Working share link to your Forma project, view access for the teaching team.
Comparison matrix, one page.
Design memo of 300 to 500 words: what you read in the site, the three strategies, what the analysis said, your recommendation, and the surprise.
I chose the address 15 Marina Blvd, San Francisco, which is currently occupied by a Safeway. It is across the street from East Harbor and Fort Mason Park, an ideal location for both residential and commercial use. I would hope to transition the lot to a more public, green space to complement the nearby Fort Mason Park and the ocean. I came up with three proposals for how to transform the current lot, all differing in their use of the space.
Proposal 1: The first was the simplest and likely the most cost-efficient design, featuring a 4-floor trapezoidal commercial building with a GFA of 95,733 ft2. The intended use would be a cafe, lounge, and restaurant on the ground floor, with office floors above available for rent. The total carbon footprint was the lowest of the proposals at an estimate of 2.7M kgCO2e total carbon per year. However, the negative features of the design include poor noise reduction from nearby traffic, poor wind reduction, and it provides little shade.
Proposal 2: The next proposal is for a mixed-use residential-commercial box-shaped building with a GFA of 96,859 ft2. The western face of the building has 6 floors, the southern face has 7 floors, and the eastern face has 8 floors, while the northern face is a bridge connecting the eastern and western faces. The building will also include a dedicated central courtyard with outdoor seating for the ground-floor restaurant, cafe, and lounge. This design allows for significant noise and wind reduction and adequate shade for the central courtyard, while also maintaining a view of the marina under the “bridge”. However, the total carbon footprint for this design was the highest of the three at 3.24 M kgCO2e total carbon per year.
Proposal 3: The final proposal is for a mixed residential-commercial L-shaped building with a GFA of 93,543 ft2. The western side is 8 floors, designed to block evening sunlight and traffic noise, and the southern side is 4 floors. The space between is intended for public events or gatherings, such as musical performances, markets, outdoor seating for ground-floor restaurants, and more. The design allows for great wind protection for the public space; however, the western side of the building blocks less sunlight and noise than expected. This was surprising because I assumed that the waterfront on the northern side and the park on the eastern side would not generate a lot of noise pollution; therefore, the 8-story side would mitigate most of the sound caused by traffic. Yet, the analysis showed only a small noise reduction in the outdoor space. The total carbon footprint analysis showed a total carbon per year of 2.95 M kgCO2e.
After cross-examining the positive and negative features of each proposal, I would recommend Proposal 2: the box-shaped residential-commercial building. This design had the greatest reduction in sunlight, wind, and noise, and I believe it is the most visually appealing. Even though it has the highest carbon footprint, it is also the largest GFA. Therefore, I believe that is acceptable because the ratio of carbon to square footage is very similar across proposals.
Three massing images, one per proposal, from the same viewpoint.
