Housing: San Francisco’s West Side

It has become clear that the housing crisis in San Franicsco may have been exacerbated by the tech boom but the root cause goes back to the 1970’s when down zoning to predominantly single family homes was instituted. The “Missing Middle” has become a common term in response to current housing construction trends that build market rate and affordable housing but miss the middle class. In SF one might add the lack of a middle urban scale. The neighborhoods on the west side of the city celebrate and cling to their sense of neighborhood but, at 2 and 3 story buildings, this village scale is unstainable and exclusionary. We propose a new neighborhood density, a middle scale of 5 to 6 story buildings along transit lines that will offer diverse housing types and create vibrant communites by activating street life.

This design study looks at an 8 block area in the Sunset, along the “L” muni line, and proposes 3 new housing prototypes. Each building is formed in response to the local climate, assuring southern sun in shared gardens and at each major living space with open circulation providing cross ventilation and community interaction. Each building offers a mixure of unit types from studios to 3 bedrooms, with commercial at the street and car sharing at the rear of the lot. A new urban fabric emerges with garden courtyards opening to the street or connecting to rear yards and parklets extending the sidewalk that expand social activity along the street.

Design Team:
Sarah Willmer
Khulan Batsaikhan
Daniel Barrio
Yu Hsin Li
Hoda Harraz

Consultant:
James K. Stickley (Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC) – Landscape Architect