Peak Experience, by Atlas Lab, Market Street, San Francisco. What does a main street in your city or town look like? A streetscape is typically a stretched linear entity that encourages circulation and has common elements such as street lighting; lanes paved in an orderly fashion for cars, bicycles and pedestrians; landscape planting; and some street furniture. One finds great diversity in a streetscape, and every street has a separate identity. However, we don’t always find streets that encourage us to partake in any activity besides fast-paced walking. As part of the Market Street Prototyping Festival, the unique streetscape prototype installation of the Peak Experience is driven by a desire to integrate play into traditional street models and provide opportunities for connection with others.

Peak Experience. Photo credit: Atlas Lab, tenBrink Garza
Peak Experience
For the people of San Francisco, Market Street has always been a passageway, not a destination. The city itself is built on rolling waves of hills. Besides the Golden Gate Bridge and the stunning views across San Francisco’s bay, the city is famous for the hilly topography of its peninsula, making it distinctive among American cities. The city’s iconic terrain has curated and framed its diverse neighborhoods. Market Street has been a different story. Built on a rare flat land, the area lacks the iconic views of San Francisco’s landscape. Although the main thoroughfare provides links to the vibrant surrounding neighborhoods, it lacks the character other spaces in the city provide and does not support a platform for community engagement.

Peak Experience. Photo credit: Atlas Lab, tenBrink Garza
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Peak Experience. Image credit: Atlas Lab

Peak Experience. Image credit: Atlas Lab

Peak Experience. Photo credit: Atlas Lab, tenBrink Garza

Peak Experience. Photo credit: Atlas Lab, tenBrink Garza

Peak Experience. Photo credit: Atlas Lab, tenBrink Garza

Peak Experience. Photo credit: Atlas Lab, tenBrink Garza
Full Project Credits for Peak Experience
Project: PEAK EXPERIENCE – Deploying San Francisco’s iconic terrain as an agent for interactive discovery, play, and community engagement Project Type: Juried Competition – Temporary Installation Competition Name: Market Street Prototyping Festival Designers: Atlas Lab Location: Market Street, San Francisco Area: Around 20m2 Client: The public engaging in the 2015 San Francisco Market Street Prototyping Festival Year: 2015 Team Information: Andrew tenBrink and Kimberly Garza (ATLAS Lab)
Recommended Reading:
- Landscape Architecture: An Introduction by Robert Holden
- Landscape Architecture, Fifth Edition: A Manual of Environmental Planning and Design by Barry Starke
Article by Win Phyo
Published in Blog
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