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  #1181  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2008, 4:06 AM
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Originally Posted by Downtown Dave View Post
See those blue cement parking bumpers at right? I don't have any more photos as I tripped over one of them when viewing the skyline, landing on my nose. Since I now look like I'd spent Friday night getting hit in the face with a chair in a bar room brawl, I think there won't be more photos till next week.
hope u get better soon
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  #1182  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2008, 4:15 AM
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^^^I'm not holding my breath because I'm not a huge fan of Pfau. They did the SFGLBT Community Center on upper Market and I think that building has a few shortcomings. But we'll see.
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  #1183  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2008, 4:19 AM
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Originally Posted by peanut gallery View Post
a new eight-story, 98-unit, single-room-occupancy ("SRO") residential project.
Well that's great! I didn't realize they were actually building new SROs but I've long thought they should build lots of them--that it was the best solution to the homeless problem, especially if they could provide mental and other health services in some of them for the really hard core folks. We are told, and I think there's something to it, that the destruction of so many SROs in SF was a major contributor to the homeless situation.
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  #1184  
Old Posted Jan 21, 2008, 7:02 AM
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Imagining San Francisco 100 years from now
John King, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, January 20, 2008

(01-20) 21:05 PST San Francisco -- The jury has spoken - and it wants San Francisco in 2108 to be a place where forests of towers grow algae as well as house people, and where geothermal steam baths sprout atop Twin Peaks.

Those elements are part of the proposal by IwamotoScott Architecture, selected today as the winner of an eight-team competition to imagine how San Francisco could change during a century likely to be defined by global warming and the search for new forms of energy.

In addition to a $10,000 prize, architects Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott received the satisfaction of triumphing over rivals who offered such visions as an offshore island housing 250,000 people and 40-story towers used for commercial farming.

The selection was made by a six-member jury that placed more emphasis on originality than practicality. Nonetheless, the winners said a city that produces its own energy - such as the hydrogen that would be generated by vast vertical fields of algae - and moves most travel underground shouldn't be all that far-fetched.

"We were thinking of the city as an evolutionary beast," said Iwamoto, a design lecturer at UC Berkeley as well as the operator, with Scott, her husband, of a four-person firm based in the couple's Mission District loft. "You create certain conditions, and that allows other things to happen."

Festivities kicked off at 10 a.m. on the second floor of the Ferry Building with each team having three hours to assemble their model of the city to be. Milling among them were design junkies and their families, augmented by Ferry Building visitors drawn upstairs by banners and announcements.

Often, the different visions overlapped. Most consigned private cars to the dustbin of history. At least four incorporated fog-harvesting machines to pull water from air and put it to use.

But if the details were similar, the designs were all over the map. Fougeron Architecture focused on self-reliant sustainability by lining the bay with agricultural towers that would grow the region's food - "we checked, and they could also be used to raise chickens and pigs," said architect Anne Fougeron. "Cows would still need to graze somewhere else."

Fougeron's comment came during a 15-minute presentation that, like the model assembly, played up visual drama for the camera crews from the History Channel, the competition sponsor. There were 10 minutes to talk and five minutes to answer questions before the buzzer sounded.

The jury, however, took more than its allotted 30 minutes to select the winner.

Three favorites quickly emerged. In addition to the proposals by Fougeron and IwamotoScott, the jurors were intrigued by Pfau Architecture's scheme that matched futuristic touches - such as a system delivering supplies to neighborhoods through underground tubes - with a green terrain where every third street is converted to pedestrian parks or gardens.

The jury's first vote was split between Pfau's fine-grain urbanity and the sinuous appeal of IwamotoScott's imagined city that transformed the aquifer into a cultural gathering place and used dozens of tunnels bored by robots. "If this was San Francisco 2308, I'd go with IwamotoScott," said one juror. "Pfau Architecture, I can imagine the city evolving there in 100 years."

Ultimately, UC Berkeley landscape Professor Walter Hood swayed his fellow jurors - arguing for IwamotoScott because the winner should "inspire outside thought and debates. It should be dense with ideas." Pfau and Fougeron were named runners-up.

All eight models will be on display Monday at the Ferry Building. Next, IwamotoScott will face off with winners of similar contests in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., in an online vote at history.com/cityofthefuture.

E-mail John King at jking@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg.../BAHSUIO5C.DTL
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  #1185  
Old Posted Jan 22, 2008, 6:00 AM
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Thumbs up This will be on television in HD (the history channel)

BTinSF,

I saw what I assume to be the same thing announced last evening (Sunday) on local TV stations. They also said that there would be a series of cities spotlighted. I was in the kitchen making magic (well... ok, attempting to cook) at the time, so I didn't get down the hall until it was over.

As far as algae... I'm there already. (What is the best way to keep it growing in my bathroom? )

Just kidding. I've looked online today, but with limited time, didn't find exactly which channel, or when. I'm sure it will announcements will come around again.
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  #1186  
Old Posted Jan 23, 2008, 1:09 AM
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It looks like the construction that took place in 2007 is rather noticeable when compared with the skyline photo on the first page of the thread. Take by swayne hill on flickr, uploaded 12/31/2007:

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  #1187  
Old Posted Jan 23, 2008, 6:27 AM
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Meet SF's new City Planner

From John King's article in Tuesday's Chronicle:
Quote:
There's a new architect in San Francisco, and guess what? He's the planning director.

That's John Rahaim, who this month moved into the post most recently held by Dean Macris. He arrived from Seattle, where he was that city's top planner, but both his bachelor's and master's degrees are in architecture.

As you might expect, this reference brought applause Jan. 15 when Rahaim introduced himself to an informal crowd that was knocking down wine and cheese at the local office of the American Institute of Architects. The group also cheered Rahaim's affirmation of the idea that new buildings needn't look as if they were transported here in a time machine.

"I'm a great fan of contemporary architecture - I believe architecture has to be of its time," said Rahaim, 52. But he added a caveat: "The challenge of contemporary architecture is to design and develop contemporary architecture that works within a city."

By way of comparison, Rahaim described some of the tower proposals brought into his office as "architectural gymnastics" with contorted shapes. No, he didn't mean that as a compliment. And no, he didn't name names.

As for his new job - one of the most wearying in San Francisco, given the trench warfare between interest groups that all have their own absolutist view about how things should be - Rahaim says he looks forward to plunging into the fray.

"We're in a place where people care passionately about their city, and that's a good thing," he said. At the same time, "we need a slightly elevated dialogue that talks about what the city wants to be in 20 years. ... There's an implicit assumption that this is the greatest city on earth, but it's going to change. Whether we like it or not."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../DD2JUHAFL.DTL
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  #1188  
Old Posted Jan 23, 2008, 3:44 PM
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Originally Posted by CityKid View Post
It looks like the construction that took place in 2007 is rather noticeable when compared with the skyline photo on the first page of the thread. Take by swayne hill on flickr, uploaded 12/31/2007:

A difference indeed. Great photo...

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  #1189  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2008, 4:17 PM
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That's a nice shot. It will look even better when ORH has some similarly-scaled neighbors.
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  #1190  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2008, 6:54 PM
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Originally Posted by BTinSF View Post
^^^I'm not holding my breath because I'm not a huge fan of Pfau. They did the SFGLBT Community Center on upper Market and I think that building has a few shortcomings. But we'll see.
BT, not that I'm a big defender of Pfau partners et al, but the Lesbian Gay Bi, Transgender, Identity politics community center did come with it set of fairly absurd change orders due to the edwardian manse on the corner and it connection to the rancheria history of General Castro (in the south bay, east bay). Pfau was also blindsided by a crappy engineering report that failed to accurately identify the sand/loam issues of the soil. The final design does have a faint, 60s mod berlin feel, and it has to integrate structurally with the old building. It's sort of the design result when applying the old if you have lemons make lemonade slogan.
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  #1191  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2008, 5:55 AM
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Originally Posted by coyotetrickster View Post
BT, not that I'm a big defender of Pfau partners et al, but the Lesbian Gay Bi, Transgender, Identity politics community center did come with it set of fairly absurd change orders due to the edwardian manse on the corner and it connection to the rancheria history of General Castro (in the south bay, east bay). Pfau was also blindsided by a crappy engineering report that failed to accurately identify the sand/loam issues of the soil. The final design does have a faint, 60s mod berlin feel, and it has to integrate structurally with the old building. It's sort of the design result when applying the old if you have lemons make lemonade slogan.
Nice to see you around again coyotetrickster! It's a Victorian, not an Edwardian, and it's the oldest building on all of Market Street. The repainting that they'll be starting soon will definitely improve its appearance. I remember some parties in that place from years ago when friends were living there...
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  #1192  
Old Posted Jan 29, 2008, 4:32 AM
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Originally Posted by viewguysf View Post
Nice to see you around again coyotetrickster! It's a Victorian, not an Edwardian, and it's the oldest building on all of Market Street. The repainting that they'll be starting soon will definitely improve its appearance. I remember some parties in that place from years ago when friends were living there...
Hey Viewguy. Been busy with my new job. Your are right, the building is a victorian. Saving it was not my quibble, it was the way the requirement to save the building and 'integrate' it into the center's design that played havoc with the final design... nothing more...
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  #1193  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2008, 7:05 PM
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From:
Arthur Bruzzone/Comcast
www.SFunscripted.com:
Quote:
San Francisco's Leading Slow Growth Advocate -- Sue Hestor (Two Part Video)

San Francisco is experiencing massive construction of new residential towers, new neighborhoods, and life science industrial development. Sue Hestor has fought destruction of traditional neighborhood and the construction of office towers. She help put a annual cap on office construction. A first in the nation. What's her take the many towers arising while on her watch.
Part 1 - Oct. 9, 2007 (13 min. 55 sec.)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...90260835878946

Part 2 - Oct. 9, 2007 (13 min. 19 sec.)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...42648169411033
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  #1194  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2008, 9:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SFView View Post
From:
Arthur Bruzzone/Comcast
www.SFunscripted.com:


Part 1 - Oct. 9, 2007 (13 min. 55 sec.)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...90260835878946

Part 2 - Oct. 9, 2007 (13 min. 19 sec.)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...42648169411033
Uh, Sue, The earthquake was in '89, not '79.

"People build buildings not necessarily because they are needed, but because they make money"
-Yeah Sue, there isn't a high demand in SF for housing or anything, rent prices are SUPER low here.

"(after the planned development is completed) No one is going to be able to see the city from the bay bridge."
-I'm pretty sure our skyline IS the city.

"I have an old Victorian house" -But Sue, not everyone In SF wants to (or can) live in an old Victorian house

"It's environmentally dysfunctional." Sue, If more housing is developed in our congested city for those who have jobs within SF, those people will not be forced to commute from places like Tracy to work.


I love the amount of sighs and eyes-closed remarks she makes... Reminds me of the Prius drivers in the Smug Alert! episode South Park... "Thaaaaanks! Goood for yooou!" Now I know where Matt Stone and Trey Parker got their stereotype of smug San Franciscans.
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  #1195  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2008, 9:40 PM
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I'm surprised that nobody has posted the proposal announced in the business times (yesterday or today) and on Socketsite about the 25-story tower at One Hawthorne. I would do it myself, but I've never seemed to get the picture posting right.
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  #1196  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2008, 10:18 PM
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Friday, February 1, 2008
New S.F. condo project will be a rarity in 2008
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

Jackson Pacific is set to begin construction this week on One Hawthorne St., a 165-unit building likely to be one of the few new condo projects to begin rising from downtown San Francisco this year.

The 24-story building, which will cost $150 million to build, is a joint venture with San Francisco-based MacFarlane Partners.


Ezra Mersey, the former Tishman Speyer managing director who founded Jackson Pacific in 2003, said any hesitancy to jump into the treacherous housing market is outweighed by the project's prime location near the corner of Howard and Second streets.

"We're looking beyond the present cycle and creating a unique project -- with the best location, exceptional contemporary design and very strong sponsorship," said Mersey.

Amalgamated Bank, a labor union pension fund, provided the $120 million construction loan along with the Bank of America. Webcor is the contractor.

While a dozen amenity-packed deluxe condo projects have vied for attention over the past three years, financing for new construction has dried up in recent months. Instead of the 10 to 15 percent equity common in past few years, lenders now look for developers to put in 40 percent of construction costs, and few banks are willing to lend more than $50 million for new condo projects, according to Michael Joseph of Kearny Street Capital, a commercial mortgage broker who worked with Jackson Pacific on the deal.

The only other highrise projects expected to begin building this year are phase two of One Rincon Hill and possibly Turnberry Associates' 45 Lansing St., which Jackson Pacific ushered through the city's entitlement process and sold 18 months ago for $30 million. Two major downtown residential towers are now under construction: Millennium Partners' tower at 333 Mission St. and phase two of Tishman Speyer's Infinity.

The terms of the construction loan were hammered out in September, and Joseph said it would be nearly impossible to duplicate it in the current credit environment. In addition, the involvement of the deep-pocketed MacFarlane Partners and the experienced Webcor went a long way toward assuaging lenders' fears.

"A lot of banks are licking their wounds right now and they are not interested in more speculative development," said Joseph.

While MacFarlane Partners is one of the biggest urban real estate investors in the country, with $20 billion under management, One Hawthorne is its first San Francisco project. MacFarlane Partners' Bay Area projects include the Crossing in San Bruno, Bay Street in Emeryville and Uptown in Oakland. Company founder Victor MacFarlane lives in a penthouse at the St. Regis in San Francisco.

One Hawthorne will include an unusually diverse selection of floor plates ranging from 550-square-foot "junior one bed-room" units to 2,200-square-foot three-bedroom condos. Pricing will range from $500,000 to about $3 million for 2,200-square-foot penthouses. Mersey said he wants to cater to an eclectic mix of buyers, including families who he predicts will be increasingly drawn downtown.

"Families live in downtown Paris and New York," he said, "so why wouldn't they live in a world-class city like San Francisco?"

Mersey concedes that the national housing market "may get worse before it gets better," but he calls San Francisco the "most land-constrained and supply-constrained market in the United States."

"The excesses were far less here and the recovery will be much better," he said.

The project will be an important milestone for Jackson Pacific. The firm made a major bet on downtown and Rincon Hill in 2003, during the dot-com downturn, snapping up three sites: 45 Lansing St., 340 Fremont St., and One Hawthorne St, which Mersey said was a "failed dot-com and no one else wanted it." Mersey's company took each project through the city's time-consuming and politically charged approval process. All three were approved in 2006.

Since that time, more than $2 billion has been invested within five blocks of One Hawthorne, with developments ranging from the $460 million Westfield San Francisco Centre and the $350 million Millennium Tower to the $300 million office tower at 555 Mission St.

"The amount of investment near the site is staggering," said Mersey.

The building will consist of a masonry podium and a curtain wall tower broken into two sections. Mersey, a former architect who worked with the celebrated Philip Johnson, designed the building with EHDD.

jkdineen@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4971[/quote]
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ml?t=printable
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  #1197  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2008, 10:31 PM
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Originally Posted by roadwarrior View Post
I'm surprised that nobody has posted the proposal announced in the business times (yesterday or today) and on Socketsite about the 25-story tower at One Hawthorne. I would do it myself, but I've never seemed to get the picture posting right.
It being the first of the month, I was too busy to read the BizTimes until now but I went ahead and started the thread. I put it in the "proposals" section until someone can verify to the mods that construction has really and truly begun.
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  #1198  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2008, 6:53 AM
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I've been working downtown for almost ten years and the City has certainly changed a lot in that time, particularly now with the many new high rises that have been built or are under construction. But also AT&T Park , UCSF Mission Bay, and the renovation of the Ferry Building among many others. The sidewalk where Market turns into Portola hearing up to Twin Peaks provides an excellent vantage point to see the skyline and it isn't one I recall seeing in this thread, at least not recently. This was taken before the Super Bowl today (2/3/08). Many of the big projects are visible, including 301 Mission, One Rincon Hill, and the Infinity.

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  #1199  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2008, 5:15 PM
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There's a new proposal from Hines and Pelli along the waterfront. This is, of course, considerably smaller in scale than their other current proposal down the street. But given its location, this little building will be quite noticeable when complete.

John King gives his two cents in today's Chronicle:
Quote:



A beautiful green building for Embarcadero

John King, Chronicle Urban Design Writer
Monday, February 4, 2008



Now that "green" buildings are all the rage, San Francisco could see the real thing sprout on the Embarcadero: a glass office building scaled by vines that change color with the seasons.

The proposed 10-story building would rise from a sliver of land next to the Audiffred Building, a three-story brick landmark from 1889 that houses Boulevard Restaurant. Unlike the Audiffred - a French-flavored confection and downtown's oldest waterfront structure - the look next door would be all clear glass and straight lines.

While some tweaks are needed, the project has the potential to be the most exquisite addition to the waterfront since the Embarcadero Freeway came down in 1991 - a poised counterpart to the Audiffred and other nearby landmarks, softened by a lacy living weave that symbolizes today's emphasis on environmental concerns.

The architect and developer of what is dubbed 110 The Embarcadero is also the team that won last year's competition to erect San Francisco's tallest tower. The target opening date for that building is 2013; however, developer Hines wants to take its Embarcadero project to the Planning Commission for approvals this spring, start construction this fall and open in late 2009.

Despite the disparity in size, this miniature isn't an afterthought. If anything, it shows a better understanding of San Francisco's landscape and the challenge of growing in a way that neither apes the past nor overwhelms it.

"This is one of the most adventurous projects we're looking at right now," said Fred Clarke of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the Connecticut firm working for Hines. "At one level, it's a small building. At another, it tests all sorts of assumption about green design."

The structure would fill a 44-foot-wide site now occupied by a long-empty two-story building. There are seven other buildings on the block, including a handsome YMCA building from 1924 and forgettable filler from when the neighborhood was defined by an elevated freeway rather than a wide-open bay.

The design by Pelli Clarke Pelli keeps things simple, a tall box with glass on all sides except the south, where the floors that poke above a six-story neighbor would be clad in solar panels.

The eye-catching feature would be the outer layer of green.

Planters contained by a trellis-like mesh would be attached between each floor, and each planter would hold a mix of vines so something is in bloom each month of the year. The vines would be trained to snake around cables that would form a sort of taut net around the glass box, with vertical cables spaced every 5 feet and horizontal ones stretched waist-high across each floor.

Not only would the vines provide a sort of environmental ornamentation, they'd help cool the exterior and reduce energy needs.

The vegetation and the solar panels are the most obvious signals of 110 The Embarcadero's emphasis on sustainability. Clarke and Hines say the goal is to earn a Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. That's the top honor given by the council, and it has yet to be applied to a speculative office building.

This sort of fine-grain infill isn't what you'd associate with the design firm founded by Cesar Pelli, best known for such sky poppers as Petronas Towers in Malaysia, the world's tallest buildings from 1996 until 2003. Nor Hines, a Houston developer that makes a specialty of marquee projects by brand-name architects.

But Hines bought the site in 2006, drawn by a visibility and location that can't be duplicated. As for Pelli and Clarke, you sense they relish the shift in scale from skyline peaks to mid-block lots.

"The site is so constrained it wasn't a place for dramatic moves," Clarke said. "We saw the potential for something very crisp and elegant."

Pelli and Clarke also use the word elegant to describe their proposed obelisk-like Transbay Tower. But when you're talking about a building that could be 300 feet taller than the Transamerica Pyramid - the final design is months or years away - elegance is outweighed by sheer size.

Here, by contrast, the firm has the chance to do what Pelli does best: home in on the details that make a building memorable no matter what the shape or height might be. For instance, a narrow vine-free bay would project slightly above the retail space on the Embarcadero and proceed up the building to give the profile an extra snap.

The same creativity is applied to the sustainable design features. Cables supporting the vines would also be used to irrigate the planters, recycling filtered wastewater from the building. Douglas fir piers beneath the structure on the site would return as the decking for a publicly accessible rooftop open space.

The one clumsy piece of all this is the height.

Ten stories is hardly a skyscraper, but what's proposed is out of proportion to the Audiffred Building. Add the vine-clad rooftop mechanical system, and the building pushes past the YMCA's peaked roof.

A better approach is to show a bit of deference and come down a story or two below what's currently proposed. Hines would still have a building tall enough to stand out, but it would do so with the subtlety that characterizes the rest of the project.

That's a relatively small change for a relatively small building that, done right, could loom large in all the right ways - demonstrating that cities can evolve with grace while embodying the need for environmental responsibility.

If we're lucky, 110 The Embarcadero will teach us a lesson architecturally as well. The best way to complement historic landmarks isn't to mimic them. It's to add equally good buildings of our era to the mix.
Get involved

No hearings are scheduled on the proposed Embarcadero building, but the issue will eventually be before the Planning Commission.

Contact the Planning Department at 1650 Mission St., Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103 or by phone at (415) 558-6378.

Look up contact information for the members of the Planning Commission at links.sfgate.com/ZCHQ.

FYI, here's what this block looks like today. This building would replace the smallest one on the block (second from right) and the YMCA building he mentions is on the far left:
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Last edited by peanut gallery; Feb 4, 2008 at 8:19 PM.
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  #1200  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2008, 5:31 PM
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Has there ever been a project that he didn't think would be better if it was shorter? I swear, if someone proposed a 1-story building, he'd say it should be built entirely underground. His concern about the YMCA/Harbor Court Hotel down the block is commendable, but unfounded. Look at the photo I added above. They are too far apart for the new one to diminish the old one, especially considering it will only be slightly taller. How could you overshadow this from a block away:


His comment about the Transbay Tower: "the final design is months or years away" is a depressing reminder that we won't see the big one rise for several years.
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