New York City-based OMA/ Jason Long and San Francisco-based Y.A. Studio were recently selected by the Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) to design a 150-unit "deeply affordable" housing complex in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood.
The project's 38,000-square-foot site is situated at the entry to Golden Gate Park, a picturesque 1,000-acre park that stretches across San Francisco's west side. Ultimately, the architects write, the project will bring much-needed senior and family housing and "a sense of comfort and the feeling of independence and dignity" to the area.
In a press release announcing the project, OMA Partner Jason Long writes, “This project will create over 150 homes for families and seniors who might otherwise be pushed out of the city. Haight-Ashbury became famous as a place for the community to gather, convene and mobilize, and this project will honor that history.”
Referencing the firms' previous partnership on the Avery Tower project in downtown San Francisco, Paul Wang, Associate at Y.A. studio explains, “It will be great for our studios to collaborate once again. Our firms complement each other well and working with both Chinatown CDC and TNDC on this unique site promises to yield results that will not only serve under-served members of the community but will also inspire diverse resident and business groups to come together to create a vibrant cultural and community hub.”
The project is set to contain ground floor retail and community spaces with housing situated above. A timeline for the project has not been announced.
Y.A. studio is also partnering with WORKac and Adamson Associates Architects on an eight-story office complex in the city's forthcoming Mission Rock district.
2 Comments
My first thought when seeing this was, "Wow, could you imagine NYC mandating a 'deeply affordable' housing development right by Columbus Circle, or anywhere bordering Central Park for that matter?"
Obviously comparing apples to sourdough here, but I also almost spit out my coffee when I saw that the site was also next to a Whole Foods and Amoeba records. ....AND the kicker is that OMA is working on it and this is supposed to be “affordable”?
It sounds nice and all… but for some reason I am not buying any of it.
Interestingly enough, apparently this site is a former McDonald’s and is currently being used as a safe sleeping site for homeless individuals, providing them some basic health services, meals, and proper sanitary facilities.
https://hoodline.com/2020/05/haight-mcdonald-s-lot-to-become-safe-sleeping-site-for-homeless
If I remember correctly there was a significant spike in homelessness in San Francisco recently so one has to wonder if there are more effective ways to scale up these types of operations into more comprehensive shelters/transitionary facilities. Rather than wasting public money on fancy proposals by design architects, we could spend a portion of that money on a fleet of tiny modular domiciles made from shipping containers or trailers to create alternatives forms of housing.
Some millennials/gen Z kids are increasingly fans of co-living spaces because some enjoy certain aspects of communal living and don’t want the responsibility of a traditional rental or simply won’t ever be able to afford a home. Why can’t we see some type of alternative program like this become more prevalent for homeless or low-income individuals? The homeless community in many cases must act cooperatively: there's a sense that we're all in it together, so I don't think it's so farfetched of a concept.
All my questions are rhetorical and are just what immediately comes to mind, but I’m down for a discussion….
Yes, I realize this project is intended for seniors and families, I just got off on a bit of a tangent... although I'm mostly a pessimist I am still interested to see how this develops.
I guess it is news that anyone will build affordable housing in San Francisco but all there is to "show" is a tabula rasa site sketch.
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