Published in July, and as plugged-in people knew to expect, the Planning Commission’s public hearing for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for California Pacific Medical Center’s (CPMC) Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) is this Thursday (9/23).
∙ CPMC’s Long Range Development Plan Renderings And Draft EIR [SocketSite]
∙ CPMC’s Long Range Development Plan And Cathedral Hill Campus [SocketSite]
∙ Planning Comission Special Meeting: CPMC’s Development Plan EIR [sf-planning.org]
Has Houston moved one of its launch pads???
Despite all the glass, it looks like a blank wall at pedestrian height along Van Ness? I hope they extend the glass down so it’s more transparent walking by. I like it overall though, a big improvement for sure.
What?
Needed:
More height
Less bulk
More lightness, inspiration
Feels like a dark ominous medical INSTITUTION
Do better, get well.
Good design heals
Whatever is wrong with this design, it is a whole lot better than Sutter’s other new hospital at Mills Peninsula in Burlingame. It is not even open yet and already consider ugly by the average citizen. At least there is some beauty here.
I think the element on Post is homage to the horror of the PacHts brutalism.
A commercial dead block on VAN NESS, for god’s sake!?!?!?
This city is crazy.
Before all of you who probably dont even live within 5 miles of this proposed building start bitching. Consider what is on the site now.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14696209@N02/3653557372/lightbox/
I used to live five blocks from there and now live about a mile away. Unlike many, I sort of liked the old hotel. Not my favorite building, of course, but it had a certain charm.
And even though it was hardly fully engaged with the sidewalk, at least there was some commercial traffic on the mezzanine with a few storefronts and the car-rental place at street level. Certainly not ideal, but better than a blank wall.
The old building had a “certain charm”? seriously.
Care to explain to us what that “charm” was?
The old building/Jack Tar Hotel was a pile of junk.
The new hospital design is evolving, as every complex medical facility does.
The old hotel had charm? Gimme a break!
The Geary side? Not a single opening.
The post side? a single glass entry for the office building portion.
The Franklin side? completely blank wall.
The Van ness frontage was almost entirely taken up at street level by the entrance to the garage. The Enterprise outlet was INSIDE the garage.
Anyone pining away for how the jack tar activated the street is either full on BS’ing or wearing some seriously nostalgia colored glasses.
Take a look at the street view.
You can see the mezzanine level with its electronics shop, easily accessible from the street.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=jack+tarr+hotel&sll=37.776986,-122.429642&sspn=0.012567,0.027874&ie=UTF8&hq=jack+tarr+hotel&hnear=&ll=37.786436,-122.421749&spn=0.000785,0.001742&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=37.786505,-122.421632&panoid=ICYgX5VIR9nQvCP1AFXN0g&cbp=12,233.37,,0,5
And specifically, the car rental entrance which clearly isn’t “in” the garage.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=jack+tarr+hotel&sll=37.776986,-122.429642&sspn=0.012567,0.027874&ie=UTF8&hq=jack+tarr+hotel&hnear=&ll=37.786381,-122.421609&spn=0.000785,0.001742&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=37.786273,-122.421588&panoid=DYpt9JbYqogCr7znADfzjg&cbp=12,233,,0,12.15
I’m not saying that the Van Ness side was particularly good, just that it is better than what is proposed. Certainly the two busy driveways on Van Ness were a stupid idea, but at least there was some commercial activity and a bit of grass (preferable to a wall with no grass in front of it).
As to the rest of the building, I stand by my opinion. I kind of liked it. It wasn’t my favorite building, just as the replacement isn’t my favorite building, but it was OK for a large hotel on a busy street in a part of town where there wasn’t much likelihood of going higher at the time it was built.
I live 4 blocks away so let’s drop that issue. Overall, I’m OK with the design above the ground floor. But I do think that blank wall on Van Ness has to go–even if it’s just set back a foot or two allowing for some plants (not the best option but better than nothing).
Let’s remember that Sutter also bought the property across Van Ness halfway to Polk for medical offices–they said they intended a tunnel under Van Ness–so this rendering doesn’t tell thevwhole story.
I dont know about you, but the only thing about that enterprise location which is not located inside the garage is the covered walkway. You have to enter the garage to enter the location. As for the video only location, I would bet you that most people didnt even know it was there if you asked them.
The entire block parcel is a monument of bad design.
If you had said the car rental place was inside the garage with an entrance on the street that looked like and functioned as a pretty standard commercial entrance, I wouldn’t have had a thing to say.
The old interface with the public street was bad design. The new interface with the public street is atrocious design.
How’s that?
Ok, bobn..so you kinda changed your mind..a little.
But being “ok” for a large building such as the Jack Tar was, never cut it. It was a terrible piece of design, for it’s period..and even moreso by today’s standards of design.
As we said, the building never had an ounce of “charm”.
As the new building design moves thru design development and construction documents and even “value engineering”, it will evolve into a quality urban health facility. The architectural firm designing it has the full capabilities and talent to address every design issue mentioned here.