Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, California
Comprehensive Building Design- Innovation

After decades of decay following its use during World War II, the Naval Shipyard is facing redevelopment as it prepares itself to be reintroduced to the city of San Francisco once again. Current plans call for new homes, commercial space for more job opportunity and more recreational parks for the entire Bay View/ Hunter’s Point community. Parcels are already sectioned off and undergoing decontamination phases.

The project site is a four story concrete building that was used for storage and office space during the war. Today its stands abandoned, lacking in fresh air circulation and penetrating light, but is close to being developable. The master plan for this particular site is a building re-use innovation center.

My studio proposal includes programming that invites not only private use but also public interaction in which lab researchers and designers can portray works in progress through meetings and events with the public who can give input or inquiries to push the projects along. It is a place where the community can hold meetings in a single place rather then having to reserve spaces in advance. The building also includes systems to account for daylight exposure and natural ventilation. The program includes lab space, design space, office space, meeting rooms, an auditorium space, showroom space, public retail, a café and restaurant, library/research space, fitness center and a daycare center.

The big move to begin was to cut out a portion of the original footprint to create an atrium space and an additional public programmed space that interacts with the
original architecture by wrapping around the exterior vertical walls and plugging into the space through the roof. This addition becomes the showroom, leisure, retail, library, and fitness space for public and private interaction around the offices and labs.

The south and west exterior walls are offset from the existing walls to create an indoor/outdoor space that can be used for lounging and social interaction. These offset walls are also vertical green walls used for ventilation and filtration of air, shading, to decrease the need for cooling during warmer months and as insulation during the winter to decrease the use of mechanical devices. The wall is constructed of perforated square sections –some are only square meshes for light penetration while others are actual planters - that are offset to allow airflow and penetration of light. The natural airflow from environmental conditions removes the need of forced induction.

On the west side of the building the green wall continues down into a slightly sloped hill condition with greenery and small plateaus for public use and entrance to the building leading into the library and retail space. The eastside has parking and an entrance for office and lab users. The south entrance leads into the showroom spaces and access to the fitness center located on the roof level on the building. It is placed there so that the users would have visual access to both the interior activity as well as the entire landscape of the shipyard.

Professor(s): Bill Leddy + Marsha Maytum+ Christina Marsh