How 300 Ivy Street Unites a Community

By Land8: Landscape Architects Network on June 10, 2015 No Comments / 6820 views

300 Ivy Street, by Fletcher Studio, in San Francisco, California. Public space plays a really important role in residential areas. People spend most of their leisure time inside dwellings with family or outside in public spaces visiting with neighbors. How do we create attractive public spaces surrounding a dwelling to increase social communication between neighbors and at the same time improve the pedestrian experience? The following project will give us an excellent answer. 300 Ivy Street is a new five-story mixed-use dwelling area in San Francisco. The project was built on an existing surface parking lot that was part of the now-demolished San Francisco Central Freeway. Designers concentrated on a balance between private and public space in order to build a peaceful dwelling area and vibrant neighborhood.

The masterplan from 300 Ivy Street. Image courtesy of Fletcher Studio

300 Ivy Street

The project includes 63 different dwelling units and 5,000 square feet of retail space. The buildings are separated by a T-shaped courtyard. The bay and recess forms are used for the facades of the dwellings next to the street side to establish a similar style to the surrounding districts. In order to prevent disturbances from the street, the borders of the ground floor are pulled a few feet back from the property line and the first living floor has been lifted off of street level. At the same time, the sidewalk for pedestrians has been widened to also buffer the dwellings from the public space. [contextly_sidebar id=”IduvMN4LBLaZkCFDmUq9sFJU7MWfEtNv”] The one important thing, for landscape architects, to note about this project is that Fletcher Studio designed most everything outside: the furniture, the fencing, the bollards, bike racks, metal work, the basalt patterned (milled) paving, etc. helping them to create a visually unified design. The corner of the building between Gough and Ivy streets is used as a cafe, which helps to orientate visitors and bring lively environment to the district. The entrance is set on Ivy Street, which is a more peaceful area than Gough Street. The entry gate contains several steel frames with glass. This open view creates an interaction between pedestrians and residents. By using planters, the courtyard extends to the street and becomes a part of the street landscape. From the entrance, a ramp leads residents to the door of dwellings.

300 Ivy Street. Photo credit: Bruce Damonte

Creating an Outdoor Living Room One side of the ramp is a small plaza with a wood table and bench, which offers a perfect place for residents to communicate with neighbors. Next to the plaza is a bike storage area, which is covered with wood doors. The wood features create an outdoor living room, providing a space for residents to relax as they arrive in the plaza after a busy day.

300 Ivy Street. Photo credit: Bruce Damonte

The Roof Garden On the top of the north building is a roof garden that offers different leisure activities. An outdoor kitchen with some wood furniture gives residents an opportunity to cook together. A wood patio supplies a peaceful place for residents to relax or enjoy the cityscape. Between the outdoor kitchen and the wood patio, a lot of perennial herbs are planned. This provides a nice community space for residents for different uses. The Inclusion of Private Terraces On the west side of the courtyard are private terraces. Plants such as bamboo are used in the middle of the yard in order to offer privacy to residents who live in both the north and south sections of the housing development. Creating a Buffer Zone Between Private and Public Spaces By using a stoops-planter pattern, the entrances to the houses are established on Grove Street and Ivy Street. This kind of landscape gives a buffer zone between private and public space. At the same time, it provides a vibrant and interesting streetscape for pedestrians.

300 Ivy Street. Photo credit: Bruce Damonte

Clever Design Means an Enhanced Lifestyle In this project, plenty of planters are used in order to soften the hardscape and split private and public space. At the same time, the planters also help to improve the quality of the streetscape. Small shrubs or perennial herbs were chosen for the project so that a slender environment is built to match the small spaces of the district. The customized outdoor furniture in the project is also a key to improving the experience of residents and increase neighborhood enjoyment.

300 Ivy Street. Photo credit: Bruce Damonte

Full Project Credits

Project: 300 Ivy Street Location: 300 ivy Street San Francisco CA Developer: Ivy Grove Partners LLC Architect: David Baker Architects Landscape Architect: Fletcher Studio Completed: January 2014 Client: Ivy Grove Partners, LLC Photographer: Bruce Damonte Site Size: 22,837 sf Show on Google Maps

Recommended Reading: