A Bridge to the Past
The Ropewalk is located in San Francisco’s Historic Dogpatch District. The site was once home to the Tubbs Cordage Company, a maritime ropemaking factory, whose pier extended far out into the waters of the bay. The site once mediated the boundary between water and land. Taking inspiration from the site’s industrial past, ecological past, and maritime history, we designed an engaging public passageway that offers the opportunities to interact with its history. The design consists of a meandering elevated boardwalk, which floats over a constructed bio-retention wetland and connects two distinctly different public plazas. These plazas feature an outdoor museum, interactive art, and a variety of custom designed furnishings.
The Dogpatch Ropewalk is a series of engaging community spaces, green infrastructures, and a celebration of maritime history. A meandering elevated boardwalk, which floats over a constructed bioretention wetland and connects an interactive plaza with an outdoor museum.
Dogpatch Ropewalk, San Francisco, CA
Neighborhood: Dogpatch, San Francisco
Date: 2018 Completed
Size: .5 acre
Client: AGI/Resmark
Features: Green Infastructure, Historic Interpretation
Press and Awards: ASLA National Honor Award
The Water Plaza
The ‘Water’ plaza is closest to the neighborhood’s arterial roadway, Third Street, and is the most abstract and ethereal of the three zones. Here, ghosts of the past inspire the unusual form of a family of Nomads, through a collection of sculptural steel benches that appear to walk through the space. Adjacent to these benches, an interactive art installation – the ‘Rope-Tying Station’ - encourages passersby to touch rope and to learn maritime knots. Steel poles with cabling serve to both light the space and to reference ship masts and rigging.
The Marsh
The ‘Marsh’ zone draws visitors from the activity of the Water plaza through the site to the more contemplative ‘Shore’ plaza. In the Marsh zone, the main feature is an elevated wood and steel boardwalk that references the original Tubbs Cordage pier. This boardwalk is suspended over a constructed wetland, relating to the marsh that existed at this location.
The Industrial Plaza
The ‘Industrial’ plaza is the most concrete in its significance and symbolism, utilizing above-grade transformers as a surface for historic image collages and original imagery of the Tubbs Cordage Factory and Ropewalk. This permanent public exhibition surrounds a public plaza with seating and a massive corten steel community table, to evoke the historic pier.
SUSTAINABILITY
Many of our projects utilize water management practices which seek to establish a more ecologically sound treatment of stormwater, especially in urban settings. This approach, often termed “green infrastructure, ” presents a multitude of design opportunities which can improve the quality of life for humans as well as plants and animals. By mimicking natural ecological processes in our designs we can cut down on costs and the intensive use of natural resources, mitigate urban environmental problems, and provide safe and healthy spaces for communities of all kinds to gather and enjoy. As the global climate change emergency unfolds, interventions like these are just starting to become standard practice.
Rainwater from the rooftop and on-structure patios is collected and transferred to a large manhole which acts as an energy dissipator. From there, water is dispersed throughout the bioretention area for treatment via an inundation channel. At the bottom of the bioretention area, any excess stormwater and treated water from the site enter a drain inlet and flow into the city storm drain.
Materials
Three distinct material palettes define the three spaces. The Water plaza is an abstract space of the past, and has a silver palette of metals, paving, and paint. The wood used in the Marsh zone bridge, allows visitors to connect with the pier’s historic materiality. The Industrial plaza is defined by dark materials and rusting steel that references the site’s darker past.
Water / Silver
Marsh / Wood
Industrial / Steel
Drawings
construction
history
SF TROLLEY DANCES
Thank you to Epiphany Dance Company for choosing the Dogpatch Ropewalk as a site for an SF Trolly Dance!
The SF Trolly Dance 2020 online iteration features pre-recorded video and an interactive map of San Francisco, pairing artists and ensembles with specific sites along a historic MUNI route for 6 to 10-minute performances in response to the physical environment, architecture and history of the city.
Epiphany Dance Theater brings you a free film festival of site-specific dance curated by Executive Artistic Director Kim Epifano, with technical direction by Managing Director Jes DeVille, Company Coordinator Kaylamay Paz Suarez, and videographer Andy Mogg.
You can learn more about SF Trolley Dances and Epiphany Dance Theater here!
