Hill to Hill, A Trans-bay Parti

Industrial Evolutions in the Dogpatch

The Dogpatch neighborhood has historically been home to a variety of heavy industries with a particular focus on waterfront-industries. An array of maritime-focused operations, including: rope and cordage, ship building, drydocks, steel mills, canneries, and electrical switches flourished for decades. However, with the closure of World War II and substantial shifts in regional and national economies, the Dogpatch’s maritime-industries went into decline. Over the past 30 years, the neighborhood has shifted and begun accommodating a contemporary variety of artists, designers, and small-scale fabricators. Industrial focuses have shifted from maritime-centric, to a range of biology, healthcare, and design industries. 1111 Pennsylvania shares in this legacy, converting an existing storage lot to a multi-story PDR (Production, Distribution, and Repair) facility.

HILL TO HILL, VIEW TO PARTI

The hills of the Bay Area are key landmarks constituting the area’s natural skyline, subsequently sharing a reciprocal relationship with each other. As two of the most significant landforms in their respective cities, Potrero Hill and the Berkeley Hills share a particularly special relationship. Despite being bisected by the Bay, these shared views have helped cultivate a shared sense of place. By looking at the 1111 Pennsylvania site from both the horizontal views across the Bay, and a vertical transect inspired by California ecology and geology, a four-part system was developed to celebrate the site’s context.

A pair of pergolas inspired by the form and motion of bird and butterfly wings enclose the two outer deck areas and orient viewers to significant landmarks across the Bay. The Berkeley Hills themselves are then pulled onto the roof deck through a series of heavily sloped planters, dividing program areas, and providing birds and insects with food and shelter. Continuing to move vertically downward, the at-grade planting areas rely on a palette of low-water use shrubs and grasses of California meadows and lowlands. Finally, a heavy struck line greets users as they enter the roof deck, as a reverent nod to the fault lines and geology of California beneath our feet.

sketches