Balboa Reservoir, San Francisco Competition
Designed as Mithun / Solomon, 2017
John Ellis Urban Designer with Daniel Solomon, Anne Torney, Kristen Belt, Mohammad Momin
A design competition entry to develop the City owned Balboa Reservoir site next to City College. The entry for the Emerald Fund and Mercy Housing proposed a combination of residential types ranging from stacked flats to townhouses for a sensitive site next to a single family neighborhood.
The design process explored a couple of site layouts before focusing on a Preferred Option that focused on a new Neighborhood Park on axis with City College to the east. Linkages with the recently built multi-family housing on Ocean Avenue as well as deference to the scale of the single family homes to the west.
Aerial view showing the axial relationship to City College and the change of scale from five story stacked flats down to two-story townhouses adjacent to the existing single family neighborhood.
Figure ground showing the proposed street and block pattern.
Building footprints showing the stepped massing down towards the adjacent single family housing.
Earlier study.
Earlier study plans.