San Francisco’s many tech booms and its rare beauty attract people from all parts of the world and place it in the heart of this country’s housing crisis. A large percentage of the city’s land has been limited to single-family-only use since 1978, when the city's residential areas were downzoned to limit growth. These zoning requirements effectively excluded access to people of color and limited means thereby creating redlined elite neighborhoods. In the past 20 - 30 years, broad swaths of middle to low-income San Franciscans have been forced to leave the city due to ever-escalating rents and exorbitant home prices driven by scarcity.
Neighborhoods on the city's west side have seen virtually no growth in the past 50 years. Housing built in San Francisco is concentrated in downtown, South of Market (SoMa), and parts of the Mission. Fewer than 10% of the 82,000 units mandated by the state of California’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) have been built this past year. Many entities in the city, from the Mayor’s office to YIMBY and housing organizations, support increased housing density and are looking to the west side for opportunities to help solve the city's housing needs with equitable, inclusive, and affordable neighborhoods.
The project site is located in The Sunset district of San Francisco. The project area located on the corner parcel has dimensions of 30 m * 7.5 meters. This newly built project is actually a reinterpretation of the existing texture as an architectural whole, according to the denser and existing houses. The project area is divided into 3 parts in proportion to the existing neighboring residence facade. The apartment blocks also reference the roof heights of the neighboring buildings with a geometry consisting of angles on the facades of both blocks. The middle block has a vertical and non-angle architecture independent of the existing texture. The residences, rising as 3 separate blocks, establish a relationship with the environment with the consoles coming out of the façade, just like the consoles in the existing texture. It is aimed to eliminate the lack of commercial functions in the region by designing 5 commercial shops on the ground floor. There are a total of 5 different flats in the rising blocks. Efficient land use and the fact that the designed building will add architectural value to the region will make the greatest contribution to social sustainability. It is aimed to keep the carbon footprint at a minimum level by using brick by weight as a building material.
Status: Unbuilt
Location: San Francisco, CA, US
Additional Credits: PROJECT TEAM
Selim Senin
Mehmet Bikec
Bilgehan Kucukkuzucu
Alev Doru
Dicle Yildirim
Zeynep Yilmaz
Beyza Kinsiz
