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Architects: Kennerly Architecture & Planning
- Area: 52300 ft²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Bruce Damonte, Daniel Gaines
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Manufacturers: AutoDesk, Grohe, Sherwin-Williams, Adobe, Bluebeam, Bosch, Broan, GE Lighting, Hettich, J+J Flooring Group, Liebherr Group, Shaw Industries, Summit Appliances, Tile Tech Pavers, Trimble, Viking Range
Text description provided by the architects. With a novel approach to a difficult site, this mixed-use, multi-family project captures the optimistic spirit, craft culture, and quirky contrasts of San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. The site is a 75-foot sliver alongside the I-280 Freeway. What was previously a collection of blank warehouses on Indiana Street, engulfed in traffic noise, is now transformed into a duo of complementary residential buildings designed by separate architects.
This intervention brings scale and richness to this rapidly developing neighborhood with a series of courtyards, gardens, and stoops, and acts as a visual and acoustic buffer from the busy freeway. The streetscape is activated with the addition of a new café and art plaza right across the street from Esprit Park.
The entire project consists of 116 new apartments, including 17 on-site affordable dwelling units. The 61-unit “M” Building has a porous, fine-grain fabric with open courts and stoops in board-formed concrete, vertical bays of glass and Corten steel, vaulted roofs, and a cantilevered white tower that signals its glass-walled main lobby.
The building has roof-deck lounges with downtown views and features private roof decks and semi-public landscaped outdoor plazas that overlook Indiana Street. Different scale outdoor rooms provide a variety of spaces for tenants to relax and congregate outside, a feature so critical to those living in dense urban areas. Below, a garage for 76 cars, tenant storage, and bicycle parking serves both buildings.
Dwellings are a mix of flats and townhomes. Studios and one-bedroom units complemented by family-friendly two- and three-bedroom apartments. All dwellings receive ample natural light with floor-to-ceiling windows and bays. Open kitchens and diversity of layouts provide a variety of living and entertaining options for the residents. Sustainable Design Considerations: “M” Building is located within walking distance to a variety of neighborhood amenities and commercial districts and an array of public transportation options, such as regional rail, urban light rail, trolley bus, and bus.
Additionally, ample bike parking is provided in and around both buildings for tenant and visitor use, thus encouraging biking as a viable transportation option. The design team also incorporated a green roof system and planters that provide bio-filtration for stormwater run-off along with ample green space and plantings at the ground-level courtyards of the building.
The project is set up to receive recycled water from the future city network and the designers made sure to specify environmentally friendly, zero-VOC and ultra-low VOC adhesives and sealants, as well as Energy Star appliances and an efficient HVAC system. The building achieved a Gold Greenpoint rating by Build It Green.
