Working share link to your Forma project, view access for the teaching team.
https://app.autodeskforma.com/board/up_i2od844v74/board_7a0f862a-f53b-4267-b369-fa31d03f5b4b
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.
the site is a 36,399 SF lot at 3rd St and Adeline in West Oakland, between low warehouses, the Adeline truck bridge and the rail yard, with I-880 650 ft north. The empty-site analysis showed sun and wind aren't issues: the whole lot gets 3+ hours of sun on March 21 and stays wind-comfortable. Noise is the real constraint, with 74% of the site above 65 dB.
I tested three schemes of about 100,000 SF, each with ground-floor retail and housing above. A is a 6-story perimeter block around a south-facing courtyard. B is an 8-story tower on a 3-story retail podium. C is an 8-story bar along Adeline that shields a large courtyard from truck noise, with a low retail wing on 3rd St.
C led on daylight (98% of façade area at VSC ≥27%, vs 85% for B and 82% for A), open space (60% of the site vs 54% and 38%), noise (68% of open ground above 65 dB vs 71–72%) and carbon (lowest embodied at 2,720 t CO₂e and lowest 20-year total). Wind, January microclimate and energy use were nearly identical.
I recommend C. Its tradeoffs are less ground sun (81% gets 3+ hours vs 91–92%, still above the usual 50% target), a small windy corner on 3rd St, and the least retail. Next, I'd raise the retail wing to four stories and trim the bar to keep 100,000 SF.
The surprise was the perimeter block. I expected its closed courtyard to be quiet and efficient, but the inner walls gave A 23% more façade area than C, the highest embodied carbon and the lowest share of well-lit façade. It also barely helped noise (2 points better than the empty lot) because most of its open space sits outside the U. A tall bar facing the trucks did more than enclosure.
Three massing images, one per proposal, from the same viewpoint.
