San Francisco, CA, 2007

This is the third building on this residential enclave of Natoma Street, directly across from two earlier buildings, 1022 and 1028.

The site is a 25 foot x 80 foot lot. The project continues the investigation of San Francisco infill buildings with parking and four units above. Its structuring continues and refines the explorations of its predecessors.

One thickened party wall has vertical access for the four units, and a light court. The other thickened party wall is a service zone, condensing the kitchens, bathrooms, laundry, and storage behind sliding glass doors, and leaves a free space the length of the building, with light at both ends. Floating walls and sliding etched glass doors divide and connect this space.

Bathed in light, each unit is a full floor with expansive windows to the north, east and south, creating a serene retreat in the midst of SOMA

The street level contains parking in a mechanical stacker, the entrance lobby, and a garden for Unit 1. Unit 2 extends into the light court. The rooftop is an open field shared by Unit 3 and 4.

The front facade has a bay window silhouette constructed of staggered vertical fins which provide shading from the afternoon western sun, and a veil shielding the city beyond. The surface which frames the bay is sheathed in dark perforated metal.