is worth $3. Hence, a 200sqft garden can yield 200Lbs of crops and is worth $600. San Francisco, however, has a better climate for agriculture and can be rotated so that is active year round, in theory, producing a greater yield.

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Vegetables That Grow in the San Francisco Bay Area and When to Plant Them

Artichoke Beet Broccoli Cauliflower Fava Beans Garlic Lettuce Mustard Onion Peas Radish Squash Swiss Chard Turnip

January February

March

April

December

May

November

June

October

July September

Edible Flowers Chamomile Pansy Dandelion Lavender

August

Low/No Light Solutions

Hydroponic Solutions

Mushrooms Mint Sprouts Bok Choy

Tomatoes Peppers Lettuce Cucumbers

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LAUNDRY TO LANDSCAPE A laundry to landscape system takes gray water from the washing machine and reuses it to irrigate plants in the yard. The system is easy to install and doesn’t require any changes in existing plumbing.

The system conserves clean water, allowing users to save on their water bill as well as save on costs for traditional sprinklers. The system doesn’t require a permit and is easy to alter and maintain.

Professional installation costs less than traditional sprinkler installation

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Each load of laundry provides 10-40 gallons of water for irrigation

The system requires no electricity or filtering and doesn’t affect plumbing

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How it Works A. The average washing machine can route water to 8-12 different locations at spans up to 50ft.

A

B

C

B. A three-way valve allows users to control when greywater is routed to the sewer and when it is routed to the landscape. This prevents plants from being over watered during the rainy season and protects them when bleach is used in the machine

C . Water is routed directly to an individual plant, or small cluster of plants. Mulch basins evenly distribute the water underground and prevent ponding above ground. This allows water to directly reach the roots, and prevents gray water from coming in contact with people.

Shopping List Residents are eligible to receive a $112 subsidy on a kit that includes all necessary parts for $117. The San Francisco Public Utilities commission also offers a free workshop on how to install the kit and has an accompanying complementary manual.

1. 3-way valve

11. “Green or purple back” ball

2. PVC 1-inch male adapter

valve (as needed)

3. 1-inch barbed male adapter

12. Barbed 1-inch female hose

4. Hose clamp

thread adapter

5. PVC 1-inch x 1½-inch bushing

13. 1-inch by 1-inch by 1-inch tee

6. PVC 1½-inch female adapter

14. 1-inch schedule 40 PVC pipe

(slip by FPT)

15. ½-inch poly tubing

7. Auto vent (or air admittance

16. 1-inch HDPE tubing

valve)

17. Mulch shield or valve box

8. 1-inch PVC tee

18. Garden staples

9. 1-inch barbed x slip adapter 10. 1-inch x ½-inch barbed tee or 29

1-inch x ½-inch Blu-Lock tee

In the Laundry Room C. The air-vent, C located above the top of the laundry fill line, prevents clean drinking water from being siphoned directly from the machine before washing any clothes

B

B. Label the 3-way valve and place it in a place that is visible and accessible to all who use the washing machine

A

A. Water contaminated with bleach, harsh detergent, or unsafe waste is diverted to the sewer. A P-trap prevents sewage gas from coming up.

D D. Water flows out of the building and to the landscape

Tips and Tricks Always check with the code in your state regarding greywater, a permit may be needed, in California a permit is not necessary for a basic laundry to landscape system.

Walls within 3ft of the property line are fire rated and one must take precautions to comply with appropriate codes. Professional help may be necessary.

Any piping above ground must be labeled “CAUTION: NONPOTABLE WATER, DO NOT DRINK” every 5’ or less.

Clean the washing machine’s pump filter before installing the system, this will remove debris that could slow down the flow of water and wear down the pump faster.

Be sure that no ponding occurs at the plant, this could be unsafe. If ponding occurs, recheck the system for problems and replace the mulch Natural soaps are well tolerated by plants, do not use bleach, boron, or sodium based detergents in your laundry to landscape system

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RA IN WAT E R H A RV ESTI N G San Francisco is one of the few cities in America that has a combined sewer and rainwater system.

When San Francisco receives heavy rainfall, the underground system floods, and the clean rainwater floods into the ocean instead of into treatment facilities. By using rainwater harvesting systems, we can keep relatively clean water out of the combined sewer system and make it available for use in our homes.

The use of rainwater storage tanks or HOGs also reduce the energy and chemicals needed to treat stormwater in San Francisco’s combined sewer and the energy expended in transporting water from far away to our homes. By using the water we retain with tanks and HOGs, we reduce the volume of potable water used for non-potable applications such as irrigation and toilet flushing.

Rainwater can be routed to sustain vegetable gardens, potted plants and fruit trees

HOG tanks can store water for emergencies, flushing toilets, drip irrigation systems and grey water systems

HOGs can be used under decks, as screens, against walls, in garabes, cabinets and under house eaves

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There are three methods of harvesting rainwater. Rainwater can be stored in barrels, cisterns or HOGs. Rain barrels are containers designed to capture rainwater runoff from th roof so that it can used for irrigation in your landscape. Rain barrels are inexpensive, easy to install and maintain, and can typically store 50 to 100 gallons of water.

Cisterns are larger than rain barrels, and they range from 10 gallons on a small residential site to millions of gallons beneath schools and parks. They can be installed above or below ground. Water from cisterns can be stored until needed and used for irrigation and toilet flushing.

Rainwater HOGs are modular storage systems that and are diagrammed on the next page, however they cost around $315 a piece and can only store 50 gallons of water each.

The advantage of installing a rainwater harvesting barrel for an entire intra-block instead of per individual household is that the cost per gallon of a HOG is $6.30 while the cost per gallon of a communal cistern is only $1.20. While a 2,500 gallon cistern might take up your entire backyard, if twelve households removed their fences, you can use one plot of land for the cisterns and 11 for other activities. Having a 2,500 gallon cistern for 12 families is equivalent to having four water hogs at a fraction of the price.

Rainwater cisterns are ideal for the Richmond District. 1 inch of rainfall on a 2,000 square foot roof generates 1,250 gallons of water that can be reused. San Francisco’s average yearly rainfall has been 20.78 inches. Although we are currently experiencing a drought, water harvesting methods are long-term investments and can still be used when we are not in a drought.

With an average of 20.78 inches of rainfall a year, a single intra-block can store 25,975 gallons of clean water in case of emergencies or for gardening and landscape, or even a communal pool!

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A

C

B

A

Water HOGs used directly against walls can be connected to the rainwater roof drainage system and can immediately direct the rainwater to the storage tanks.

B

Water HOGs can be aligned horizontally under decks or house eaves.

C

Water HOGS can be aligned against fences, or even serve as fences.

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PERMEABLE GROUNDS Pervious concrete, a type of concrete without sand, can drain hundreds of inches of rain per hour, allowing water to filter into groundwater stores below, rather than run off into storm drains.

The difference between regular concrete and pervious concrete is that pervious concrete doesn’t contain any sand. It just has cement, rock and water in it. So all the little rocks are coated with this slurry and then put into a form and tamped down, and all the holes remain. Pervious concrete will have anywhere from 15 to 20 percent voids, or air pockets, within it. The water drains through it, and it goes in to a gravel base underneath.

Pervious grounds are not used in highway paving. This type of pavement does not take the hightraffic speeds well; It will ravel off. This type of pavement is used in parking lots, driveways, low-speed alleys, and school playgrounds.

Porous pavements reduce the volume of stormwater, increase the recharge, control the peak rate, and offer a high outflowing water quality. Pollutants are removed: total suspended solids are reduced by 85%, NO3 by 30%, and total phosphorous by 85%.

Reduces storm-water runoff, including reduction of temperature, total water volume, and flow rate

Increases groundwater infiltration and recharge

Provides local flood control

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Runoff is directed to stormdrains that go to the sewer

Primary Treatment & Storage

Large rainstorms can cause combined sewer discharges to the bay and ocean

To Treatment Plant

San Francisco is the only coastal city in California with a combined sewer system that collects and treats both wastewater and stormwater in the same network of pipes.

The hills of San Francisco come in handy reducing the energy and maintenance costs associated with mechanical pumping and water flows through most of the sewers using gravity. In the Richmond District, however, the hills are not as dominating as they are in other residential areas of San Francisco. The relatively flat topography causes for lots of flooding in the area.

Riverjacks open Stormwater enters the combined sewer system through building roof drains or the catch into recharge bed basins along the street and gets treated at San Francisco water plants just like the wastewater that goes down neighborhood drains.

Porous Asphalt Pavement One of the City’s challenges is that the watershed area is mostly paved or has hard surfaces, so rain has no place to go other than the City’s combined sewer system before being discharged to the Bay or Ocean.

As part of the Sewer System Improvement Program, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Uncompacted subgrade is will build innovative green infrastructure projects that use sustainable methods Uniformly Graded Stone help slow down or reduce the amount of storm-water going into the sewer system during critical for propertoinfiltration Aggregate with 40% Void rainstorms Space For Stormwater Storageand andbackyards Rechargeinto pervious One such infrastructure project is converting concrete driveways grounds.

Filter fabric lines the subsurface bed 37

Runoff is directed to stormdrains that go to the sewer

Primary Treatment & Storage

Large rainstorms can cause combined sewer discharges to the bay and ocean

To Treatment Plant

Riverjacks open into recharge bed

Porous Asphalt Pavement

Uncompacted subgrade is critical for proper infiltration

Uniformly Graded Stone Aggregate with 40% Void Space For Stormwater Storage and Recharge

Filter fabric lines the subsurface bed

Porous concrete is estimated to cost between $2 and $6.50 per square foot, interlocking pavers from $5 to $10, without considering the cost of labor.

Pervious grounds are a long lasting solution to flooding and can be connected to bioswales or other treatment systems to facilitate greywater recycling. They can be used in parking lots, recreational sports courts, pedestrian or bike paths, and in landscaping. Pervious ground requires little maintenance, little space, and can be easily adapted to fit other systems or programmatic needs.

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WIND TURBINES Wind Turbines used in urban areas, on residential or commercial buildings, are smaller scale and are efficient at lower wind speeds. There are currently two types of wind turbines on the market, vertical axis and horizontal axis. Traditional horizontal axis turbines (pictured at right) are generally more efficient, but vertical axis turbines might be a better solution for varied wind direction or tighter urban spaces.

Wind turbine systems can be combined with solar photo-voltaic panels, or other systems to maximize on clean energy at all times. In San Francisco, winds from the Pacific Ocean are optimal for this system.

The state of CA offers a rebate on wind turbines at $1.19 per watt, up to 3 MW

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The federal government offers a tax credit for 30% of the installation costs

Wind Energy costs approximately 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour

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How it Works

A. When the blades of the Wind Turbine spin, a shaft within rotates to power a generator that produces electricity

F. Excess energy flows out to the power grid, residents are eligible to be paid for energy provided to the city

A D. The Inverter converts DC electrical current from the turbine to AC electrical current for use in the house

B

AC DC

F D E C

B. A Diversion Controller regulates the energy coming from the turbine to prevent it from overloading the inverter

C. The Battery Bank stores excess energy for use when there is no wind power available

E. The Meter monitors and measures energy usage and can export it to the grid

1. When the wind blows towards the turbine, the blades spin a shaft connected to a generator.

2. The generator turns magnets around a conductor to generate an electrical current.

3. The electrical current travels down the tower and sensors adjust the turbine based on the exported current

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Wind in San Francisco

The map above shows average wind concentration in San Francisco. The darkest areas receive the most wind, on average, while the white areas receive little to no wind. This type of a tool can be used to determine which neighborhoods would be optimal for wind turbines. The city of San Francisco allows wind turbines to generate up to 50kW with a necessary permit. The city allows turbines to be at ground level or mounted on rooftops. Typically, a turbine with a capacity of up to 5kW can provide most energy needed for a single family home, dependent upon site and lifestyle. San Francisco gets optimal, unobstructed winds from the Pacific Ocean. The Inner Richmond gets enough wind to make wind harvesting an efficient source of energy. Since individual turbines can be expensive, if a block shares the cost and chooses a higher powered model (closer to the 50kW limit), wind energy can be a cheaper, more efficient energy source for the block.

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HYPERCOLLABORATION:

REIMAGINING THE SAN FRANCISCO BACKYARD While digital capabilities facilitate designs that have never been possible before, it has become all too easy to divorce design from the community. Since the intra-block is the sum of the needs and ideas of a wide range of related people, success is dependent on collaboration within the community. This manual contains the findings compiled by 2 individuals. However, since a community is comprised of a much greater breadth it was important to invite the community to collaborate on what an intra-block could mean to them. For the 2014 Architecture and the City Festival held by AIASF, we hosted a design charrette; “Hypercollaboration Reimagining the San Francisco Backyard�, open to the general public. The event began with a synopsis of the initial study, followed by an open collaboration, and finally a small group design charrette. The event drew participation from a wide range of disciplines, ages, and backgrounds. The findings of which are presented in the following section.

ORGANIZATION + STRATIFICATION In order to tackle the topic within a brief charrette, it was necessary to break down the intra-block into categories to organize ideas and themes. We searched for broad contextual terms that applied to the potential program, interventions, and concepts: play, interact, grow, collect. These categories were used as a lens through which to present the synopsis of this manual and then served as organizational categories for brainstorming.

PLAY

INTERACT

Recreation is a enjoyable part of any community.

While the singular backyard might fit a small scale play structure or swimming pool; an intra-block could fit all the amenities of a park. The intra-block can potentially house a safe play-structure for kids to grow and play, a sports field for the community to come together to watch or play a game, gym facilities or trails to exercise, or a pool to cool off in on a hot day.

The Interact category refers to community based social programs that connect or relate the community internally or to externally to the larger neighborhood. Historically, congregational spaces are at the crux of information exchange.

Space to play can be as simple and low cost as a open lawn, or as complex as a full gym or Olympic swimming pool. Complexity determines maintenance, cost, and permanence. Play spaces are less dependent upon the site, anywhere can become a play space.

Inherently, a play space involves a social program, and generally is a group activity; hence, bringing the community together.

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In a space shared by an entire block, it is possible to develop and implement an educational curriculum or workshop series. The educational program and the physical interventions discussed previously could engage each other to provide consistent support and healthy relations for the collaborative intra-block. The physical interventions above provide learning opportunities in subjects including biology, physics, chemistry, nutrition, art and design, and social studies. Going beyond gardening, the InsideLands backyard sparks discussion on clean energy, water cycles, environmental art, community kitchens, and local politics.

This category is the least dependent upon the site and the most dependent upon the residents.

A program based on interaction can be easily adapted or scaled to fit the demographics and needs.

COLLECT

GROW

The systems outlined previously in this book are largely used to collect and conserve energy and water. These types of systems, can save the block from relying on the grid, reduce the block’s carbon footprint, and save money usually spent on utilities.

These collection systems can provide energy or water that can power the surrounding homes or be combined with other intra-block programs.

For example a laundry to landscape system can be connected to an urban garden. Alternatively, wind turbines can be connected to appliances that power a community kitchen.

Fundamentally a backyard consists of green openspace. This presents the opportunity to plant small scale urban farms, flower gardens, bioswales, and lawns. All of the above purify the air, create a beautiful space for the neighborhood, and bring the community together. The site dictates what can and cannot grow, but level of maintenance is also an important deciding factor.

In order to “collect” resources, a physical intervention must take place on the site. The location as well as cost determine which resources can be collected and how. An object is placed on the site or the site is manipulated to perform a specific action. Methods of collection are usually at a quantifiable fixed scale, input and output can be determined before deciding on a system.

Once a collection system is in place it requires little maintenance or interaction. Collection is generally a long term process; installed wind turbines, solar panels, and rain water harvesting provide resources for decades.

Gardening can be done at any scale, from potted plants to a full blown farm. Since plants grow in cycles, gardens can be adapted seasonally to fit the needs of the community. In comparison to most “collection” systems, gardens cost considerably less and still produce resources.

In addition, gardens can function as part of a social program. Gardening and nature have been proven to improve mental health, aid in rehabilitation, and can be made accessible to all ages.

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HYPERCOLLABORATION The group, as a whole, then collaborated on how they would potentially intervene within the intra-block, following this exercise the ideas were analyzed to explore how they could connect and inform space. The potential interventions were categorized under the play, interact, collect, grow. The group was asked to adhere to the following guidelines: Go for quantity Wild ideas appreciated Speak, draw & act it out Do not own your ideas Be yourself & everyone else Defer judgment Technology is in our favor Money is no object

PLAY

INTERACT

COLLECT

GROW

Lawn/open space Skatepark/X games Pool Jungle Gym Zip-line Waterslide Climbing Structure Giant Leaf pile Beach Astroturf Slide Tree-house Camping Telescope/observatory Trapeze Trampoline “American Gladiator�

Obstacle Course Ice Skating Parkour Indoor Tennis Courts Gym that changes electrical devices Soccer/Sports Field Labyrinth/maze Putt putt golf Bike Paths Ferris Wheel/Amusement Park Ski Slope Adults Only Bounce House Iphone Arcade

Community House Hotel/Hostel Stage Pedestrian Bridge Animal Paths Farmers Market Maker Space Food Trucks Flea Market/Yard Sale Blank Canvas/mural Retirement Community Rehab Connect Rooftops Community Boards Cell Phone Towers Shared Office/Incubator Sauna Zen Retreat Tea House Restaurant Top Secret Stuff Underground Tunnels Furniture (shared) Sound Wells Library Shelter Goods Exchange/swap/ free pile Dog Park Elevated Housing Fire pit Outdoor baths/Showers Sitting Area Cinema Art Sculpture/Installation Education/School

Wind Turbines Solar Panels Biodiversity Natural Bldgs.

View Towers Incinerator Junk yard Canals/Water Transport Compost Energy Generating Bungee Cisterns Desalination Retention Basin Permeable Parking Harvest and Reuse Sand Dune Endangered Species Refuge Fog Catchers Laundry to Landscape

Aquaponics Greenways Algae Tubes Vertical Living Walls Wilderness Bioswale BBQ/Kitchen Ponds/Aquaculture Urban Farming Bee Hives Orchard Chickens and Roosters Weed Eating Goats Mushrooms Greenhouses Cut Flower Garden Pumpkin Patch

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Analysis Next, we identified spaces in blue that are distinct from activities. Then, we defined “programs” as spaces dedicated to facilitating specific activities and highlighted them in purple. We identified circulation systems in red. Next, we determined that places are different from spaces and programs. They are programmatic destinations that we highlighted in green. Then, we determined that the leftover terms and ideas, highlighted in yellow, were objects that can be “plugged” into different programs, spaces, or places. Up until this point, along the way we began to map loose relationships with black lines and arrows, but we abandoned that technique and started a new layer that identified more meaningful/focused relationships. We began with the idea of making systems by creating links between space, place, circulation and plug-in. The most obviously overarching term was open-space. We identified nodes as terms that have the most connections to other terms across different categories. Wanting to draw connections between nodes and other terms, we started to connect terms that produce energy using a blue line.

We defined energy as that which powers things and people. We connected types of circulation with greenways using a blue line. We came to a realization that almost all the terms lead back to community. Therefore, we decided to only map the strongest connections and organize those within two subcategories: exchange of goods and exchange of ideas. We moved on with the intention of connecting terms to open space using a pink notation, only to discover that the relationship between community and open space has been the premise of this entire investigation. Rather than connect individual terms to open space and community, the categories “play”, “interact”, “collect” and “grow” are subcategories of open space and community.

We overlayed another layer to prove this conclusion using closed loop systems. We created three distinct concepts for systems: Kitchen, Incubator, Gym.

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Lawn/open space Skatepark/Xgames Pool Jungle Gym Zipline Waterslide Climbing Giant Leaf pile Beach Astroturf Slide Treehouse Camping Telescope/observatory Trapeze Trampoline “American Gladiator�

Obstacle Course Ice Skating Parkour Indoor Tennis Courts Gym that changes electrical devices Soccer/Sports Field Labrynth/maze Putt putt golf Bike Paths Ferris Wheel/Amusement Park Ski Slope Adults Only Bounce House Iphone Arcade

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Community House Hotel/Hostel Stage Pedestrian Bridge Animal Paths Farmers Market Maker Space Food Trucks Flea Market/Yard Sale Blank Canvas/mural Retirement Community Rehab Connect Rooftops Community Boards Cell Phone Towers Sauna Zen Retreat Tea House Restaurant Underground Tunnels Furniture (shared) Sound Wells Library Shelter Goods Exchange/swap/ free pile Dog Park Elevated Housing Fire pit Outdoor baths/Showers Sitting Area Cinema Art Sculpture/Installation Education/School

Wind Turbines Solar Panels Biodiversity Natural Bldgs.

View Towers Incinerator Junk yard Canals/Water Transport Compost Energy Generating Bungee Cisterns Desalination Retention Basin Permeable Parking Harvest and Reuse Sand Dune Endangered Species Refuge Fog Catchers Laundry to Landscape

Aquaponics Greenways Algae Tubes Vertical Living Walls Wilderness Bioswale BBQ/Kitchen Ponds/Aquaculture Urban Farming Bee Hives Orchard Chickens and Roosters Weed Eating Goats Mushrooms Greenhouses Cut Flower Garden Pumpkin Patch

“THE INTRA-BLOCK IS THE PRODUCT OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, DESIGN, AND PROGRAMMING WITHIN SHARED OPEN SPACE”

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CHARRETTE The group broke into smaller groups of 4-5 and each received the same sets of materials and were asked to produce a design proposal for an intra-block within the Inner Richmond

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GROUP 1 MELISSA YOO AND TEAM

Developing a communal backyard requires residents to relinquish their private space, which can prove to be difficult depending on the resident.

This group made an effort to preserve a fraction of the private space and create a long rectangular public strip.

The site can be accessed through lit alley corridors on the North and South ends. The corridors can serve as a canvas for rotating artists. Their design preserves existing trees and weaves pedestrian circulation through a series of programmatic nodes. The nodes can be interior or open air space and would house public programmatic activities or objects that contribute to the intrablock and fit the unique needs of the community. It was important that the space operate in a way that made it accessible for children and pets. This group was keen on incorporating and preserving green space as well as creating a space that satisfies private needs as well as opens the intra-block up to the public neighborhood.

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GROUP 2 MICHAEL HAHN AND TEAM

This design allows each residence to retain a small private backyard. The remaining communal space is divided and includes a landscaped park, a body of water, and an underground clubhouse to be use as an incubator or laboratory. Selected rooftops contain gardens. One side of the block functions as the commercial storefront and is the space used to sell wares and interface with the larger community. The storefront is flanked by alleyway entry points that physically connect the intra-block to the greater community.

This design relies upon the cooperation of the community. This design functions as a nearly independent enterprise. It has its own social, economic, and spatial identity that is functional independently from the greater community.

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GROUP 3 FRANCIS PHAM AND TEAM

In order to utilize the length of the site this group proposed a stream to run through the intra-block.

Program and circulation react to the stream; the stream physically connects the community to the neighborhood in the North and South. One side would be restored to the Richmond district’s initial sand dune terrain in order to function as a beach. The beach segment would include fire pits and beach volleyball courts. The other side would house a shared flexible-use lawn. The thinner strips of lawn contain fruit trees that provide a shaded space while the thicker areas of lawn are unobstructed so that they can be used for community events or sports. The intra-block would be connected East-West by multiple bridges and the stream could be a play space. It was important to this group that each dwelling had equal access to the central stream; however, by creating polar environments surrounding the stream residents must circulate and share to maximize use of the lawn and sand.

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GROUP 4 SCOTT STOLLER AND TEAM

This design featured a centralized recreation area with a pool and lawn. The recreation area has ground circulation that encloses and connects the recreation area. Each residence is connected through a series of rooftop decks. The decks collect and distribute shared resources. On the ground there are elevated decks and tree-houses which provide social spaces and shade. This design keeps a balance between circulation, static spaces, and spaces for physical activity. Unlike some of the other examples, this design is meant to be insular.

It does not connect to the greater community and instead focuses on connecting the residences within the block. The space does not allow for private space, but instead creates “niches� that can allow residents to congregate in small groups.

Landscaping is concentrated to one side of the intra-block which divides the space into different types of environments.

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GROUP 5 BEN MCGUIRL AND TEAM

This group organizes program and circulation about 3 main axises, 2 running East-West and 1 running North-South. The axises allow the space to be accessed by the surrounding community. Program includes an exercise trail, basketball court, community garden, skate ramp, cafe, graffiti wall, observatory, incubator, and retention basin. The trail contains all the other program, acting as a buffer between the dwellings and the activities. Alternative circulation is woven along the axises. In order to fit all desired program, this group utilizes the uneven topography and combines program to create systems. For example, the skate ramp houses the cafe, the community garden is next to the retention basin, and the incubator is directly below the observatory. As opposed to converting the backyard to a public park, this group aimed to design a programmed courtyard community which would contribute to the community’s sustainability, economic development, and recreation.

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APPLICATIONS

Arguably the first step to creating a productive intra-block is to circulate information to spark interest and build a network of support for the intra-block community. This section details strategies and ideas for involving the community and spreading information.

In order to assess the feasibility of the interventions, it was important to speculate how they could connect and fit within real intra-blocks to compose full scale, valuable systems. The following section includes a series of simulations which synthesize interventions with various site-specific typologies to produce collective intra-block spaces that provide value for the community. The simulation present 1-2 hypothetical systems each, representing only a fraction of the potential of each intra-block.

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NEW MEDIA The digital age provides more opportunities then ever to connect to the world. New media effectively democratizes information, improving the accessibility to the info. It allows the process and associated data to evolve at a greater rate. In terms of sustaining the intra-block, new media can help to plan, organize, and develop the intra-block design as well as maintain and operate the systems within. Research and instructions can be found and shared on-line and can be adapted to fit data associated with the site. Once completed, residents can share the status of the intra-block, connect to other intra-blocks, and organize program within the community. In brief, the capabilities of new media potentially bridge the gap between the physical spatial intra-block and the socio-cultural condition of the greater community. Media gives the intra-block a pulse, driving the growth and development to best fit the needs of the community.

App The discussion arose of how we were going to actually present all the information – how are we going to make it relevant, readily available and easy to understand? Infographics became the answer. But infographics need a place to exist within. Then we had an idea of creating a tool that would allow us to share our infographics with the public. The answer became an “app.”

Summer Studio approached Code for America’s San Francisco brigade and attended Civic Hack Night meetings to pitch the idea for this “tool”. There was a strong appreciation for and interest in the idea of creating an application that would inspire and educate community members to engage in implementing environmentally friendly systems that would add value to their communities and bring people together.

The app would function as a tool that allows community members to search specific information in regards to their intra-block. With the specific statistics and conditions of the site, the app simulates opportunities for community members to implement environmentally sustainable systems in their intra-block. Not only does the tool give instructions for how to implement systems, it also provides resources for homeowners and communities to go forward with their plans.

The app is not bound by the limitations of the intra-block. It encourages community members to use their rooftops, their sidewalks, and their homes to add value to their communities and personal lives.

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Blog Along with the content that comprises this manual, the process and findings of the study were catalogued on a blog. The blog was used as a tool to drive and contain the creative process. The process of documenting information and making it available to the public was seen as a necessity and as an acknowledgment of the day and age we are living in. There is an implication in today’s society that if information is not democratized, it is not relevant. Information must be available to be shared, viewed and easily digestible by the general public and in the case of our project – available to community members.

Social Network While the intra-block can connect communities geographically, social networks can connect communities digitally. Today social network sites allow users to easily document, share, and access information from around the world instantly. Social networking sites can function as a tool to organize, draw inspiration, and share progress regarding the intra-block. These sites could facilitate the growth and visibility of the intra-block, providing a platform for text, images, and video to promote and share the intra-block. Social media can be used to engage and organize the members within the block, supporting social programs and activities, or can relate the intra-block to the larger digital community.

E-Commerce As opposed to connecting to the larger digital community for the purpose of sharing information and visuals, the intra-block operates at a scale that enables e-commerce. Residents can buy, sell, and trade goods at a quicker rate. Goods produced by the intra-block such as food can be marketed on the web or services and surplus resources can be traded with another intra-block. E-commerce connects the intra-block to the economy and allows the intra-block to determine its own level of autonomy.

Synthesis of Available Data The site determines the maximum potential for the intra-block and the site can be best understood through data. Today, many cities make much of the info regarding the land public. The census is another resource publicly San Francisco data to gain a broad idea of the demographic of the city. These resources for San Francisco can be accessed at http://www.sfindicatorproject.org/ https://data.sfgov.org/ http://www.census.gov/en.html In addition to raw data, it is important to continually study, analyze, and synthesize new information. This manual is meant to be used a resource that seeks to spark discussion and development within the field. It is meant to be a accessible resources that begins a conversation within the community on how one might begin and sustain an intra-block. For this manual to be successful, it requires continual additions from the community at large. As the charrette illustrated, the intra-block is not the sum of the findings of 2 people; it is the work of the community. Hence it is important to document and share subsequent findings. As a precedent, other published works that we used to drive this manual include Compendium for the Civic Economy: http://civiceconomy.net/ Smartcode: http://transect.org/codes.html 60

SYSTEMS IN PRACTICE Situation 1 In the first system water is collected from the fog catchers to provide for a soccer field and community garden.

Soccer Fog Catchers

Community Gardens

Situation 2

Solar Panels

Laundry to Landscape

Community Gardens

Solar panels collect energy to power a laundromat. Water used at the laundromat is reused in the community garden.

Situation 3

Solar Panels

Swimming Bioswale 61

In the third system, solar panels collect energy that can later be used to power cleaning systems or heating in a community pool.

Water collected in a bioswale can be routed out for treatment, and savings can help residents fund the water bill for a community pool.

Situation 1 Block Type: Medium density residential The entirely residential block has been outfitted with sports and recreational spaces that have been divided by fog catchers. The sports facilities promote fitness and connect the residents. The fog catchers protect the houses from stray balls and collect water that can be used to irrigate the lawn or can be routed to the houses to be used to flush toilets or water individual garden plots.

Balboa St

Cabrillo St

7th St

8th St

Fulton St

Cabrillo St

8th St

9th St

7th St

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C

B

Situation 2 Block type: High density residential In this system the community could share a laundry facility. This would serve as an ammenity for the block, and would bring the community together within the intra-block. The laundry machines can be powered by solar pan8th St els installed on the roof of the laundry facility. The laundry machines can be hooked up to a laundry to landscape system. The water would be routed to provide for an adjacent urban farm. The harvest from the farm can either feed the residents or could be sold at a community farmers market.

Fulton St

Cabrillo St

8th St

9th St

Fulton St

Cabrillo St

7th St

8th St

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Fulto

Cabr

Situation 3 Block Type: High density residential/commercial A grocery store divides the block. If the community works with the grocery store they can use the parking lot to contribute to the intra-block. If solar panels are installed in the parking lot they can shade cars and collect energy.

Permeable paving could collect water from rainstorms and the water could be filtered by a series of bioswales 9th St that surround the parking lot. The water may need additional mechanical treatment or could be routed to a treatment plant. The treated water could be used to fill a swimming pool within the intra-block. The energy collected from the solar panels can heat the swimming pool.

Fulton St

Cabrillo St

7th St

8th St

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CONCLUSION

Throughout this manual it is illustrated that a communal backyard has potential to become a space that can be adapted to serve and connect the community. In a city such as San Francisco, the back yard is a “last frontier” of sorts.

With rising real-estate prices, it’s nearly necessary to make efficient use of every square foot, including the back yard. By connecting the back yard to form an intrablock, a community is able to fit to make better use of the land. An intra-block makes sustainability, recreational, and economic opportunities more accessible. In brief, an intra-block creates greater opportunities for more neighborhood amenities.

Throughout the investigation we evaluated the feasibility and potential scale of such interventions. We hoped to answer the question: What is possible in the backyard and how would it work? Since an intra-block is about accessibility of amenities, this also meant information and planning. Hence the community needed to be connected to democratize the process and information regarding the intra-block. We continued by exploring the social implications of an intra-block, can also translate to social programs, education, or integrated technology and communication.

Over the course of the study it became clear that the intra-block was a blank canvas, able to receive any intervention assuming the scale and cost fit the community. This further emphasized the importance of a democratized design process and accessibility to information. The charrette examined how different ideas from across the community could come together and form the basis for a single design. With input from the community, it became easier to actualize the potential flexibility and personality of an intra-block.

In the end, the community and their associated wants and needs are the heart of the intra-block. Through teamwork, the intra-block has the potential to become a space which serves and provides for the community. This manual and the associated events and activities aspire to spread the idea and serve as a starting point for conversation about creating a communal backyard in one’s own neighborhood. As seen in the research in this manual, communication and sharing ideas and spaces are the basis for the intra-block. You never know what’s waiting to be designed in your backyard until you start.

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Zhang, Donia. Courtyard Housing and Cultural Sustainability: Theory, Practice, and Product. Print.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A special thanks to...

McCall Design Group for all of your help, support, and belief in us Jamie Wong, AIA San Francisco, and the Center for Architecture + Design for all of your help planning the charrette all who attended and participated in the charrette including Ryan Natividad, Kate Greenberg, Nikki Diaz, Brent Bucknum, Rene Davids, Sean Conners, Geoff Olegario, Neha Desai, Mary Morse, Chris, Liyan, Ronan, and David all who shared their story with us, helped us collect data, and let us into their backyard including Carla with the Page Street Community Garden, Amandeep Jawa, and Barbara Wenger with Community Grows

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