John King reports on the results of the RFPs for infill along Octavia Boulevard that we highlighted last October.
The long-awaited proposals for new housing along San Francisco’s Octavia Boulevard include a welcome blast from the past: the idea that lots of little buildings are better than one or two big ones.
And the proposed Natoma Architects/Saitowitz design for the corner of Octavia and Market (above) reminds us…we’re still looking for the inside scoop on the proposed Wong/Saitowitz development in Hayes Valley (below) that we featured last year.
∙ A welcome plan for bold — not big – housing [SFGate]
∙ RFPs For Housing Along Octavia Boulevard [SocketSite]
∙ We Want Need Some Answers [SocketSite]
Where can you find out more about the proposals and the winners?
The design I really want to see:
“The two trickiest sites are 16-foot-wide slivers on the east side of Octavia between Fell and Oak streets. They were awarded to a team that includes Envelope A+D — the architecture firm that won the design competition for Octavia Boulevard sponsored in 2005 by the San Francisco Prize. The look? Imagine a scaffold wrapped in clear glass.”
I saw about 2 dozens of design proposals during the design competitions early last year. They were also presented on http://www.sfprize.org, but the site is not working right now. There were some fabulous designs. No idea how the one in the photo above was chosen for the final development.
This particular site is very unique in the sense that it’s right at the point where the city’s three grid systems meet. The traffic condition there is pure madness. Some of the proposals handled this condition very intelligently and presented some beautiful design. This glass box is very early 90’s contemporary and doesn’t speak to the site condition in any way. With all the glass mounted and traffic coming in from 5 different directions, the residents will feel like rock stars when they get flashed by the headlights every night for thousands of times till sunrise.
will this be the dreaded ‘affordable housing’? is there such a thing? I shoudl ask for an anti-raise/pay-decrease to get into a centrally located neighborhood. But I’m conerned about my neighbors. Could I hang out with them? Anything in common? I don’t like the hippity hop music very much. not into spinning rims, either….but I digress….