Stools from local designer Caleb Ferris and design firm Prowl Studio were among the works displayed at a San Francisco exhibition centred around contemporary Bay Area design.

The Works in Progress show displayed stools, chairs and other furniture from local designers to highlight the diversity in methods and backgrounds of an evolving Bay Area design scene.

"As the Bay Area creative scene evolves in real-time, there are boundless possibilities for how it might bloom," said curators and designers Kate Greenberg, Kelley Perumbeti, and Sahra Jajarmikhayat in a statement. 

"For now, we are here to acknowledge its depth and say: it's a work in progress."

The team distributed the exhibition's pieces across metallic platforms supported by foundations of bricks.

Pieces ranged from a curvacious, duck-footed poplar wood stool marked with paint and silver leaf by Caleb Ferris, to Prowl Studio's cubic stainless steel stool wrapped in a 3D knit cover.

"Across a range of materials, forms, and functions, the participants have found a groove in the original, the introspective, and the off-center," said the team. 

Designer Ido Yoshimoto displayed a sculptural side table made of old-growth redwood and finished in a dark red textured hue. The table consists of a geometric, curved corner that runs into a darkened raw edge.

Studio Ahead created a fuzzy Merino wool stool informed by northern California rock formations, which contrasted with the smooth surface of a glass stool by curators Jajarmikhayat and Greenberg.

Other works included a baltic plywood side table with grooved sides and small, chunky sky blue legs by NJ Roseti and a white oak chair topped with a wild fleece and suede cushion by Rafi Ajl of studio Long Confidence.

Office of Tangible Space showed a flat-legged chair designed in collaboration with CNC design studio Thirdkind Studio, while Duncan Oja of Oja Design displayed a charred white oak stool with an organic, rough-sawn profile.

Fyrn Studio showed a charcoal-black hardwood stool with aluminium hardware created with replaceable parts and studio Medium Small and designer Yvonne Mouser both displayed chairs made of ash, one blackened and the other not, supported by bases of elegant, simple lines.

"As simple as it sounds, the soul of this exhibition is in the representation of physical craft and the people behind it. It's important to shine a light on this vibrant slice of the Bay Area that is not always as visible amidst a city focused on the digital realm," said Perumbeti.

"There's something really exciting brewing in this community that is just beginning to get teased out," said Greenberg.

Works in Progress was part of the wider San Francisco Art Week, which highlights art and design from the city and took place from 13-21 January.

Other recent furniture exhibitions that highlighted California designers include INTRO/LA with pieces by Adi Goodrich and Sam Klemick and the first Miami edition from Milan-based design exhibition Alcova held in a motel during Miami's art week.

Works in Progress took place at the American Industrial Center in San Francisco from 18 to 23 January 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

The photography is by Sahra Jajarmikhayat unless otherwise stated. 

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Local studio MacDonald Architects has designed the safety nets recently installed on each side of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to prevent people from jumping from its sides.

Designed by MacDonald Architects on behalf of Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (GGBHT) – the state district that manages the bridge, the deterrent nets were completed on earlier this month.

According to the GGBHT, the nets were installed on 95 per cent of the 87-year-old bridge, with some sections currently under construction having vertical fences installed.

The marine-grade stainless steel nets were installed 20 feet (six metres) below the sidewalk and stretch 20 feet out from the bridge, suspended at intervals by red-painted steel arms that match the colour of the bridge.

"The net is a proven design"

They run through the whole 1.7-mile length (2.7 kilometre) of the bridge and were installed to prevent people from taking their own lives by jumping from the bridge.

They are meant to catch people who jump from the bridge, allowing the on-site security to retrieve the individuals from the net.

According to GGBHT, there have been an average of 30 confirmed suicides every year on the bridge for the past 20 years.

"The purpose of the net is to reduce the number of deaths associated with individuals jumping off the Bridge," said GGBHT in a statement.

"The net is a proven design that deters people from jumping, serves as a symbol of care and hope to despondent individuals, and, if necessary, offers people a second chance."

Work began on the project in 2017, and the GGBHT reported the net to be "already working as intended", saying that less than half of the average number of people died on the bridge in 2023.

"There have also been several instances where people have jumped into the net, and we, along with partner agencies, have successfully rescued many of them," added GGBHT.

The nets come after years of advocacy from local groups including the Bridge Rail Foundation, which comprises people in the community with personal connections to the issue.

"The prices are astronomical"

MacDonald Architects has been the main design consultant on the bridge since the 1980s, implementing transit retrofits like bike rails and improving the structure's seismic rating over the years.

The studio's principal Donald MacDonald spent years researching various suicide prevention barriers in order to submit recommendations to the local government on possible design solutions.

According to a report by the Guardian, the net was approved more than a decade ago but has faced numerous challenges including local complaints due to the historic nature of the bridge and construction delays, some stemming from a lawsuit launched by contractors.

MacDonald told Dezeen that the biggest challenges in the design were the variety of inputs from local interests, the impact of wind on the bridge when new aspects were installed along with the high costs of the project.

For the Golden Gate Bridge, the design called for modifications to the travellers – platforms installed under the bridge for maintenance.

"The prices are astronomical," said MacDonald. According to GGBHT, $224 million (£130 million) was spent on the installation.

The changes to the bridge also underwent a historical evaluation, according to MacDonald, who has installed a variety of deterrent systems from fences to nets on bridges in the United States and Canada.

"It had to comply with the national guidelines," he told Dezeen. "When I did it, there wasn't a lot of data available on bridges. So I had to work out a whole system evaluating the bridge in a historical format."

Other newer structures have become locations for suicide, sparking controversy from local communities.

These include the Heatherwick Studio-designed Vessell in New York City, a sculptural vertical walkway that was forced to close in 2021 after multiple suicides followed its 2019 opening, even after a "buddy system" was put in place by its owners.

The photography is courtesy of Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.

International helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. In the USA, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255, while in the UK the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123.

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Mork-Ulnes Architects has completed the Silver Lining House, a crisp, gabled home clad in black-stained cedar that was designed for an architectural photographer and interior designer.

Located on a sloped site in San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighbourhood, the house sits among Victorian and Edwardian homes that line the area's hilly streets.

The project was designed for architectural photographer Bruce Damonte and interior designer Alison Damonte, who have long been friends with architect Casper Mork-Ulnes, founder of Mork-Ulnes Architects.

The couple, who are avid collectors, desired a home that showcased their treasured belongings and supported their creative work.

"We knew from the outset that this project would be an interesting collaboration, balancing our reductive tendencies with the more exuberant and maximalist impulses of our client/friends, whose style we had always admired and wanted to celebrate," said Casper Mork-Ulnes.

The architect and his team at Mork-Ulnes Architects – which has offices in San Francisco and Oslo – conceived a home for the Damontes that "conceptually functions as a container for their furniture and art collections and a laboratory for their work".

Rectangular in plan, the home rises three levels and features a crisp, gabled form. Facades are clad in strips of black-stained cedar and are punctured with openings of varying sizes.

The architects took cues from the surrounding context when deciding on key design elements such as scale, massing and cladding – but they also strayed from the norm.

"While replicating the roof forms, entry portal/stoop and massing of the Victorian homes, the new house also breaks from tradition with a black-painted facade and ribbon windows that visually connect the interior of the house to the neighbourhood," the team said.

"Tradition is reinterpreted here with a decidedly contemporary perspective, where formal research and construction techniques are integral to creating an original and innovative outcome that engages its surroundings while also prompting further inquiry," the team added.

Totalling 2,818 square feet (261 square metres), the home has a "flipped floor plan", in which private quarters are found on lower levels and communal spaces are placed up high.

The ground level holds a garage, primary bedroom suite, laundry room and sunken garden. The main entrance is found on the first floor, where the team placed a guest suite, a home office, two bathrooms and intimate spaces for relaxing and entertaining.

The top level – envisioned as a penthouse-type space – encompasses a kitchen, dining area, living room and powder room. A terrace offers sweeping views of the city.

Floors are linked by a curved staircase topped with a skylight. Half-polished chrome slats bounce reflections around the stairwell, an effect meant to "mimic the experience of walking through a disco ball".

Mirrored surfaces are found in other parts of the house, lending a feeling of playfulness while also producing spacial and light-generating effects, the team said.

Overall, the home's interior design – overseen by Alison Damonte – offers a mix of colours, textures and patterns that "reflect the owners' collective creative spirit", the team said.

Sustainability was in mind throughout the project, leading to the inclusion of elements such as high-performance windows, exterior solar shading and energy-efficient appliances.

Rooftop solar panels generate electricity that can be stored in a Powerwall battery system, and unused electricity is sent back to the power grid.

The home's completion marks the end of a journey spanning more than a decade.

In 2010, the Damontes purchased a modest residence in Bernal Heights dating to the early 1900s.

Several years later, they enlisted Mork-Ulnes to renovate the house, and just when plans were being finalized in 2017, the house caught fire and was partly destroyed.

The team salvaged what they could and reworked the design.

"While the incident forced a reevaluation of scope and scale of the redesign, the couple's goal remained the same – to create a home that acted as a capsule of art and inspiration," the team said.

Other projects by Mork-Ulnes include an eight-sided house in Oregon that was built using cross-laminated timber and a California residence clad in Corten steel to protect the building from wildfire.

The photography is by Bruce Damonte. 

Project credits:

Architect: Mork-Ulnes Architects
Project design team: Casper Mork-Ulnes, Lexie Mork-Ulnes, Phi Van Phan, Gregoriy Ladigin
Interior designer: Alison Damonte
Construction manager: Raffi Nazarian
Landscape architect: Terremoto
Structural engineer: Santos & Urritia
Lighting design: PritchardPeck
General contractor: Rico's General Construction, Inc
Cabinetmaker: Hopebuilt

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Local design firm Prowl Studio and investment company Baukunst have shown a variety of sustainable materials including aquatic plants meant for animal feed and an electric RV at a pop-up exhibition in San Francisco.

Held in July, the BEACON exhibition was a one-day inaugural event featuring San Francisco-based companies exploring sustainable material science, technology and design.

"For BEACON, we selected twelve exhibitors who are at the cutting edge of material science, product design, and systems-level solutions – from carbon-negative protein sources to electric RV's – all while holding design as a key principle," said Baukunst in a statement.

The event was held in a first-floor space of Building 12, a former steel manufacturing plant recently renovated and slated to open later this year.

The participating companies were Anthro Energy, BluumBio, FYTO, Intropic Materials, Lightship, Maa'va, Mango Materials, Mill, Orange Charger, OurCarbon, Sway and unspun.

Each display was staged on a geometric set made of scaffolding, debris netting and plywood shelving with simple metallic lamps used for lighting.

The design is a nod to Baukunst's translation, "the art of building", and an acknowledgement that "our future is under collective construction".

Anthro Energy, a technology company that has developed and produced a flexible battery, laid its products in various shapes, with a central battery twisted into a short helix and held in place with a laboratory clamp.

The batteries are made using proprietary polymer electrolyte technology in order to flex and bend.

Available in different sizes of bands, they are intended to expand the capabilities and design of electronic devices, which are often hindered by the size of traditional batteries.

Agricultural technologists FYTO displayed different species of aquatic crops in beakers, which are grown using the company's automated systems.

The protein-dense plants will be used as an alternative to traditional animal feed, which constitutes a significant portion of global crop production.

Material innovation company Sway showcased samples of its regenerative, plastic-free packaging made of seaweed.

Using natural polymers found in the algae, the company produces a compostable, non-toxic material alternative to plastic.

Outside the building, transportation company Lightship parked its all-electric L1 RV, an EV trailer that features roof-top solar panels and a body that can be automatically compressed into "road mode" or extended for "camp mode".

"It was incredibly rewarding to provide these companies a stage unlike anything they've been able to have before, connecting with a broader community in a rich and diverse way to share the hope their work offers at this time," said Prowl Studio.

Other highlights include the all-inclusive food recycling service by Mill, a recycled material made to replace concrete by Maa'Va and 3D-weaving technology created by Unspun.

Prowl Studio recently developed the first injection-moulded chair that can be composted and collaborated with Byborre on textile informed by the California wildfires

The photography is courtesy Cody James Perhamus.

The BEACON exhibition was on show at Building 12 in San Francisco on 27 July 2023. For more exhibitions, events and talks in architecture and design, visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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US architecture studio West of West has won an AIA competition to reimagine the future of San Francisco housing in response to the city's housing crisis.

American Institute of Architects (AIA) San Francisco's Housing+ San Francisco 2050 Design Competition called for "visions of 21st-century duplex and quadriplexes that offer up innovative approaches to lifestyle and architectural style" as a response to the city's housing crisis.

Los Angeles and Portland-based West of West won the competition with its Sunset Steps concept – a multi-family building designed to have 65 per cent of its site used as shared greenspaces to foster community among residents.

At the back of the building, stepped terraces would create informal gathering spaces like decks, balconies and gardens, while pushing massing to the front of the site would create more space for the ground floor yard.

A shared staircase branching out from the centre of the building would further foster collaborative living by linking outdoor spaces so residents may easily access each space.

"Sunset Steps is a place for community living that is simultaneously sustainable, beautiful, and affordable," said West of West partner Clayton Taylor.

"By using a combination of natural and high-performance materials, we can create inviting, welcoming spaces for families and individuals from all generations."

Inside, the multi-family living units were designed to be adaptable, with homeowners empowered to rent or renovate individual units over time in accordance with lifestyle changes.

For instance, residents would be able to choose to "pool resources" in order to convert one unit into a daycare space if enough children reside throughout the building.

At its most compact, Sunset Steps would offer a set of four homes throughout four stories and at its most expansive, ten different units.

This would depend on its internal configurations, which can be changed with a "simple addition or subtraction of a portion of walls".

The building's stepped terraces and alcoves would also allow for natural light to penetrate each unit.

Natural materials like terracotta cladding, wood windows, and cross-laminated timber framing were proposed to create a sense of warmth both on the interior and exterior of the building.

The building would be set back from its neighbours and features a greenspace and "active stoop" at its front in order to respect the surrounding architectural style and bring "thoughtful density to a place that needs it".

Corner windows would be included to provide additional light and ventilation in corner and mid-lot sites in the city's west side, where the competition's sites were proposed.

Development in these lots has been "stalled for generations" due to rezoning laws established in the late 1970s that effectively banned multi-unit housing in "all but selected neighborhoods" throughout the city.

Sustainable techniques like high-performance windows, efficient insulation, and natural ventilation are also proposed to meet passive house standards. The studio said that together these features would make Sunset Steps "a place for a beloved community to call home".

While it is unclear if the project will be actualised, Sarah Willmer, co-chair of the AIASF Housing Knowledge Community, said the competition was meant to "raise the issue of housing development to the top of the political and popular agenda".

Other community-oriented housing projects include Bittoni Architects' development for LA newcomers and the Dockley Apartments in London.

The imagery is courtesy of West of West.

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Designers including Bethan Laura Wood and Maarten Baas have contributed a range of "sometimes jarring" chairs and lighting to an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Called Conversation Pieces: Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue, the exposition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) features 45 pieces of furniture and decor "that prioritise meaning and material choice over function and practicality".

"The works on view are sometimes jarring, often bold and always conversation starters," said the museum.

Drawn entirely from the SFMOMA collection, some of the pieces were chosen purely for their alternative appearance, such as an otherworldly leather and plastic armchair by South Korean designer Jay Sae Jung Oh.

Other pieces of furniture were selected for their commentary on social issues. For example, a piece by American architect Germane Barnes is a porch chair topped with an oversized backrest shaped like a milled wood comb.

Called Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown, the piece was described by Barnes as a representation of Black hair, meant to highlight how Black hair "is often policed and frowned upon instead of celebrated as it should [be]".

Dutch designer Baas and Italian architect Gaetano Pesce were also included in the exhibition.

Baas created a bright blue chair covered with clay while Pesce contributed an organic-looking fabric and resin chair called Seaweed, which resembles clumps of tangled algae.

A series of lighting designs accompanied the furniture. British designer Bethan Laura Wood created a spindly glass and metal chandelier called Criss Cross Kite.

"A chandelier is normally a very fancy-pantsy centre light," said Wood, reflecting on her work.

"I definitely want to play with this idea of fantasy within the thing."

American designer Katie Stout's ceramic lamp Unique Girl was also on display. The lighting piece is characterised by an abstract figure that the designer said is meant as a commentary on domesticity and femininity.

All of the furniture in the exhibition was arranged across a deep red carpet interspersed with amorphously shaped plots of floor space to form a meandering pathway.

Books by the exhibited designers as well as texts that inform their work were positioned in piles on the floor next to their respective furniture pieces.

"For the designers who did not yet have a book on their practice, we wrapped a large book in black paper to signal [the idea of a] 'missing book or scholarship," said SFMOMA curator Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher.

"We found that most of the missing books were for women designers," she added.

"Sparking dialogue throughout the gallery, Conversation Pieces presents chairs and lamps that surprise and garner attention unapologetically," said SFMOMA.

Last year, the San Francisco museum showcased an exhibition of work by architect Neri Oxman, while it recently became the first museum to acquire a module from the Japanese Nakagin Capsule Tower.

Conversation Pieces: Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue was on display at the SFMOMA from 20 August 2022 to 25 June 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The images are courtesy of SFMOMA.

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Dutch architecture studio MVRDV has created The Canyon, a housing complex in San Francisco that marks its first completed project on the United States' West Coast.

The Canyon is a 23-storey high rise with a 240-foot-tall (73 metres) tower standing on top of a plinth with a bisecting walkway that creates a canyon effect, giving the structure its name.

It features a red-brown facade that the studio describes as "ruggedly textured" and a red colour that references the geological formations of California.

Where the facades meet at the central walkway, the windows and balconies have been stepped back to create the rugged texture.

The building is largely residential, comprising 283 housing units – with nearly a third set aside for "middle-income families" – and two floors of offices above the ground floor.

Ample light is afforded to the apartments via the bisecting walkway, which will also provide access from the street to the middle of the structure and to the wider Mission Rock complex.

The ground level hosts a number of shops and restaurants accessible to the public, while landscaping and public spaces have been added to the roofs of the plinth structure.

"With our design we introduce a feeling of topography to make the building very much connected to its location", said MVRDV founding partner Nathalie de Vries.

"Crucially, this approach also enabled us to contribute to a lively neighbourhood: with the public ravine as its focal point, The Canyon creates a landscape of activity where the public realm connects to the shops, offices, and homes to keep Mission Rock busy and alive."

Commissioned through a partnership consisting of MLB team the San Francisco Giants, real estate firm Tishman Speyer and the Port of San Francisco, the Mission Rock development is a mixed-use neighbourhood that will be developed on the site of a former parking lot on San Francisco's waterfront.

The Canyon is part of the first phase of the Mission Rock development, which includes designs by international studios such as Chicago-based Studio Gang, Danish studio Henning Larsen and New York-based WorkAC.

The plan is for all of the buildings to host different aspects of the development's utilities. The Canyon will host the key elements of the heating systems, while the WorkAC structure will hold a water recycling plant.

"The proximity to the San Francisco Bay provides the site with the opportunity to utilise bay water for both cooling and heating of Mission Rock via a water exchange system," said MVDRV.

"The system leads to a reduction of CO2 and lower water and energy usage and thus lower bills for the tenants."

Other recent projects in San Francisco include a mixed-used building by US studio Handel Architects placed on a triangular site and a glass extension to the city's Cathedral School for Boys by Charles F Bloszies.

The photography is by Jason O'Rear.

Project credits: 

Architect: MVRDV; founding Partner in charge: Nathalie de Vries; Partner: Frans de Witte; Design Team: Fedor Bron, Mick van Gemert, Fouad Addou, Matteo Gramellini, Teodora Cirjan, Andrea Manente, Claudia Consonni, Aneta Rymsza, Marina Kounavi, Sandra Jasionyte, Ievgenia Koval, Nicolas Garin Odriozola, Paul van Herk, Kamila Korona
Executive architect: Perry Architects
Landscape architect: GLS Landscape/Architecture
Structural engineer: Magnusson Klemencic Associates
MEP: PAE Engineers
Contractor: Swinerton Builders
Developer: Tishman Speyer

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Local studio Dumican Mosey has completed a renovation of a 1907 house with a four-storey, red staircase in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighbourhood.

Dumican Mosey completed the 3,300-square foot (300-square metre) house, named the Red Stair House, in 2022.

The completed residence preserved the original building footprint but expanded the living space by excavating a level below the ground floor and adding a single-story addition to the top of the house.

The existing house was stripped to the studs and reconfigured, while the adjacent vacant parcel was developed as a new garden to preserve a little open space in the dense city.

"This project was inspired by a desire for timeless quality, accentuated by a bold sculptural punctuation that connects all four floors," founder Eric Dumican told Dezeen.

"We emphasized strong physical, spatial, and visual relationships between the interior spaces and the building, garden, and mid-block open space, as well as panoramic views to the Bay, Coit Tower, and Downtown."

Dumican Mosey was first contracted to perform site studies, but when the original clients moved, they connected the new owners with the studio, who helped create a combination of open public areas and private retreats by merging the 1,350-square foot (125-square metre) lot with an adjacent property.

The merging of the properties allowed for closed-off aspects of the house to be opened via an operable window wall that provided a "seamless connect" to the garden installed between the structures.

From the outside, the house reads as a series of folded voids that create visual interest and cohesion . The front entrance is marked with vertical western red cedar – treated with a grey-wash stain – and a double-height window.

The solid wooden front door gives way to the central four-story switchback staircase, custom manufactured with high-quality MDF and painted a bold red shade.

"The stair acts as both sculptural relief and budget-conscious circulation," Dumican explained. "The stair trades visual impact for space, itself [becoming] a series of folded and articulated planes, mirroring the overall aesthetic of the building."

Aside from the red staircase, the interior material palette is mostly reserved. Wide plank oak hardwood flooring stretches through the upper levels, and custom oak cabinetry – with integrated drawer pulls and thin granite slab countertops – creates a clean, warm feeling in the kitchen.

However, each room features a pop of colour: pale blue cabinets in the bathroom, sunset-coloured shelves in the living room, and a patterned sofa in the lounge space.

The top-floor addition sits back from the edge of the house, like a pavilion with a thin profile, and has a cantilevered roof with a rectangular puncture. A glass terrace wraps around the rear side and extends beyond the original footprint.

On the back side of the house, the rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows that open to the city vista and the rear garden. Smooth-finished white stucco and black powder-coated metal accent the cedar siding.

"Overall, the feeling of the house is one of architectural sophistication meeting relaxed living, in a surprisingly compact space that nevertheless feels nearly infinitely expansive," the studio said.

Nearby in San Francisco's South of Market neighbourhood, Dumican Mosey transformed a 1920s industrial building into a residence and studio for a contemporary artist who suspended a vintage car from the ceiling.

Last year, Dezeen collected the best sculptural staircases from architectural projects in 2022.

The photography is by Blake Marvin.

Project credits:
Architect: Dumican Mosey Architects
General contractor: Devlin McNally Construction
Structural: Holmes Structures
Landscape: Owner/Rene Bihan

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Cladding made of glass-fibre-reinforced concrete wraps the exterior of a sculptural, mixed-used building that was designed by US firm Handel Architects for a crowded, triangular site.

The 12-storey building houses The Line Hotel and a residential portion called Serif, along with commercial space on the ground level.

It sits on a triangular block in San Francisco where three urban neighbourhoods meet – Union Square, Tenderloin and South of Market (SoMa).

The new building shares a block with a 1920s theatre called The Warfield, along with an adult entertainment club.

The project was designed by New York-based Handel Architects, which has multiple American offices and one in Hong Kong.

The interior design was overseen by San Francisco's IwamotoScott Architecture and Knibb Design, which is based in Los Angeles. Local studio Surfacedesign served as the landscape architect.

For the oddly shaped site, the architects conceived a sculptural building that encompasses 34,000 square feet (3,159 square metres).

One half holds the Serif, which is roughly V-shaped in plan and has 242 condominiums, ranging from studios to one- and two-bedroom units.

The other half holds The Line Hotel, which has a rectangular footprint and contains around 230 guest rooms.

The building's scale and aesthetics are designed to relate to the surrounding context.

The exterior is wrapped in faceted white panels made of glass-fibre-reinforced concrete. The facade treatment – in terms of its materiality and patterning – was influenced by the area's masonry buildings and traditional punched windows, the team said.

"Designed to read as a continuous wrapper around the building, the facade also employs variation and modulation in window openings and panel sizes to correspond to interior units for the hotel and residential spaces within," said Handel Architects.

At the ground level, the building contains a mix of retail space, eateries, service areas and separate lobbies for the hotel and residential area. A triangular, public plaza is found on the north, along Turk Street.

"Reconstructed and widened sidewalks along Turk Street offer flexible outdoor spaces for gatherings, exhibits and small performances," said Handel Architects.

Interiors for The Line Hotel – which also has locations in Los Angeles, Austin and Washington DC – were overseen by Knibb Design, which drew upon San Francisco's character for inspiration.

"Utilizing the area's urban scape in balance with hazy pastel hues, the design ethos is a frolicsome yet sophisticated reflection of the locale," the team said in a press statement.

Highlights include "graffiti-tagged" headboards, white oak furniture and amber-hued lighting. Exposed concrete and bespoke ceramic pieces are found throughout.

The hotel also features an extensive range of artwork. Notable pieces include a wall installation in the lobby by multimedia artist Sasinun Kladpetch, which is composed of found objects such as concrete, metal fragments and twigs.

The interior design of Serif was created by IwamotoScott Architecture, which took cues from the building's angular form and faceted facade.

The living units are fitted with laminated cabinetry, quartz countertops and a back-painted glass backsplash. Exposed concrete ceilings are paired with wooden floors.

Finishes in public areas are a mix of earth and industrial materials.

The lobby features polished concrete flooring, ash millwork and blackened steel elements.

A rooftop clubhouse has polished concrete floors, ash millwork and blackened steel, along with lighting fixtures by Finelite and RBW.

In the fitness centre, the team used materials such as ash, walnut, rubber and medium-density fibreboard. Stretching overhead is conduit lighting in a honeycomb pattern.

Other buildings that combine a hotel with residential units include the SOM-designed Baccarat Tower in New York, which features a "simple massing" and opulent interiors, and the Platina 220 tower in São Paulo by Königsberger Vannucchi Arquitetos Associados, which has a central block flanked by three shorter volumes.

The photography is by Jason O'Rear, Chase Daniel, Patrick Chin and Jean Bai.

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Local studio Ryan Leidner Architecture renovated a 1940s home in the Bernal Heights neighbourhood of San Francisco, resolving entry access with a bridge over the front garden.

Ryan Leidner Architecture completed the 2,500-square-foot (230-square metre) Hosono House in 2021, cladding the house in charcoal-stained cedar siding with a copper, standing seam roof.

The original structure was built at the rear of a steeply sloped 2750-square-foot (255-square-metre) lot, "giving the home a unique sense of privacy and a feeling of being a true retreat," the studio said.

However, the setback challenged the home's circulation, causing people to cross the yard, descend a long staircase, and climb back up three flights to access the primary living space.

During an initial walkthrough with the clients, founding principal Ryan Leidner threw out a "crazy idea" – to redirect access from the street to a new front door with a bridge.

The bridge would span the lush front garden and connect to the house between the top and middle stories.

"The front entrance sequence was totally reimagined," Leidner told Dezeen.

The studio rebuilt the front facade – now marked by a circular pivot window that replaced a leaking solarium – gutted the interior and rearranged spaces.

"Wanting to preserve the historic character of the house, the existing wood beams and ceiling were refinished and left exposed while all of the original windows, floors and finishes were replaced, creating a greater sense of material continuity throughout the house,” Leidner said.

The subtle palette of natural wood tones and white surfaces allows the interior spaces to serve as a canvas for the owners' affinity for design.

"The interior spaces are filled with a mix of vintage Italian furnishings and custom pieces, while the overall sensibility of the space was inspired by trips to Norway and Japan, and the ethos of Californian hippie modernism," Leidner noted.

The top-floor kitchen, living and dining areas enjoy sweeping views of the San Francisco skyline through a variety of window shapes.

Plant-filled niches that reference 1960s and 70s Italian projects surround a space that holds accent furniture including a custom Nobuto Suga dining table, vintage Guido Faleschini chairs and a Gae Aulenti armchair.

The second floor contains two bedrooms, a Venetian-plastered primary bathroom and a lounge space inspired by a Tokyo whiskey bar with warm wide-plank white oak and a custom velvet daybed.

A large opening in the lounge leads to the lower courtyard, which was reimagined by landscape architect Stephen Design Studio.

The lowest level boasts one of the home's most unique spaces: the guest bedroom.

"A textured hemp-plaster was used on the walls and ceiling, and a custom tiled bed frame and furnishings give a nod to the history of Italian modernism," the studio said.

Throughout the home, custom fabricated brass details – like countertops, sinks and CNC Dieter Rams-inspired exhaust covers – add a luxurious touch that will patina over time.

Ryan Leidner Architecture had previously collaborated with Stephen Design Studio to remodel a midcentury Eichler home, complete with twin gables and a lush central courtyard.

The photography is by Joe Fletcher.

Project credits:

Architects: Ryan Leidner Architecture
Landscape Design: Stephens Design Studio
General Contractor: DKG Construction
Landscape Contractor: Ground Cover Landscaping

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Local studio Office of Charles F. Bloszies has completed an extension and renovation of the Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco.

The two-storey addition is part of the Cathedral Close, an entire city block in Nob Hill that includes the Grace Cathedral.

Completed in 2022 while the school was in use, the project includes a 4,000-square-foot (370-square metre) narrow addition and reworked 8,000 square feet (743-square metres) of academic classrooms.

The extension included the "careful inssertaion" of a modern, glass-lined structure between the cathedral and the school.

The addition is "a contemporary metal and glass structure that fits comfortably among the venerated landmark buildings it connects, capturing previously unavailable views of the cathedral and the city beyond" said the Office of Charles F. Bloszies.

The original ornate Gothic-style cathedral was completed in 1964; constructed a couple of years later, the restrained, concrete Cathedral School for Boys sits adjacent to the building's apse.

The addition utilises a 2009 outdoor terrace structure as the foundation – and serves as the new focal point, opening views from the school's entrance to the cathedral's stained glass windows.

The glazed addition – which includes a Co-Teach space on the upper level and a Learning Commons on the lower level, providing collaborative learning space for the K-8 students – is characterised by an aluminium curtain wall.

"The unitized curtain wall forming the exterior is rare for a small building, but this approach allowed it to be erected in under two weeks," the team said.

"The metal color — pale green rather than the typical architect’s defaults of white or black — is also unusual, and was carefully chosen to complement the patina of the surrounding weathered concrete buildings."

On the interior, the exposed structure gives way to white walls illuminated by natural light and acoustical perforated metal panels that provide both sound absorption and act as a display space for student art.

A wide corridor connects the addition to the rest of the school.

For the restoration, the team revamped large portions of the school building's, extending the programme of the addition's interior throughout.

Founded in 1985, the Office of Charles F. Bloszies is a studio located along the San Francisco Embarcadero that specialises in urban infill design.

In a similar light and heavy juxtaposition, PDP London dropped a glazed extension into an office block in London, which also features pale green metalwork.

The photography is by Matthew Millman, courtesy The Office of Charles F. Bloszies, FAIA.

Project credits:

Architect: The Office of Charles F. Bloszies, FAIA
Structural engineer: Murphy, Burr, Curry, Inc.
Mechanical engineer: List Engineering
Electrical engineer: O’Mahoney+Myer
Plumbing engineer: List Engineering

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Bay Area studio David Baker Architects has completed 145 units of social housing using modular construction and a weathering steel facade in San Francisco, California.

The 63,000-square foot (5,850 metre) project – called Tahanan, the Tagalog word for "coming home" – was completed in November 2021 through a financing prototype that aimed to accelerate the timeline and reduce the cost of permanent supportive housing.

"This is a particularly meaningful project for our team, because it provides homes to formerly unhoused people, along with the services they need to thrive," said David Baker Architects (DBA) principal Daniel Simons.

The six-storey project stacks 87 two-unit boxes – fabricated by Factory OS in nearby Vallejo – atop a concrete podium that contains a flexible community room, in-house social services, and tenant retail space.

David Baker Architects designed the modules with an angled end that creates a sawtooth facade along the project's western edge, orienting the 290-square foot (27-square metre) apartments toward downtown San Francisco, rather than the adjacent judicial complex.

The compact units contain only the necessities — a bedroom, kitchenette and bathroom – and rely on the support services and amenities of the building and surrounding neighbourhood to fill out the rest of the residents' living spaces.

"The site is in the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District, established to preserve the cultural diversity of the area by highlighting the culture and contributions of the Filipino American community," the studio said.

Simons noted the team's interaction with the local community group SOMA Pilipinas group "had a direct and strong influence on the patterns, textures and colors of the project, especially the exterior and the public spaces."

The raked facade was clad in copper-coloured weathering steel and silver aluminium panels perforated to resemble a rice terrace. Additionally, the ground floor concrete was cast using traditional banig mats to create a handwoven texture.

Balancing security with transparency through layered glazed spaces, the ground floor opens to a rainbow mural-lined courtyard designed by Fletcher Studio.

"This interplay facilitates social connection and offers visual links across the varied spaces, including a peek into the life of the building from the street," the studio said.

The design utilises best practices that both the studio and the developer, Mercy Housing, have found through years of supportive housing design to help residents feel safe and welcome.

"Tahanan integrates those best practices into a beautiful space where residents feel comfortable," said Mercy Housing's real estate director Barbara Gualco.

"The fully-equipped apartment homes, calm and private case management offices, and spacious communal areas provide an excellent foundation for residents to build towards their personal goals."

The project's goal – to provide people with secure housing as quickly as possible to combat California's homelessness crisis – was expedited through the use of philanthropic funding from Tipping Point Community and the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund.

The use of modular construction reduced the project's timeline from the average five to seven years to three. The prefabricated modules were installed onsite in just 10 days.

"Another gratifying aspect of the project was being able to meet aggressive goals of reduced cost per unit along with an accelerated schedule to occupancy," said DBA modular lead Jonas Weber.

"These goals often work against one another, and the development, design and construction teams were collectively committed to defying conventional wisdom."

The studio recently released a monograph that outlines its methodology for creating social housing.

The studio, with offices in San Francisco, Oakland, and Birmingham maintains that affordable housing should be indistinguishable from market-rate housing and has constructed a number of social projects like a convex, tile-clad micro-unit development in nearby Hayes Valley.

The photography is by Bruce Damonte.

Project credits:

Developers: Mercy Housing California, Tipping Point
Financial partner: San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund
Architect: David Baker Architects
Custom furnishings: DBA_Workshop, Pacassa Studio
Custom rainscreen: BOK Modern
General contractor: Cahill Contractors
Modular fabricator: Factory_OS
Landscape architect: Fletcher Studio
Structural engineer: DCI Engineers
MEP engineer: FARD Engineers
Civil engineer: Luk + Associates

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Local studio Geddes Ulinskas Architects has completed an expansive home in Cow Hollow, San Francisco with indoor-outdoor spaces, a cast glass staircase and stone detailing.

The Bay Area studio designed the 12,000-square foot (1,114-square metre) home on a vacant 0.26 acre (1,073 square metre) lot that looks out to the Golden Gate Bridge.

"We were deeply inspired by the natural environment for the design of this home and sought to bring the outdoors in as much as possible," principal and founder Geddes Ulinskas told Dezeen.

Completed in 2021 for developer Troon Pacific, the three-storey, six-bedroom home is comprised of stacked envelopes that allow for continuous glazing.

"The structure is pulled back from the exterior walls," the studio said. "Columns are set in with glass to create a floating effect of the roof and allow for a linear ribbon of bronze windows throughout the home."

Warm wood-wrapped roof eaves hang over the smooth plaster exterior walls that contrast the rough split-faced limestone entry, while a wooden 20-feet-tall (6 metres) monumental door leads inside from a landscaped entry.

"Before the entrance, a seating area and adjacent dining room open up to the garden through floor-to-ceiling, full-width pocketed sliding glass doors," the studio continued. "The doors cast a minimal footprint to create the most transparent relationship between interior and exterior living."

On the interior, natural materials such as wood and hand-textured stone pair with custom paneling and blackened steel finishes.

"We utilized nature-inspired colors such as charcoal and dark green with fixtures inspired by water ripples, lightning, and other fractal forms," Ulinskas said.

Sliding glass doors continue throughout the home opening living spaces to sweeping San Francisco views, while subtle details – like fabric stretched over the ceiling to conceal technical equipment – create clean lines and uninterrupted surfaces.

The double-height foyer features a steel and glass staircase that "reads more like a two-storey piece of art than the product of construction," the studio said.

Oakland-based artist John Lewis crafted the sculptural stairwell by pouring molten glass into a four-inch thick form and cooling the solid glass treads for three months. The staircase is suspended between a reflecting pool and an operable skylight.

The home also features a private movie theatre, wine room, gym, 72-foot lap pool, built-in stainless steel spa and a wellness spa with a glass-enclosed sauna and steam shower.

Atop the home sits a large rooftop deck with panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay and a stone-crafted fire table.

Other homes in San Francisco include John Maniscalco's angular four-storey home and a four-storey townhome by Feldman Architecture topped with a rooftop garden.

The photography is by Jacob Elliot.

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American fashion label Thom Browne has opened its first retail location in San Francisco, designed by ASA Studio Albanese to feature dramatic marble against white slatted blinds.

The flagship store is situated at 432 Jackson Street in the historic Yeon Building, which dates back to 1855, in the heart of the city's luxury shopping district.

Its interior is the latest collaboration between Thom Browne's eponymous founder and architect Flavio Albanese of Italy-based ASA Studio Albanese, who has designed over a dozen stores for the brand since 2017.

Like its counterparts around the world, the 1,250-square-foot (116-square-metre) space is outfitted to look like a Mad Men-era workplace.

This is achieved by pairing highly decorative marble surfaces with strips of white slatted blinds and tube lighting.

"Behind Thom Browne's signature slat blind-covered windows is a minimalist mid-century style office with rows of fluorescent tube lighting, polished with white Calcutta and Carrara marble floors, and banker grey Bardiglio and Carrara marble walls," said the Thom Browne team.

Among the furniture pieces curated to embellish the theme are a glass-topped desk placed in the centre of the room at one end and chairs that form a small seating area at the other.

"Thom continues to outfit this space with mid-century furniture by American and French designers — including seating and lamps by Jacques Adnet, a desk by TH Robsjohn-Gibbings, office chairs by Knoll, benches by McCobb, coffee tables by Mathieu Mategot, and display etagere's by Maison Jansen," the team said.

The largely desaturated colour palette – reflective of the brand's clothing – is interrupted by brass accessories and details on the furniture, as well as a few camel-toned garments.

A black band wraps around the rooms at floor level, separating the grey marble on the walls from the lighter toned stone underfoot.

Clothes are presented on metal rails mounted on wheels, while bags, shoes, eyewear and fragrances are displayed on minimalist freestanding shelves.

The fitting rooms are hidden behind doors covered in the same material as the walls so that they blend in seamlessly when closed.

Thom Browne founded his label in 2001 with five suits in a small by-appointment shop in New York City's West Village, and eventually expanded to include ready-to-wear and accessories lines for both men and women.

Browne's Autumn Winter 2022 collection was an ode to toys and featured sculptural tailoring, presented at New York Fashion Week in front of an audience of 500 teddy bears.

The photography is courtesy of Thom Browne.

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San Francisco-based Studio Terpeluk has renovated and expanded Redwood House in Noe Valley with redwood interiors and terraces.

The three-storey Redwood House was originally designed by American architect Albert Lanier – husband to sculptor Ruth Asawa – in a hilly  San Francisco neighbourhood characterised by Victorian and Edwardian houses.

Studio Terpeluk was selected to expand the 1976 house from 2,260 square feet (210 square metres) to 3,218 square feet (299 square metres) with a new guest room suite, home office, wet bar and media room.

The renovation "surgically modified the house in an architecturally non-aggressive manner," the studio said.

Wrapped with irregular western red cedar planks, the narrow house cascades down the hillside with exterior courtyards that mitigate the grade change.

One enters the house through an intimate courtyard off the street into an open-plan upper level with a sloping ceiling and dark-knotted Douglas fir flooring made from local reclaimed pier pilings.

Many of the walls and ceilings were updated with vintage rough-sawn redwood veneered plywood maintained from the original build.

"Redwood surfaces and structural elements complete the warm interior landscape: from the sloping roof beams to partition walls and built-in shelves," the studio said.

To the left of the entrance is the kitchen with custom-gloss cabinets and a Carrara marble backsplash. It opens to a dining room that features a Saarinen table and Hans Wegner wishbone chairs.

To the right is the library where sunlight from the large window brightens the dark panelling and sculptural furniture.

The living room is oriented around a pink sculpture by American artist Wanxin Zhang.

Padded seating wraps the corner under a large window looking out to the San Francisco skyline.

The house is centred around a staircase illuminated by a skylight.

"The sculptural blackened steel stair with vintage rough-sawn redwood plywood walls anchors the house, weaving together the three floors and their diverse spatial character," the studio continued.

The middle level features guest suites with direct access to the entry courtyard.

The primary suite is softened by light pink terrazzo tile and a micro mosaic of Indian red recycled plastic tiles.

"Color was a recurring theme in the exquisite and eclectic art collection of the owners," studio founder Brett Terpeluk said.

"This went perfectly hand in hand with my interest in mid-century Italian design and its bold use of color."

"We collaborated with our friend and designer Beatrice Santiccioli to enrich the project with a dedicated and bespoke color language," he continued.

At the lowest level, a media room, home office and kitchenette open to an abundantly landscaped garden.

The outdoor areas were designed by Terpeluk's wife and longtime consultant, Italian landscape designer Monica Viarengo.

The terraces shift from curated gardens to wild vegetation as one moves through the property, while the plantings reference California coastal landscapes with yellow roses, espaliered fruit trees and a variety of thymes.

Studio Terpeluk was founded in 2008 by Brett Terpeluk, after he finished a tenure working with Italian architect Renzo Piano.

Other Noe Valley renovations include the Gable House by Edmonds + Lee, a renovated Victorian townhouse by Fougeron Architecture and an industrial home for a tech entrepreneur by Levy Art and Architecture and Síol Studios.

Photography is by Joe Fletcher.

Project credits

Project team: Brett Terpeluk, Huy Nguyen
Landscape design: Monica Viarengo
Color consultant: Beatrice Santiccioli
Contractor: Saturn Construction
Structural engineering: Strandberg Engineering
Furniture: Santiccioli Arredamenti
Orama sliding window systems: Cooritalia
Windows: Bonelli
Wood reclaimed wood flooring: Arborica
Metal fabrication: Upper Story Design
Drapery/upholstery: Malatesta & Co
Art: Catharine Clark Gallery

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US studio Jensen Architects has created a tall hillside home featuring expansive views and an elevator that will enable the owners to stay in the home as they age.

Rising five levels, the house was designed for a couple who wanted a home with a peaceful atmosphere and views of San Francisco.

Local studio Jensen Architects designed the house to both embrace and defy its difficult site conditions – a hilly parcel in the Cole Valley neighbourhood, near the city's famed Sutro Tower. The residence replaces an older home that was on the property.

Composed of stacked boxes, the house has setbacks and cantilevers that help break up its massing. Ample glazing and pale-toned plaster also help lighten the home's appearance.

"The site's complex geology and the clients' desires inform a composition of shifting volumes that define a series of indoor and outdoor spaces – from the intimate to the breathtaking – while providing shading and privacy," the team said.

Made of board-formed concrete, the base closely follows the footprint of the prior home, which helped minimise excavation.

The upper floors, which step forward and back, are detailed in plaster and glass and "appear to float", the team said. The third level reaches outward toward San Francisco Bay in the distance.

Within the home, public and private spaces are spread across the five levels. Working closely with the clients, the design team created a range of atmospheres, from cosy nooks to bright and expansive rooms.

"Spaces are tailored for optimal ergonomics, individual habits and a passion for art, design and technology," the team added.

The bottom floor contains a garage and entry hall with artwork and polished concrete flooring. The first level holds a bedroom suite for guests or a caretaker, a laundry room and a mechanical space.

Two offices, two reading nooks and a gym are found on the second level.

Up above, on the third floor, the team placed the public spaces – a kitchen, dining area and living room, including space for a grand piano.

Floor-to-ceiling glass provides immersive views of the city to the north and a rear garden to the south.

"Here, the clients enjoy the duality of their peaceful rear garden and sweeping city views, spanning from the downtown skyline to the Pacific Ocean," the studio said.

The top level contains the primary suite that features a generous closet, a seating area and a glass-lined terrace.

Special attention was paid to the home's vertical circulation, which consists of two interior staircases and an elevator.

"The client's interest in the aesthetic experience of stairs inspired the vertical ascent through the house," the studio said.

Connecting the ground and first level is a sculptural staircase. The remaining storeys are linked by a separate stair with white oak cladding and a recessed and illuminated handrail.

In the back of the house, one finds an unusual feature – a bridge that connects to an upper-level terrace and crosses over a ground-level patio.

"A code-required second exit became a bridge connecting the living level and garden terrace," the studio said.

The landscape design was informed by Asian garden traditions. Elements include permeable ground cover, French drains and an undulating topography that helps absorb and redirect stormwater.

"A dense thicket of Phyllostachys vivax (timber bamboo) screens the residence from its uphill neighbours and also provides lush habitat for birds and pollinators," the team added.

The home has a number of sustainable features, including continuous exterior insulation, high-performance glass, operable windows, a radiant hydronic heating system and smart thermostats in each room.

A rooftop photovoltaic array helps meet energy demands, and some of the energy generated is converted to batteries for use in the event of a power outage.

"Robust earth shoring, concrete and steel foundations, and stormwater drainage systems ensure the home will remain for decades," the team said.

Other projects in San Francisco by Jensen Architects include the conversion of a sawtooth-roof warehouse into an arts centre and the revamp of a Victorian home that now features a minimalist interior and a contemporary rear facade.

The photography is by Joe Fletcher.

Project credits:

Architecture and interiors: Jensen Architects
Structural engineering: Holmes Structures
Geotechnical engineering: Murray Engineers
Civil engineering: Sandis
Shoring: Benjamin P Lai & Associates
Waterproofing: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing: Engineering 350
Landscape architect: Munden Fry Landscape Associates
Lighting: Johanna Grawunder
Sustainability: Home Energy Services
Specifications: Topflight Specs

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Architecture studio SAW incorporated curved elements and multiple staircases in its renovation of a 1930s dwelling that is meant to reconsider the "notion of groundedness".

The Wraparound House is located in the Marina District, which stretches along the San Francisco Bay.

Designed by local firm SAW, or Spiegel Aihara Workshop, the project entailed the overhaul and expansion of a 1930s, Spanish Revival-style dwelling that sits on a long, rectangular property. The building originally had three bedrooms and totalled 2,921 square feet (271 square metres).

The clients – a couple with three school-age children – desired a home with more space for indoor and outdoor activities, places for working, and views of the water.

The project came with an extra challenge – the need to remediate the soil under the house, which was contaminated and unstable.

The contamination was likely caused by residue from a former gas plant that operated in the area from 1891 to 1906, when a major earthquake struck the city.

In addition, most of the Marina neighbourhood was once a landfill, resulting in instability in the soil – a major issue given that San Francisco is prone to earthquakes.

"The site, in particular, is in a liquefaction zone, in which sand and silt would take on the characteristics of a liquid during an earthquake," the team said.

The team ended up excavating four to six feet of soil and replacing it with new soil.

They lifted up the entire house and modernised the foundation using a thick mat slab. Load-bearing and shear walls were redistributed, "opening up possibilities for unusual spatial configurations".

"The project was an opportunity to remediate and stabilize the land beneath the home – and for the architects, a conceptual reconsideration of the notion of groundedness through re-distributing the excavated ground vertically," the team said.

To enlarge the house, the team added an upper-level volume that is set back from the street. It also added space horizontally by expanding the ground level in the rear. The home now totals 4,738 square feet (440 square metres).

The front facade was left largely untouched, but the rear elevation was transformed to include stepped terraces connected by a black spiral staircase.

"On most days, one is just as likely to take the exterior stairs as the interior stairs to move between rooms," said architect Dan Spiegel, a founding partner at SAW.

"It doesn't quite look like it, but it works a bit like a mobius strip in that way."

Inside, the ground level holds the foyer, a two-car garage, a den and interlocking bedrooms for the kids. The middle level contains a formal living room, a dining area, a kitchen and a family room.

On the top level, one finds the main bedroom suite and two additional bedrooms. A roof deck offers a sweeping view of the city and the bay.

Rooms are filled with an eclectic mix of decor, and finishes include stone, wood and metal. Heidi Kim of local studio White Space Design oversaw the interior design.

Within the dwelling, levels are connected by a staircase with sculptural, white walls. Near the garage, a secondary interior stair connects the ground and first floors.

The team wanted all levels to feel connected to the remediated earth.

"We set out to maintain a complete continuity of a new ground across the entire house, ensuring that every roof was not so much the top of something, but the bottom of something — a new ground," the team said.

The team also wanted to honour the building's architectural heritage.

In turn, the studio incorporated curved elements – such as rounded corners and the sculptural staircase – which draw upon the arched thresholds found in Spanish Revival homes.

"The project's name, Wraparound, comes from the impact of subtle variation in corner geometry on directional movement, in the same way a rounded corner on a hockey rink serves to help wrap around the back of the goal and control a puck to the other side," the team said.

SAW also oversaw the home's landscape design, which had to be fully rethought due to the soil remediation.

The team created an hourglass-shaped lawn that is ringed by a scooter/bike track. Artificial turf was used to help cut down on water use.

Atop the house, a portion of the roof is a planted surface with a mix of sedums, succulents and shrubs.

Other projects by SAW include the vertical expansion of a hillside residence in San Francisco, allowing for better views, and the creation of a "nomadic fitting room" for a online lingerie retailer, which the firm designed in collaboration with US studio MOA.

The photography is by Paul Dyer. The top photo is by Mikiko Kikuyama

Project credits:

Architecture and landscape architecture: Spiegel Aihara Workshop (SAW)
Project team: Kenneth Hu, Max Obata, Sharon Ling, Darcy Spence, Max Kronauer, Dan Spiegel, Megumi Aihara
General contractor: Forma
Interior design: White Space Design (Heidi Kim)
Structural engineer: Element Structural Engineers
Geotechnical engineer: Murray Engineering

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Promotion: six New Zealand design brands have joined forces to create a pavilion of Kiwi design that will be showcased during San Francisco Design Week later this month.

Installed at Shack 15 overlooking San Francisco Bay, the 700-square-meter pavilion is the first independent exhibition of foreign homeware design in the United States since the Covid-19 pandemic and the most comprehensive showing of New Zealand design in the United States to date.

Visitors to the pavilion can expect to see a broad selection of furniture, lighting, flooring and textile products produced by the six participating brands.

The brands include contemporary furniture and lighting company Resident; textile and furniture brand Citta; 110-year-old textile and wall coverings brand James Dunlop Textiles; lighting designer David Trubridge; design furniture B-Corp Noho; and handmade rug brand Nodi.

Although the products on show will be varied, the organisers hope that the showcase will communicate the defining characteristics that unite New Zealand design and bring an Antipodean perspective to the design week.

"The presentation illustrates how we achieve the critical balance between work and home life, and how great design must be approachable, inspiring, dynamic and sustainable," the organisers said in a statement.

"All brands within the New Zealand Pavilion are constantly striving to create attractive and engaging products and spaces that put people first. We believe in elevating humanity. Creating spaces that are good for people and connecting them with our natural world."

The pavilion itself – described as "clean and pared-back" – was designed in partnership with San Francisco-based creative agency Aditions.

It will reference the country's vast and diverse natural landscapes including coastal, forest and alpine settings, taking guests on a "sensory journey".

The exhibition will relay stories of New Zealanders' way of life, the importance of the natural world and protecting it through sustainable design.

"We believe that to move forward in this new world, we must work together," said Scott Bridgens, co-founder of Resident. "We all have much more in common than we think, and so this New Zealand Design Pavilion represents the power of our collective lens on the world."

"The light is different down here, and through this initiative, we aim to illuminate our creativity and ingenuity, and most importantly, share it with others. New Zealand's pioneering spirit is alive and well."

The New Zealand Design Pavilion is supported by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise Te Taurapa Tūhono. It will be on show at San Francisco's Shack 15 from June 21 until July 1 to coincide with San Francisco Design Week.

Explore the New Zealand Design Pavilion online and register to attend the two week programme, which includes design events, panel discussions and product highlights.

Bookings must be made 24 hours in advance.

San Francisco Design Week takes place from 21 to 25 June 2022 in San Francisco, United States. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for New Zealand Design Pavilion as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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California studio Edmonds + Lee Architects has created a tall, gabled addition in the back of a Craftsman-style home that differs greatly from the "cozy" front facade.

The project, called Night + Day House, is located in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighbourhood.

Local firm Edmonds + Lee Architects was charged with updating and enlarging a Craftsman-style bungalow with a south-facing backyard. The dwelling, which belongs to a family of four, has two above-grade floors and a basement.

Guided by local preservation rules, the architects made only minor changes to the front facade while completely transforming the rear.

Originally, the studio was tasked with designing a modest kitchen expansion. The project grew in scope to include a rear extension, a revamped basement and a new staircase.

"Over time, the project evolved into a more comprehensive renovation," said partner Robert Edmonds.

For inspiration, they looked overseas. The clients, who are British, have an affinity for London's housing extensions, where the front facade tends to remain untouched while the back is "transformed into an open and contemporary space", the team said.

For the Night + Day House's front elevation, the team added black paint and refinished the entry door. In contrast, the rear elevation received a gabled, multi-level extrusion clad in bands of glass and vertical wooden slats that will age over time.

"From the backyard, the house looks remarkably different than its cozy scale from the street," the firm said.

Also in the rear, the team added a new staircase along one side of the house that connects to the basement. Lined by a concrete retaining wall and wooden fence, the staircase also acts as a light well, bringing daylight into the subterranean space.

Inside the home, rooms were updated as needed.

In the living and dining area, which occupies the front portion of the main level, the team added oak-plank flooring and a fresh coat of paint — but otherwise left the space as is. Original built-in furniture was kept in place.

The back half of the main floor, where the kitchen is located, is more contemporary.

"The house's character, experienced from the front to the back, seems to travel through time," the architects said.

The kitchen features streamlined, white cabinetry and an island with a wooden base and grey-veined marble top. Marble was also used for the backsplash.

"The kitchen is the soul of the house," the team said. "The clients are enthusiastic cooks and party hosts, partially thanks to the wife's professional experience at Williams-Sonoma."

The kitchen opens onto a rear deck, where sturdy wooden planks help "ease the transition from inside to outside", the architects said.

On the home's top level, the extension allowed for the creation of a light-filled primary suite. This level also holds two kids' bedrooms.

The team also refinished the basement and improved access by adding an interior stair, which allows for "a more convivial experience than having to go out onto the street at night".

The basement contains a bedroom, office and family room.

Other projects by Edmonds + Lee include the conversion of an Airstream travel trailer into a mobile office for a tech entrepreneur, and the overhaul of a slender Victorian home in San Francisco that now features light-filled rooms and minimalist decor.

The photography is by Joe Fletcher.

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Chicago-based Studio Gang has broken ground on a residential project in San Francisco that forms part of the Mission Rock development, which includes skyscrapers by MVRDV and Henning Larsen.

Called Parcel F, the 23-storey residential skyscraper will be the final building in the first phase of the 28-acre development along the waterfront in San Francisco.

Set back from the street, the Studio Gang-designed building will be clad in glazed ceramic tiles. It will be surrounded by paved public and community spaces leading up to a variety of storefronts at the base.

Public terraces on the base of the building will be stepped, beginning on the third storey with an outdoor area attached to an interior double-height volume.

Above this will be another terrace with steps up to the primary outdoor area. This larger terrace will wrap around the base of the skyscraper aspect of the structure.

"We've also carved into the base to create an inviting outdoor space with sunny planted terraces and raked seating, like a mesa, where residents can socialize and relax, taking in views of the activity in the main public square below," said Studio Gang founder Jeanne Gang.

The residential tower will have floors that are set back at varying angles so that every few storeys there will be a shared terrace for residents.

"The tower's horizontal spandrels alternate in profile to tune the solar and wind exposure of units to their climate and orientation, while also providing views of the surrounding city and Bay," said Studio Gang.

On top of Parcel F will be additional outdoor space, which the architects referred to as a "sky garden."

"Regionally-appropriate plantings creates an attractive place for birds, butterflies, and other pollinators to visit, supporting healthy bio-diversity within city," said the studio.

Encompassing 315,000 square feet (29,264 square metres), the structure will hold 254 rental apartments, which Mission Rock Partners – the San Francisco Giants and Tishman Speyer – said will include 97 offered "below the market rate".

The architecture studio and developer said they will be targeting LEED Gold certification for the project.

The Mission Rock development was revealed in 2019 and includes projects by MVRDV and Henning Larsen as well as a waterfront park by SCAPE. Studio Gang has taken the lead in coordinating with the different architects involved in the multi-project development.

Other projects completed by Studio Gang in San Francisco include the 40-storey-tall Mira tower with its twisting facades.

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Melanin-enriched building materials and decomposing pavilions are among the pieces on show in San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's exhibition of Neri Oxman's work, Nature x Humanity. Curator Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher discusses five key works.

An architect, designer and pioneering materials researcher who founded The Mediated Matter Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and recently opened her own laboratory, Oxman is best known for otherworldly-looking designs and installations built from unexpected biological matter.

The exhibition at SFMOMA, Nature x Humanity, looks at how these works provide a vital provocation for architecture in the age of climate change.

"The question that drives Oxman studio's work — how can one responsibly 'architect' amid a climate crisis when the built environment currently outweighs Earth's biomass? — envisions new possibilities for the field of architecture," exhibition curator Dunlop Fletcher told Dezeen.

"Through the imaginative projects on view, Oxman's designs embolden a viewer to consider alternatives to today's building practices that are contributing to an unhealthy and unsustainable habitat," she added.

"This moment requires industry-changing big ideas, and Oxman's team only works at that level."

The exhibition includes work such as Oxman's decomposing Aguahoja I pavilion, created with her Mediated Matter Group at MIT and made from the molecular components found in tree branches, insect exoskeletons and human bones.

A fresh version of the pavilion is presented alongside a four-year-old, decomposing one, with a set of instruments between them measuring the process's impact on the soil.

As well as explaining the work, the wall text beside it asks, "What if there were policies around building lifecycles, tools for measuring material use, and, instead of landfills, urban-scale composting plots?"

"It was important to me to not position Oxman as providing immediate solutions, but rather focusing on the strength of the selection of works on view and their ability to encourage thinking differently," said Dunlop Fletcher.

"It is the only architecture studio I know that publishes material research while also engaging the public through art exhibitions. This scientific approach — where knowledge is valued over product — is critical in this moment."

Dunlop Fletcher first began discussing the possibility of an exhibition with Oxman soon after initiating SFMOMA's acquisition of the Gemini chaise lounge, and considers it a perfect fit for the museum, which she says is the first on the US west coast to have a dedicated architecture and design collection.

"It's focus is to collect and exhibit visionary architecture, meaning works that are future facing but are in reality a critique of today," she said.

The museum worked closely with Oxman's team to assemble and present the objects in the collection, and developed an exhibition design geared around reducing environmental impact and ensuring a sense of the surrounding city and time of day.

They built no new walls and used glass instead of Plexiglas to protect the works. They are shielded by hanging casework created by SFMOMA Design Studio, which aimed to define a spatial volume around the pieces.

Below, Dunlop Fletcher picks five works that best capture Oxman's contribution to architecture.

Aguahoja Pavilions

"Buckminster Fuller’s Geodesic Dome was a curveball to modern architecture that could not be ignored, as it raised questions of current construction inefficiencies. Aguahoja resurfaces those questions but it also expands the critique and remains open-ended.

"Aguahoja introduces a 3D-printed, biocompatible material for its panels — panels that not only decompose, eliminating a need for shipping or storage, but also provide new nutrients from the ocean to soil upon degradation (my favourite aspect of the panel material).

"It becomes an architecture that doesn't just reduce its impact on the soil, it enhances it."

Glass Columns

"Recognising glass as a potential building material that could be both wall and window continues to be explored within architecture. Oxman's Glass Columns are the culmination of the material fabrication research that identified glass as a material that could be 3D printed, and as such, has greater potential to be mass-produced at large-scale.

"Oxman's Glass Columns, each a stable column, beautifully refute the notion of glass as fragile. New fabrication technologies allow for rethinking existing material. The curved sides of the glass increase stability thereby eliminating a solid core, which introduces additional capacities for columns, such as lamps and lighting."

Totems

"There is no question that the introduction of working with Hybrid Living Materials (HLMs) elicits exciting possibilities for any design, including architecture. An architectural building material that could hold a living, responsive material greatly reduces the need for heating/cooling infrastructure.

"Through the extraordinary patterns and forms of the channels in the block holding melanin, Totems allows one to envision architecture as alive — dynamic and shifting — as opposed to static. Many Oxman projects explore the potential of HLMs — a concept they pioneered – from the Vespers and Wanderers wearables to the Biodiversity Pavilion.

"Considering Architecture as ageing, living and moving gets one closer to an ideal Neri has introduced – envisioning the potential to grow buildings in the future."

Gemini chaise and cinema

"The Gemini Chaise is a favourite – not only because it was the project that introduced me to Neri's practice, but it is a work with multiple functions that I see in many of the Oxman projects. What else can a design object or architectural element do?

"The Gemini Chaise was designed in response to a colleague's research on the healing properties of sound vibrations. It was meant to be medical equipment, perhaps to be tucked away, but was designed as furniture one would want to see, use and share in celebration of individual strength and health.

"The Gemini Cinema model (above) scales that potential from the individual to a group, imagining a theatre where people may gather to participate in collective healing."

Man-Nahāta

"The urban study models for Man-Nahāta debuted in the SFMOMA exhibition, and for me, is a project that expanded Oxman's collaboration and vision for architecture's potential.

"Through an uncanny coincidence Neri met filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola who had written a script in 2000 for Megalopolis, a science fiction film, featuring a scientist-architect who works to redesign Manhattan after an apocalyptic event. In one of those art-imitates-life moments, Oxman took the opportunity to consider how one might redesign Manhattan, where the Oxman studio is now based.

"Looking 400 years in Manhattan's past prior to colonisation, Oxman found the moment where humanity and nature were in balance. Using that time frame to project 400 years into the future, each model represents a shifting built environment in 100-year increments.

"In 2400, the iconic buildings of Manhattan today are no longer recognisable; rather, a mountainous range exists in its place, asking one to consider whether humanity succumbed to nature or whether humanity learned how to grow architecture to enhance nature."

The photography is by Matthew Millman.

Nature x Humanity: Oxman Architects is at the SFMOMA from 19 February to 15 May 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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A lush green wall and back-lit fibreglass panels are found on the exterior of an electrical substation extension that was designed by TEF Design to achieve net-zero energy consumption.

Owned by the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric, the Larkin Street Substation Expansion is located on a mid-block site in the city's Tenderloin neighbourhood. It adjoins a concrete structure built in 1962 to supply power to the northeastern part of San Francisco.

For the constrained site, local firm TEF Design conceived a two-storey addition that totals 12,200 square feet (1,133 square metres). The extension rises 50 feet (15 metres) at its highest point.

"The constrained property and need to accommodate crane and equipment lift access prescribed the expansion's perpendicular orientation to the existing substation," the firm said.

The building has a steel frame and concrete walls. A fine-grained, metal-mesh screen marks the point where the new building meets the old.

Street-facing walls are wrapped in three types of glass-fibre-reinforced-polymer (GFRP) panels: sloped, perforated and ribbed. The different styles form a faceted surface that belies the "modest materiality" of GFRP.

"Each panel is individually crafted and unique, with ribs that cast linear shadow patterns in sunlight, creating an ever-changing surface throughout the day and year," the studio said.

The sloped ones are embedded with lighting fixtures that pulsate at night, "expressing the city's dynamic electrical power grid", the team added.

On the western elevation, the team created a green wall, with plants arranged in a geometric pattern that echoes the faceted panels. The greenery adds a welcome touch of biophilia to the urban block, the team said.

Inside the building – which houses electrical switchgear – there are ceiling heights of 25 feet (7.6 metres). Interior photos are not allowed due to security concerns.

According to the architects, the substation is the first of its kind in the US to aim for net-zero energy consumption. TEF Design worked with the Seattle-based International Living Futures Institute to establish a rating system for electrical substations.

Power is supplied by a 60-kilowatt array of solar panels. The team also incorporated elements to help reduce energy consumption that was informed by a rigorous research process.

"Large vents at the base of the building exploit the city's cool temperatures through natural ventilation that helps eliminate the need for artificial cooling and reduce the building's energy load by nearly 40 per cent," the team said.

"Inside, supplemental fans, triggered only at high temperatures, help to cool the building only when needed."

Other energy-related projects include a London energy hub that is wrapped in anodised aluminium, and an electricity substation in Finland that features a screen made of handmade bricks laid in a zigzag pattern.

The photography is by Mikiko Kikuyama.

Project credits:

Architecture: TEF Design
Design team: Andrew Wolfram (principal-in-charge), Paul Cooper (project manager), Justin Blinn (project designer)
General contractor: Plant Construction Company
Landscape architecture: Creo Landscape
Civil engineering: BFK Engineers
Structural engineering: Rutherford + Chekene
MEP engineering: MHC Engineers
Lighting: Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design
Utility consultant/owner's representative: Urb-in
Sustainability consultant: Thornton Thomasetti

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Foster + Partners is set to renovate and restore the iconic Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco.

With its unique pyramidal shape, the 48-storey skyscraper will receive substantial renovation of its interiors, exteriors, and landscape, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

"This is an exceptional opportunity to restore the unique Transamerica Pyramid Tower and its historic Redwood Park, to create a very special destination in the heart of San Francisco," said Norman Foster.

The architect and his London-based firm was chosen for the project by real estate investor Michael Shvo, who purchased the skyscraper in 2020.

Originally designed by William L Pereira and Harry D Som, the building will receive expanded open spaces in the areas at its base, and there are plans to expand the complex to some of the surrounding buildings.

The news comes after two years of decreased activity and open offices in San Francisco's downtown district due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"In the last two years, we've made our homes into our offices, now it's time to make our offices feel like our homes," Shvo told the Chronicle.

Public shopping areas will fill the ground floor of the tower.

A penthouse on the 48th floor will be converted to a club for occupants of the building, and the luxury experience will carry over to the many offices also undergoing renovation in the story.

The Foster design will see a restoration of the exterior elements of the building, which will keep the name it shares with the insurance company that paid for its construction in 1972.

Renderings released for the project show luxury interiors, as well as a cherry blossom-lined thoroughfare on an adjacent alley called Mark Twain Street.

"Norman Foster is renowned for his brilliant treatment of historic buildings and I am thrilled to partner with his team on the important task of redeveloping this extraordinary city block and reinforcing the Transamerica Pyramid as one of the greatest buildings in the world," said Shvo in a release.

The Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest building in San Francisco for almost 50 years before being surpassed by the Salesforce Tower by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in 2018.

Construction on the renovation project is set to begin within the month.

Foster + Partners has worked on other large-scale projects in the Bay Area, including the Apple Park in Cupertino.

The firm also has a number of prospective buildings in the region, such as a stalled pair of crystalline towers, and plans to build a mixed-use complex in a decommissioned power plant on the San Francisco waterfront.

The images are courtesy of Shvo, unless stated otherwise.

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Klopf Architecture has reconfigured a San Francisco home to create an open-concept living space that faces onto the backyard.

After spending a few years in a spec house and eager to improve their living arrangement, the owners of this San Francisco residence looked to local studio Klopf Architecture to see if they could renovate their current home.

"The clients were able to see beyond the dated materials and finishes," said the studio, and from there they decided to update the entire house.

The primary goal was to create an open layout for the living spaces, in contrast to the existing rooms, which were compartmentalised and dark.

"With raised ceiling heights and large windows and glass sliding doors, the open and airy great room now extends out onto the patio surrounded by lush landscaping to create one even larger indoor-outdoor room," said Klopf Architecture.

The new layout for the home reversed the positions of the kitchen, living, and dining rooms with the bedrooms, lending the project its nickname, Modern Inversion.

The front of the home is closed off to the street. The former bay windows have been replaced with a solid white facade. Conversely, the rear has a large glass sliding door and is clad in weathered wood.

As currently configured, the home is entered up a flight of stairs and directly into a large living space. The sliding glass doors open out onto the elevated backyard. Another flight leads directly to the patio from the street.

"Klopf was able to broaden the openness, continuing on the original architecture to take full advantage of the unobstructed natural light across the rear of the house and convert the area into a much more comfortable and functional indoor-outdoor living space," the owners explained.

The home's two bedrooms now face the street and have some privacy from the rest of the home, since they are stepped down from the living area.

In addition to upgrading finishes, Klopf Architecture was able to raise the ceiling height in the living area, which contributes to the openness.

A decorative ceiling made of wooden staves brings warmth to the interiors and matches the new kitchen cabinets as well as the fireplace.

Integrated lighting systems run along the battens that divide the space, "visually connecting while also defining the use areas within the space", said Klopf Architecture.

Architect John Klopf established Klopf Architecture in 2001. Based in San Francisco, the studio has completed work throughout the United States including the renovation of several mid-century homes by Joseph Eichler.

Other San Francisco properties include an apartment building by Woods Bagot that features a five-storey green wall, and a private residence with curvaceous interiors that are meant to resemble clouds.

The photography is by Mariko Reed.

Project credits:

Klopf Architecture project team: Geoff Campen, John Klopf, Sherry Tan, and Alison Markowitz-Chan
Interior furnishings and decoration: Urbanism Designs
Contractor: San Francisco Design and Construction
Landscape architect: Terremoto
Structural engineer: ZFA

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SITELAB Urban Studio has completed the first phases of a mixed-use development called 5M in San Francisco's SoMa neighbourhood with Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) as lead architect.

The project, developed by Brookfield Properties and Hearst, includes a privately owned public park surrounded by a new residential and commercial tower along with rehabilitated historic buildings, including the SF Chronicle Building.

Oriented around the public spaces, which include the central park and the top of the SF Chronicle Building, 5M foregrounds "the unique alleyways of SoMa", according to Laura Crescimano, co-founder and principal of SITELAB Urban Studio.

"The goal of the overall master plan and design for 5M was to integrate the traditionally dense downtown space and the culturally rich, artistic neighborhood that is SoMa," Crescimano told Dezeen.

A series of towers have been designed for the four-acre (1.6-hectare) site. The first, by KPF in collaboration with House & Robertson Architects is called 415 Natoma. This 25-storey tower has stepped, interlocking masses with two primary towers that have vertical stripping on the facade.

The two towers meet horizontal massing at the lower levels, which have open space for socialising that face into the plaza, and areas reserved for dining and retail options.

Also on the site is The George – a 20-storey, 302-unit apartment building by Ankrom Moisan – while another building called N1 is planned. In total, 5M will provide 245 residences.

Across the development, the height of the buildings is indented to be a middle ground between the lower structures of SoMa and the towers of downtown San Francisco.

While envisioning the neighbourhood as relying on the preexisting culture of SoMa, Crescimano said the design moved forward with a "fabric first" approach.

"We intentionally designed this space to support a plethora of community programming and events, including those that will be hosted by arts and cultural nonprofits and other innovators such as CAST, Kultivate Labs, Off the Grid, and the Filipino Cultural District," she said.

The public spaces were designed by Melk and Cliff Lowe Associates, which shaped The Parks at 5M around public art and thoroughfares.

These areas form the city's largest privately owned public space.

SITELAB undertook a lengthy community engagement process during the planning.

"The open space was designed with a stage to support events like the annual Filipino Heritage Festival and aspects like the varied seating support multi-generational use," said Crescimano.

In addition to adhering to the environmental standards of San Francisco, the project aims for "social sustainability" according to Crescimano.

"The alleyways also increase the walkability of the neighborhood and reduce the dependence on cars, which improves air quality and overall health in the area," she said.

"Through design," Crescimano added, "5M is directly addressing the need for more diverse, affordable housing choices in sustainable, walkable neighborhoods".

Other mixed-use projects in San Francisco's downtown include a proposal from Foster + Partners to build a community in a decommissioned power plant.

The photography is by Kyle Jeffers unless otherwise stated. The top image is by Brookfield Properties/Steelblue.

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Every room was oriented toward views in this house by American studio Butler Armsden Architects, which was designed for a couple transitioning into retirement.

Located in Marin County, the Point Reyes Residence sits on a bluff that looks toward Tomasini Canyon and the Point Reyes National Seashore.

It was built as a retirement home for environmental activists who have lived in San Francisco for over 30 years.

"The couple sought an art-filled, earnest abode that would honour the area's wild beauty," said Butler Armsden Architects, which is based in San Francisco.

"The placement on the site was deliberate," the studio added.

"The house was edged up as far as allowed on the very slight bluff to capture western views."

Totaling 2,200 square feet (204 square metres), the house consists of gabled volumes clad in smooth-troweled stucco. Roofs are sheathed in standing-seam metal.

Large stretches of glass – including steel-framed, casement-style windows – give almost all the rooms extensive views of the surrounding landscape.

"The house was constructed with the vistas in mind, and every single room is oriented toward looking across the water and at the world outside," said the studio.

Within the home, there is a clear separation between public and private zones.

The central portion of the house encompasses an open-plan area for cooking, dining and relaxing.

Flanking the central volume are two wings. One contains the main suite and a bedroom, while the other holds a study, a mudroom and a garage.

For the interior design, the team took a restrained approach, drawing inspiration from modernist work by Mexican architect Luis Barragán.

"The clients were enamoured with the work of Luis Barragan," the team said. "They wanted a very modern aesthetic – clean lines but with a warm and timeless feeling."

Many of the home's functional elements, like solar shades and screens, are concealed within the walls. Mouldings, casings and baseboards were avoided, and large pivot doors are free of hardware.

Even the kitchen was designed with minimalism in mind, the team said.

"The alcove kitchen was designed to provide the functional essentials, but we stripped back the more typical storage components — even the refrigerator location — to avoid clutter and allow for artwork," the architects said.

For the home's material palette, the team used earthy finishes such as English oak flooring and creamy plaster walls to form a "quiet canvas".

Rooms are dressed with carefully selected furnishings and artwork, including chairs by Mies van der Rohe, Eliel Saarinen and Gerrit Rietveld.

Other featured pieces include a vintage Stilnovo chandelier, tables by California designer Jesse Schlesinger and artwork by the homeowner.

Outside of the home, there is limited foliage immediately surrounding the house due to fire restrictions in the area. Native plants, such as Ceanothus bushes, help the property blend with the wild terrain.

Butler Armsden Architects has completed numerous residential projects in northern California, including the Valley of the Moon house, which consists of cedar-clad volumes organised around a courtyard, and the overhaul of a 1970s coastal home in the famed Sea Ranch development in Sonoma County.

The photography is by David Duncan Livingston.

Project credits:

Architect: Butler Armsden Architects
Interiors and lighting: BAA & Clients
Structural engineering: Smithworks
General contractor: Hadley Construction

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Plump white walls and undulating ceilings can be found inside this house near San Francisco, which has been updated by design studio OPA to feature cloud-like forms.

The owners of the three-floor home recruited OPA to create interiors that could provide "a release from the conformity of the outside world".

This prompted the local studio to incorporate a series of unusual, billowing forms into the rooms, giving the project its nickname Softie.

"Why can't architecture be more like nature, changeable, varied and uninhibited," questioned the studio, which is led by Luke Ogrydziak and Zoë Prillinger.

"The clouds scatter freely throughout the house and dissolve and soften it in different ways. They erode and blur the order of [the house's] rational modernist grid, creating a sense of space that floats and drifts."

Clouds are referenced immediately at Softie's front door, where a set of bulging, white steps lead into the interior.

Here, the studio has overlaid gently sloping architectural features on top of the home's existing structural shell to cause as little disruption as possible.

"Our solution tactically selects key areas to soften, thus creating an overall ambience without literally reworking every aspect of the existing house," the studio explained.

"Moments of softness are encountered unexpectedly. The interventions are like a mist that has settled unevenly."

A section of the ceiling in the entryway has been remoulded and now droops down to form a plump nook where the owners can withdraw to relax during the day.

This canopy is punctuated with a couple of amorphous openings to provide views over the adjacent living room.

A similar nook has been built into the main bathroom, where it accommodates a freestanding circular tub.

In the corridors, walls bulge out and almost completely envelop the house's support columns, while wriggly white handrails have even been installed beside some of the stairways.

The outdoor terrace, which offers sweeping vistas across San Francisco's Richardson Bay, is covered by a cloud-shaped canopy.

This open roof structure is made from interlocking sheets of aluminium, while the internal interventions are crafted from blocks of foam, MDF and plywood. Their shapes were first drawn up on the computer before being fabricated and then assembled on site.

In order to improve the heat and energy efficiency of the house, OPA fitted solar panels on the roof and substituted all of the windows and skylights with higher-performance units that provide better insulation.

Several doors were also replaced with panels of glass to reduce the need for artificial lighting and allow more sun to permeate the floor plan.

OPA's Softie project is shortlisted in the house interior category of the 2021 Dezeen Awards.

Other projects in the running include The Island, a Parisian home that's organised around a courtyard garden, and Canyon House in London, which has 70s-style living spaces.

Photography is by Joe Fletcher unless stated otherwise.

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Swiss architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron has broken ground on its transformation and extension of a decommissioned power plant on the waterfront of San Francisco, USA.

The adaptive reuse project will convert the brick structure named Station A, which was built in the early 20th-century, into offices and workspaces.

It is being designed by Herzog & de Meuron with local office Adamson Associates Architects as part of a wider 29-acre (11.7-hectares) masterplan called Power Station, which will connect the industrial waterfront site to the Dogpatch neighbourhood.

The masterplan is being overseen by developer Associate Capital and will include 2,600 residential units and 1.6 million square foot (148,600 square metres) of workspace.

Some of these facilities will be housed in two new mixed-use buildings that are being designed by Foster + Partners.

"The reinvention of Power Station will bring new life to a significant building from the city's colorful past and will anchor this area as a destination on the San Francisco waterfront," said Herzog & de Meuron's senior partner Jason Frantzen.

"We are honored to continue our work in the Bay Area and look forward to realizing this important project."

As part of the overhaul, the plant's old turbine hall will be retained and used as a large atrium-like space.

Here, the original platforms that once supported machinery will be used as walkways and lookout points.

Herzog & de Meuron will also preserve and repurpose the building's large foundations as supports for a new lightweight steel-framed structure above that will contain offices.

Externally, the new structure will be glazed and finished with shading louvres and openings for natural ventilation to reduce the need for artificial cooling.

Alongside homes and offices, the wider Power Station scheme will be complete with shops, restaurants and hotels along with seven acres of parkland.

It is expected that 30 per cent of total housing will be affordable, with 36 units dedicated to a homelessness initiative.

Herzog & de Meuron was founded in Basel in 1978 by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Other adaptive reuse projects by the studio include the Tate Modern in London, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the CaixaForum Madrid.

Visuals are courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.

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Architecture studio Foster + Partners has unveiled plans to turn the site of a decommissioned power plant on the San Francisco waterfront into a mixed-use development.

The Dogpatch Power Station scheme, which broke ground this week, will include residences, shops, restaurants and hotels along with seven acres of park.

Developer Associate Capital has 2,600 residential units planned for the 29-acre site, along with 1.6 million square foot (148,600 square metres) of workspace.

Foster + Partners designed two new mixed-use buildings for the site located between Dogpatch and the waterfront. The upper floors of these buildings will be residential, with the lower levels given over to co-working spaces and places for socialising.

Buildings will be arranged around courtyards lined with amenities such as daycare centres and places for online shopping deliveries to be dropped off and collected.

The practice has also planned cycling and pedestrian routes that will connect the development with the waterfront and the rest of the Bay Area.

"This project offers a unique opportunity to reinvigorate an erstwhile industrial quarter and infuse new life into this part of San Francisco," said Foster + Partners senior partner Armstrong Yakubu.

"Our proposals will deliver much-needed homes guided by a design approach that is underpinned by people, sustainability and community, and rooted in the rich history of the place," added Yakubu.

"Our aim is to give Dogpatch an ideal urban framework to help create a vibrant, healthy and inclusive 21st century live/work community."

The development will include the former turbine hall of the power station, which is being transformed into an office and life science building by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron.

Woods Bagot recently completed a residential building with a five-storey living wall and a spa for dogs in the Dogpatch neighbourhood, which was once a shipbuilding hub.

More upcoming projects from Foster + Partners include turning an abandoned gas station in Madrid into offices and a master plan for a tree-filled neighbourhood for Bangkok.

Images courtesy of Foster + Partners.

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Architecture office Woods Bagot has covered an apartment block in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighbourhood with a green wall that climbs up five floors.

Called 2177 Third Street, the residential building includes 114 condos with amenities including a private courtyard, beach access and a spa – or "spaw" – for dogs.

Once a hub for the shipbuilding industry, the dockside neighbourhood of Dogpatch is now home to trendy bars and cafes.

Woods Bagot designed the apartment block to take advantage of California's balmy climate, with an outdoor courtyard and individual balconies. Open pedestrian bridges link different parts of the building and allow the breeze to pass through.

The living wall that covers a large part of the exterior was created by local living wall specialists Habitat Horticulture, and contains 13 species of plants such as geraniums and agapanthus arranged in a swirling pattern.

"Many of these were chosen to attract local pollinators and on any given day you can find honeybees, moths and bumblebees all at once," said Habitat Horticulture founder David Brenner.

"Our approach thoroughly examines the micro-climates, potential growth rates, and lighting conditions of the installation space to ensure that an appropriate species is specified for each spot on the wall," he told Dezeen.

The green wall at 2177 Third Street is 48 feet (14.6 metres) high and 25 feet (7.6 metres) wide.

Habitat Horticulture carries out maintenance work on the bottom portion of the wall on a monthly basis. Twice a year, a swing stage is used to tend to the top portions and replace any plants as needed.

The wall is visible through floor to ceiling glazing that lines the corridors on every level of the building. The greenery compliments the building's bronze-coloured facade, which features boxy balconies that project from between walls of windows.

"A simple window wall system for the facade integrates custom bronze anodised aluminium extrusions which frame the 15-foot (4.5 metres) facade modules," Woods Bagot told Dezeen.

"A mixture of framed balconies and metallic fritted glass adds dynamism to the building's exterior."

At ground level, the shopfront windows are framed by glazed teal-coloured bricks sourced locally from the Dogpatch neighbourhood.

Bronze accents feature inside the lobby, picking out the lift doors and reception desk.

A rooftop lounge has fire pits for residents to gather around, and the condos at 2177 Third Street also come with access to a co-working space, a bike workshop and a resident's lounge with a "chef's kitchen".

Woods Bagot is a global architecture firm founded in Australia in 1896. Recent US projects by the firm include a restaurant in Manhattan and the practice's own New York offices.

Photography is courtesy of Woods Bagot.

Project credits:

Client: Align Real Estate
Woods Bagot architecture team: Guion Childress and Hannah Cao
Woods Bagot interiors team: Katy Mercer and Hannah Cao
Landscape architecture: Marina Design Group and Surface
Structural engineering: Nishkian Menninger
Civil engineer: BKF Engineers
Mechanical and electrical engineer: Meyers + Engineers
Plumbing engineering: SJ Engineers
Living wall: Habitat Horticulture
Facade: AGA design build
Sustainability consultant: Urban Fabrick

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Seminal furniture designs by Brazilian modernists sit alongside contemporary art in a shoppable exhibition within the 40th-floor penthouse of a recently-opened San Francisco residential tower by architecture firm SOM.

Travelling French-Lebanese gallery Gabriel & Guillaume has decorated the interior of the penthouse of the new Fifteen Fifty building in bright colours and patterns, and furnished it with a mix of new and mid-century pieces, all of which are for sale as part of the showcase.

The exhibition, which will run through summer 2021, is a collaboration between the gallery, the building's developers Related California and branding agency FrenchCalifornia, which specialises in creating exhibitions within model apartments.

The team was tasked with decorating the three-bedroom, three-bathroom penthouse – with interior architecture designed by Los Angeles firm Marmol Radziner – to create a scheme that is "livable and approachable".

"We always work to conceptualise and execute spaces that help visitors see that collectible design can be attainable and fun, so this project came very naturally to us," FrenchCalifornia told Dezeen.

Pieces on show hail from Italy, France and Brazil, dating from the 1940s to present day.

They sit alongside a contemporary art collection curated by gallerist Jessica Silverman, which includes works by American sculptor Davina Semo, multi-media artist Julian Hoeber, painter and photographer Ian Wallace, Israeli artist Amikam Toren and Berlin-based Claudia Wieser.

Vivid paint colours such as the deep blue in the open kitchen, almond green in the bedroom and 1980s-style graphic green wallpaper in the office were chosen to reflect the spirit of the city while complementing the furniture and helping to define the different rooms.

Describing their style as "eclectic", Gabriel & Guillaume pulled together a diverse selection of furniture from different countries and eras.

Pieces designed in the 1980s by French designer Martin Szekely sit alongside work by Brazilian modernists such as Martin Eisler and Carlo Hauner, who founded illustrious furniture brand Forma, and Jorge Zalszupin.

Contemporary furniture pieces include designs by Beirut-based Ranya Sarakbi and Niko Koronis, who is known for his work with resin. Rugs by Iwan Maktabi and textile designer Marguerite Le Maire, as well as pieces by ceramicist Maloles Antignac were chosen to complement the furniture.

"When we buy pieces, we don't think of how they will go together," Nancy Gabriel and Guillaume Excoffier of Gabriel & Guillaume told Dezeen. "Most great pieces usually go together if proportions work – and when one piece looks uneasy with another one, just add a third one."

In the past decade, an increasing number of galleries and art shows have moved their showcases from traditional gallery spaces to domestic settings.

"Buyers, designers and decorators alike prefer to see pieces in situ and visualise a piece in a lived-in space, and the model residence is obviously the perfect platform to do this," said FrenchCalifornia.

"With retail moving fast online, when you want to actually bring people to an exhibition, you need to offer them an experience," Gabriel & Guillaume added.

"The coldness of a white cube does not do that. In comparison, getting into a home is always a more special moment. While you can see the pieces, you can also discover the way they go together and the curation of the space. The homely format definitely has more soul."

This sentiment is echoed by the founders of Nomad, a travelling art fair founded in 2017 that showcases collectible design in exclusive villas and apartments.

Speaking about the fair's residential context, Nomad co-founder Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte told Dezeen: "What is good is that you can relate on a domestic scale with the objects. Most design collectors don't buy for their storage for investment, they buy pieces to live with them. So to have them in a domestic environment is definitely perfect because you can relate to them."

Photography by Douglas Friedman.

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London-based Heatherwick Studio has designed an elevated work campus and park bolstered against rising sea levels caused by climate change to replace deteriorating historic piers in San Francisco.

Heatherwick Studio developed conceptual proposal The Cove in a team of 20 called EPX2 for the site of Piers 30-32 at the southern end of the Central Embarcadero Piers Historic District.

Completed in the early 20th century in the city's South Beach neighbourhood, the Embarcadero site was listed in 2016 as one of America's 11 most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The buildings on the 108-year-old Piers 30-32 have since been abandoned, while the piers have lost structural integrity and fallen into disrepair according to the team.

The Cove proposal is intended to provide a new hub of activity while addressing rising sea levels threatening the waterfront site and also consideration its history.

A "resilient pier platform" composed of concrete piles will rise above the sea level, which is forecasted to rise three feet (0.9 metres).

Elevated on top will be a workplace campus with two buildings flanking a five-acre, ecological public park. Grossing 550,000 square feet, The Cove is designed to be smaller than the footprint of the existing structures.

The buildings will be modular, with renderings showing gabled structures that interlock, and designed to be flexible to accommodate a range of functions like offices and shops. Walls are shown to be glazed so they open up to the crescent shaped park and water in between.

Steps for lazing edge the corner of the green space while a circular pathway extends around the inlet of water for sports activities like kayaking. According to the team it is designed to be reminiscent of California coastal bluffs and act as an Eco-Transect showcasing different natural habitats.

"A pedestrian-friendly journey through the ecological park winds from the Embarcadero promenade through a multi-use plaza, a rolling softscape of native terpene-laden trees and dune grasses, a carbon-sinking, floating wetlands, an oval boardwalk, onwards to a promontory, a bridge beyond, overlooking the bay," it explained.

The Cove is also intended to be net-zero carbon and meet International Living Future Institute certifications, which outline practices for a building to be considered green or sustainable.

EPX2, which also includes Earthprise and Sares|Regis, created The Cove in response to a request for proposals from The Port of San Francisco. The project is intended to align with the Embarcadero Seawall Program, an initiative to bolster the waterfront site from rising sea levels and earthquakes.

While the current design is still preliminary and expected to be adapted, the team is aiming to complete in 2026.

With its close proximity to water, San Francisco is one of a number of cities threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change. A number of architects have developed projects for the city to address this issue.

Danish firm BIG, for example, designed a proposal to protect the San Francisco Bay with floating villages connected by ferries, a red-hued cycle route, and a highway for autonomous vehicles.

BIG's proposal won the Bay Area Challenge, which asked entrants to develop ideas to protect coastal areas from rising sea levels, flooding and earthquakes.

Another historic waterfront area in the city, known as Pier 70, is also being redeveloped to meet predicted sea levels. As part of the project, a waterfront building in San that weighs 2,075 tons was hoisted up over three metres above ground to protect it from flooding.

Edward Barsley, author of Retrofitting for Flood Resilience, has also outlined six key strategies for creating environments adapted to flooding: attenuate, alleviate, restrict, realign, create and embrace.

Renderings are by Heatherwick Studio, unless stated otherwise.

Project credits:

EPX2 team: Earthprise, Sares|Regis, Heatherwick Studio, Paradigm Strategy, CMG Landscape Architecture, Page & Turnbull, Kendall/Heaton Associates, WSP USA Maritime, Fugro USA Land, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, MKA Civil, stok, PAE Consulting Engineers, Biohabitats, McLaren Engineering Group, Edgett Williams Consulting, Michael Schwab Studio, Manson Construction, DPR Construction, Concrete Technology Corporation, Mammoet, Consolidated Engineering Laboratories, SWCA Environmental, and Reuben, Junius & Rose.

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A pale green lacquer table and dried plants are among the references to Greek architecture and "Californian freshness" in this spa in San Francisco designed by Jacqueline Sullivan.

Monastery Studio is a spa and retail space in San Francisco, founded by Athena Hewett, that offers a range of facial and body services.

The light-filled space is designed to take cues from Hewett's Greek heritage and her time spent in the Cyclades.

"Monastery Studio is inspired by Athena's Greek heritage and memories of summers in the Cyclades – sun bleached architecture, ancient pottery, soft stones, the salty sea, diffused sunlight," Sullivan told Dezeen.

"Though the space has an old world feel it also has a distinctly Californian freshness and sensibility," she added.

Walls and flooring in the space are painted white to provide a neutral backdrop for the custom-built furnishings, ceramics and dried floral sculptures.

At the centre of the shop there is a chartreuse-coloured lacquer table with chunky circular legs and rounded edges designed by Shin Okuda of Los Angeles furniture studio Waka Waka. The surface forms a display area for the spa's range of oils and serums.

Bottles of products and other trinkets, including dried flowers, rocks and pottery, are arranged across the thin boards that comprise a massive built-in shelving unit.

To add texture to the space Sullivan installed a curving sculpture of brown and red plants that extends from the ground to the ceiling onto one of the walls.

"We played with shape, texture, colour and scale in a way that feels informed by the past but simultaneously very contemporary," the designer added.

"Ultimately, we wanted the space to feel soft, special and thoughtfully considered, just like the Monastery oils themselves."

Curved archways lead into the treatment rooms which are also painted white and flooded with natural light from a row of windows. The rooms are outfitted with a wood chair for patients, wooden stools and potted plants.

The exterior of the spa and store is clad with planks of black wood and fronted with three large windows.

Other facial spas include a skincare studio in Los Angeles with light pink accents designed by Proem Studio and a skincare store in England with cane and ash wood cabinets.

Project credits:

Lead interior designer: Jacqueline Sullivan
Interior designer: Jen Downing, Mokume Design Studio

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The interiors of Studio Gang's Mira residential building have been revealed in these new photographs, as the project is finished in San Francisco.

Photos capture the interiors and exterior of the 40-storey apartment complex, whose facade is formed by twisting rectangular columns punctured with windows. Balconies are nestled within the spirals and scale the tower with glass railings.

Studio Gang, which has an office in the city, designed the 400-foot-high (122-metre-high) structure for developer Tishman Speyer in the Mission Bay neighbourhood.

The twisted and curved windows that form the exterior of Mira are intended to be a reinterpretation of the city's bay windows. Inside, they offer views of San Francisco Bay and the Bay Bridge that connects to Oakland.

Mira has 392 apartment units as two- and three-bedroom condominiums. In the photos, apartments have white walls, wood floors, white counters and dark wood kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities.

Structural pillars have angular shapes with eight or six sides.

San Francisco's Jeff Schlarb Design Studio has decorated model units at Mira, and Mexico City studios Esrawe and EWE also collaborated on custom-made pieces to furnish the lobby and lounge.

Other amenities include a rooftop deck, fitness centre, children's playroom, attended lobby, conference room and valet parking. There are also shops located on its ground level.

Mira, which was first unveiled in 2018 and topped out last year, is among a series of buildings Studio Gang has designed for San Francisco.

Others include a proposal for a 23-storey dark grey building for the city's Mission Rock development and a centre for California College of the Arts.

Studio Gang has offices in San Francisco, New York and Chicago and was founded by American architect Jeanne Gang in 1997. Gang was named world's most influential architect of 2019 by Time magazine.

The firm has also recently completed Solar Carve Tower on New York City and a Chicago building clad in concrete panels.

Photography is by Scott Hargis.

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A historic waterfront building in San Francisco that weighs 2,075 tons, the equivalent of 20 space shuttles, will be hoisted up over three metres above ground to protect it from flooding caused by climate change.

Building 12, which was completed in 1941 for America's shipbuilding effort during the second world war, is being lifted up by developer Brookfield Properties in advance of a renovation by architecture firm Perkins and Will.

The historic structure will be elevated 10 feet (3.1 metres) above the ground as part of the wider strategy to bolster a new 23-acre (nine-hectare) neighbourhood against rising sea levels – which are expected to increase between 30 and 130 centimetres by the year 2100.

Preparation to lift up the massive structure has taken nine months, while the actual lift process is expected to take two weeks.

Sixty-eight shoring towers have been installed on either side of steel columns to prop the building up, with 136 hydraulic jacks used to lift it up.

The hydraulic jacks pump a liquid that can't be compressed, like oil, to lift the steel and wood building in increments of 5.5 inches over two hours. They are monitored by computers that ensure that they don't lift the building more than necessary and shut down the operation if they do.

Other processes involved in the major elevation project include creating a new foundation to anchor footings to bedrock, and placing steel beams between columns to stabilise the building.

After each lift, wood cribbing is stacked underneath the building and then replaced by steel support towers.

Featuring large openings for ribbon windows and an irregular roofline, Building 12 was originally used for the production and fabrication of steel plates for ships' hulls on the former shipbuilding site.

Once raised Perkins and Will will extend the building from 118,890 square feet (11,045 square metres) to 230,000 square feet (21,367 square metres), adding a new basement, second level and mezzanine.

It will be turned into workspaces for local manufactures, makers and artisans, shops and events space for the Pier 70 development. Another two historic buildings on the site will be overhauled and accompanied by new builds forming housing and waterfront parks.

Pier 70 broke ground in 2018 and is expected to be completed by 2022. The wider plan is designed in response to the estimated rise of sea levels and includes raising the site near the shoreline by five feet (1.5 metres).

The level of the existing shoreline will be left untouched. It will be updated with a pathway that is intended to be lost when water levels change.

Pier 70 is among a number of coastal neighbourhoods and developments designed to be more resilient to the effects caused by climate change, like rising sea levels, flooding and earthquakes.

Architecture firm BIG has also developed a proposal to protect the San Francisco Bay from flooding – including building floating villages connected by ferries, a red-hued cycle route, and a highway for autonomous vehicles.

Last year, New York mayor Bill de Blasio revealed plans to extend Manhattan shoreline in response to climate change.

Photography courtesy Brookfield Properties/ Plant Co.

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San Francisco firms Síol Studios and Levy Art and Architecture have updated this house in the city's Noe Valley neighbourhood with a gridded glass extension and two rooftop decks.

Called Valley Street, the Craftsman-style house was renovated by Levy Art and Architecture with interiors by Síol Studios for a couple who is passionate about art. One is a tech entrepreneur, and the other is a community organiser.

The team created the 3,280-square-foot (306-square-metre) home with a combination of industrial and bold details to be representative of art and technology.

Valley Street was extended with a three-storey construction with steel beams supporting black-framed windows. Glass doors on two levels break up the geometric pattern.

Completed in 2016, the renovation joins a number in San Francisco that contrast contemporary rear additions with the home's historic front.

Also, as is common in the hilly city, the house can be accessed on its front and rear sides. These are at two different levels because it is built into a slope.

The main level is on the top floor and comprises an open-plan kitchen, dining room and sitting area, a bathroom and a bedroom.

A corner of the dining room is wrapped by the black gridded windows, and doors open onto a patio with glass railings. "The view is disciplined by a larger grid present in the delicate mullions that span the windows on this floor," the team added.

Interiors feature grey cabinets and a combination of black, cream, wood and white furniture. The kitchen backsplash is patterned with a flower mural by local artist Jet Martinez that adds a pop of colour.

Walnut floors match a kitchen island made of wood, as well as wood beams left exposed overhead sourced from waterlogged piers.

"They [the beams] retain a resonant function, breaking up the long open plan without interrupting the continuous sightline out to the windows, nor the intentional acoustics of the wide-open entertaining space," said the team.

A suspended stair of walnut and steel rods to a sitting area with access to a deck on the rooftop that has built-in benches, a fire pit and a wooden Japanese-style soaking tub. A second staircase leads from this floor to the two lower levels of the residence.

"The junction between the stair connecting the public spaces and the one that moves down to the private floors marks a pivotal point in the project, where the home engages with the tension between the individual and the collective and the architectural implications of each," the team said.

"As you drop down, the home quiets."

The level below the kitchen contains two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a walk-in closet, gym, storage and a garage. The master bedroom is housed in the glazed addition and features expansive glass walls.

A family room, bedroom, bathroom, laundry and mechanical space are located in the basement. The team describes these spaces as "sheltered".

Exterior access is included on this lowest level, which is on the downhill side of the split-level home. Glass doors in the living room open onto a concrete patio and garden that is enclosed with a minimal fence.

In addition to this home, Síol Studios has also renovated a Spanish colonial-style dwelling in Los Angeles. The practice was founded in 2007 by Irish-born architect Kevin Hackett and Jessica Weigley.

Photography is by Joe Fletcher.

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American firm Malcolm Davis Architecture has placed skylights over existing wood framing to streak the interiors of this San Francisco house with beams of light.

Malcolm Davis Architecture was enlisted to renovate the residence located in Noe Valley, a neighbourhood in the California city known for its streets lined with Victorian and Edwardian style homes.

Called Noe Valley Residence, the project maintained many of the house's traditional elements, including its bay window and beige stucco facade to preserve its connection with the neighbourhood.

To modernise and expand the house, the firm added large glass windows and a rear extension that spans two levels to the rear of the house. It joins a number of projects in the city that have traditional fronts and contemporary extensions in the back.

With the addition, the studio was able to increase the house's size from 1,900 square feet (176.5 square metres) to 3,000 square feet (278.7 square metres).

"The goal of this Noe Valley renovation and expansion was to maintain a connection to the neighbourhood context, while maximising access to daylight, the garden and the views beyond," the studio said.

"Reinterpreted and expanded in a modern vocabulary, the house is now a relaxed and inviting family home."

Grey lap siding lined with a row of windows covers the upper portion of the rear facade. Vertically laid cedar wood clads the rear extension that juts out from the ground floor of the existing structure.

A deck on top of the wood addition is fronted with four panes of glass that form a railing facing the grassy backyard, which is divided into several small courtyards and patio spaces.

Along the northern side of the house, the studio placed a series of skylights over existing wood framing that was repurposed and left exposed. Light streams through the gaps between the beams to project a pattern of diagonal stripes against the interior walls.

Malcolm Davis Architecture worked with local designer Lori Yeomans to design the bright interiors.

In the kitchen, the white walls and cabinetry are contrasted by the ceiling clad with cedar wood planks. The large white island at the centre of the room is also lined with a row of the wood slabs on one of its faces.

Similar cedar accents feature in other parts of the house including as a decorative wall in a bedroom and on the built-in coat rack in the entry hall.

Other elements of the design include a thin desk and shelving unit built into a small alcove, a black textured fireplace and pair of sliding glass doors that open to the wood deck overlooking the backyard.

Malcolm Davis Architecture has completed a number of projects in California such as a holiday home formed by two cedar volumes and a house in Silicon Valley that embraces its natural setting.

Photography is by Joe Fletcher.

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A renovated home in San Francisco features a pared-down colour scheme with places to eat, mingle and relax, designed by Los Angeles studio JDP Interiors.

Located in the neighbourhood of Russian Hill, the home was redesigned by JDP Interiors for a couple in their thirties who were looking for modern interiors that were fun and youthful.

"The clients were interested in a modern Scandinavian vibe but loved a previous project I did and the high contrast it allowed for," studio founder Joyce Downing Pickens told Dezeen.

"They requested a serene colour scheme while keeping it young, infusing hip and funky furniture items, and aimed at providing plenty of seating for entertaining."

Pickens opted for a light and bright aesthetic that works off the existing home's wrap-around windows and expansive ocean views. A Deck Chair by BDDW in the living room set the tone for the entire scheme.

Called Green Street, the home includes five bedrooms and encompasses 3,278 square feet (304 square metres).

White walls and pale wood floors serve as the backdrop for wood furniture in dark and light tones, and pieces in contrasting cream and black hues.

When reconfiguring the interiors, Pickens also based the layout on the windows and views San Francisco's Alcatraz Island and Golden Gate Bridge.

Despite the ample sunlight and ocean views the windows provided, they posed a challenge. The team opted for low seating and a combination of airy and heavier items for a feeling of being open but anchored.

"The windows and the view just beyond them are what was so incredible about this space but was also what made this project tricky," Pickens said.

"Every main wall was a window, so we were stuck with the dilemma of trying to configure a furniture plan without blocking the view."

The colours seen from Alcatraz Island were also a reference point for Pickens, particularly the shades of green, brown and creams. The designer infused these elements with dark pieces for a strong effect.

An eating area has a U-shape dark green built-in, which was custom made for the project, around a Juwel Pedastal table by Stahl + Band.

An open-plan kitchen and living room is anchored by a central dining table, also custom made for the project with Bananas and Hammocks. It is surrounded by dark woven chairs by Thomas Hayes Furniture, while pale wood Mater barstools front a dark kitchen island.

"We were working within the confines of the existing structure so this also played a part in the wood tones we chose as we weren’t changing anything major," the designer added.

Rounding out the interior design are metallic accents and plush fabrics to help to warm up the pared-down interiors. Several lights are by Workstead and Lawson Fenning, and a Hans Wegner L-shaped sofa is upholstered in an Alpaca Boucle fabric by Rogers and Goffigon.

Other renovated homes in San Francisco are an apartment with yellow and green furniture pieces by Jennifer Robin Interiors and a vibrant, art-filled dwelling by Jamie Bush.

Photography is by Bess Friday.

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These five houses in San Francisco are traditional in the front and have contemporary extensions in the back.

The California city is known for its hilly terrain dotted with charming, historic houses, and a number have been enlarged with rear extensions that contrast the home's original architectural style.

Read on for the examples of contrasting extensions:

Alamo Square Residence by Jensen Architects

This Victorian house was renovated and extended by local studio Jensen Architects. The addition features perforated aluminium panels and contemporary interiors to match.

The street-facing facade, dating back to 1889, was restored as well, and Jensen Architects was awarded the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commendation Award for the project by the American Institute of Architects.

Find out more about Alamo Square Residence ›

Gable House by Edmonds + Lee Architects

Another Victorian home in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighbourhood was painted stark white on its front side to hint at the contemporary addition in the rear that comprises a pale-grey boxy volume with a rooftop terrace.

Called Gable House, it is complete with a new garden and patio to entertain outside by Edmonds + Lee Architects.

Find out more about Gable House ›

Cut Out House by Fougeron Architecture 

Also in the neighbourhood of Noe Valley, this residence features glass walls on its rear side that slant in opposite directions.

Fougeron Architecture opted for colourful interiors like an orange-painted stairwell, blue walls in the kitchen and accents of pink and yellow.

Find out more about Cut Out House ›

29th Street Residence by Schwartz and Architecture

Local studio Schwartz and Architecture renovated this home by lifting the existing structure and adding another storey beneath it, in addition to the extension at the back.

An exposed steel structure has glass doors that open to the garden in the rear, while the front facade is finished in a grey cladding reminiscent of the home's original style.

Find out more about 29th Street Residence ›

19th Street by John Lum Architecture

This cottage-style home by local studio John Lum Architecture is in San Francisco's Eureka Valley neighbourhood.

Nearly the entire house was rebuilt from the ground up. The new structure at the rear has floor-to-ceiling windows, and larger floorplates and higher ceilings inside than the original design.

Find out more about 19th Street ›

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San Francisco studio John Lum Architecture has contrasted the look of this cottage-style house in the city with a steel-and-glass extension at the back.

John Lum Architecture renovated the dwelling on a sloping property in the city's Eureka Valley neighbourhood, which spans 19th Street and Thorp Lane. The project, called 19th Street, features a one-storey, gabled portion at the front and an addition in the rear that scales five levels.

The studio demolished a large portion of the rear of the existing residence and replaced it with a larger, flat-roofed addition. With steel cladding and floor-to-ceiling windows, it offers a stark contrast to the original home, as well as more natural light, larger floorplates and higher ceilings inside.

"We renovated this family house to maximise views while preserving the architectural integrity of the neighbourhood," said John Lum Architecture.

"Charming cottage style in the front. Cool modern multi-level design in the back."

The front facade has been refreshed with a recurved entry, new glass front door and windows. Its previous light blue exterior has been painted white with black trim to match the contemporary extension, while still reflecting the neighbourhood's vernacular.

The property joins a number of San Francisco houses updated with contemporary rear extensions to contrast with the original front facades.

Others include Jensen Architects' Alamo Square Residence, a Victorian home by Fougeron Architecture, 29th Street Residence by Schwartz and Architecture and Edmonds + Lee's Gable House.

"Known for its rows of charming houses, San Francisco is riddled with historic homes designed for a time gone by," John Lum Architecture added.

The 19th Street property features a garage on its lowest level and four storeys above. At the rear, two terraces provide outdoor living space and sliding glass doors on each level allow rooms to open to the outdoors.

The residence measures 4,500 square feet (418 square metres) and has five bedrooms and five bathrooms in total.

The entrance is located on the top floor and accessed from 19th Steet. Upon entering are a living room, dining area, kitchen and second sitting area. Three bedrooms are downstairs, and a bathroom features a bathtub enclosed by glass walls.

Above the garage is a level that also contains a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom.

John Lum Architecture inserted a new glazed staircase that allows for light to pass through the floors for an airy feel and replaces a stairwell that lacked natural light.

The decor is modern and includes a leather sectional, rattan chairs, grey cabinets, light wood floors and white countertops and walls.

It is close to San Francisco's Dolores Heights neighbourhood and Mission Dolores Park. Elda restaurant, Dolores Heights Residence by John Maniscalco and Ryan Leidner's Harrison Street House are among the projects nearby.

Photography is by Paul Dyer.

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Large stretches of glass front this black house in San Francisco, which local firm Michael Hennessey Architecture designed to exhibit alternatives to "conventional building strategies".

The Franklin Street townhouse occupies a slender lot in San Francisco's Marina District. The building is flanked on both sides by structures dating to the 1920s.

Michael Hennessey Architecture said the townhouse features elements that depart from the norm in San Francisco, such as interior light wells and modern-style windows that project outward like the city's traditional bay windows.

"This two-unit residential building proposes an alternate organisation of conventional building strategies found throughout San Francisco," said Michael Hennessey, who founded his studio in 2009.

Facades are wrapped in dark cement-plaster siding and large windows are set in aluminium. The ample glazing ushers in daylight while also providing views of the city, including the Golden Gate Bridge.

Some elements on the street-facing facade are intended to help the building blend with the surrounding context, including a portion clad in horizontal porcelain tiles that take cues from the area's brick buildings.

A set of minimal bay windows also contribute to "the scale and rhythm of the more traditional bay windows found on this street" according to the firm.

In the rear, sliding glass doors provide a fluid connection to a garden, where the team incorporated cedar walls and a graphic assemblage of pavers. Windows are placed low to help block views from neighbouring structures and provide privacy.

The four-storey townhouse contains two units – one occupying the ground and first levels, and the other spanning the second and third floors.

While both units have two bedrooms, they offer different floor plans.

The bottom apartment has a bedroom on the ground level. Located on the floor above are an office, master bedroom and main living area.

The upper unit has a media room, office, bedroom and master suite on the second storey. The third level holds a living room, dining area and kitchen, along with a small exterior deck.

The various levels of the home are linked by indoor stairwells, which are illuminated by soft light streaming in through frosted glass.

"The use of obscure glass creates a 'lantern' effect at the centre of the building, greatly benefiting the natural daylighting at the stairways," Hennessey said.

Rooms feature white walls and contemporary decor in cool tones. In the kitchen, the team installed oak cabinetry and quartz countertops. A glass chandelier by ET2 is suspended above a dining table.

Flooring is walnut to help "bring visual warmth and colour to an otherwise restrained interior material palette," the studio added.

Michael Hennessey Architecture has completed a number of residential projects in California, including the refurbishment of a 1960s house that was built by Joseph Eichler, father of America's modernist housing subdivisions.

Photography is by Adam Rouse.

Project credits:

Architect: Michael Hennessey Architecture
Structural engineer: One Design
Surveyor: Bay Area Land Surveying Inc
Title-24 energy consultant: EnergySoft
Sustainability consultant: Healthy Building Science

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London design studio Brinkworth has built an elevated skateboarding bowl inside this Supreme store in San Francisco that reverberates sounds "like a huge speaker".

The Supreme store is in the city's Mid-Market neighbourhood, in a retail space on the ground floor of an industrial building renovated by UK practices Brinkworth and Wilson Brothers.

The duo worked together 10 years ago to design Supreme's London store, and then later for the California project with Supreme's founder James Jebbia.

A focal point of the store is an elevated bowl for skateboarding inside the retail shop, positioned in the rear of the space. It is built with a curved, wood exoskeleton and textured lacquer, and hung from the ceiling rather than supported on the ground.

The wooden bowl was fabricated and installed by Steve Badgett and his studio SIMPARCH.

The underside is left exposed and visitors can walk underneath. As people skate it, the hollow space enhances the loud sounds that clamour across the store.

"The bowl is like a huge speaker," said Adam Brinkworth, who founded Brinkworth in 1990. "Getting immersed in the thunderous sound of it being ridden makes my hair stand on end."

Brinkworth also created two short videos "inspired by the roar of the bowl and the unmistakable noise of skating the city" for the San Francisco Supreme store. One features sounds of the bowl being skated alongside dark, minimal photos by Phil Young of London film studio The Mighty-Mighty.

The second video was created by Young as well, who is a close friend of Brinkworth, and captures American skateboarder Lui Elliott skating around San Francisco and filmed by skate legend Dan Magee.

In addition to the wooden bowl, the San Francisco Supreme store features structural steel I-beams that are left exposed. Their rusty facades break up the otherwise bright, open-plan project.

The store measures 2,800 square feet (260 square metres) and features double-height ceilings. Floors are concrete and other portions of the walls are white.

The property's industrial past is referenced further with original brickwork walls and exposed wooden boards overhead.

Mirrors are placed in front of steel columns, and shelves and racks line the walls to display Supreme clothes and supplies.

Custom-made dark cubes on the ground are based on a series of granite benches nearby Market Street that was popular for skateboarders to grind in the 1990s.

Colourful, seven-foot-tall (two-metre-tall) sculptures by American artist and professional skateboarder Mark Gonzales also feature in the store.

From the street, the Supreme outpost has a dark grey facade punctured by a long glass wall and doors.

Supreme was founded in 1994 in New York. Other outposts for the American skateboarding brand are a Paris store also designed by Brinkworth and a skate-able location in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighbourhood.

Photography is by Louise Melchior, Dean Kaufman and Alex Etchells.

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San Francisco's Carpenters Workshop Gallery is staging an exhibition of works by Studio Drift that aim to showcase the "intersection of nature and technology".

DRIFT: About Nature, Technology and Humankind features site-specific installations and video presentations of projects by the Dutch artistic collective.

Suspended from the ceiling in Carpenters Workshop Gallery is the interactive piece Flylight, an installation made up of 300 cylindrical glass tubes, each intended to represent a flying bird.

The piece incorporates software that responds to stimuli in its immediate environment to simulate the behaviour of a flock of starlings flying through the sky as a collective unit.

It comprises glass tubes filled with a sensor and lights that sense visitors as they approach and triggers the light will follow them around them – similar to movement pattern used by swarms of starling birds.

"It consists of delicate glass tubes that light up in an unpredictable way, partially responsive to external stimuli," Studio Drift said. "The patterns, in which the installation lights up, is not pre-programmed but has an interactive compound: just like a real flock of birds."

Also on display is the Dutch studio's Fragile Future III – a thin copper frame structure decorated with 1,200 dried dandelions seeds handpicked from fields. Each dandelion is placed over an LED light to act like a diffuser.

"It is based on the fact that the dandelion is seen as a weed and it spreads very easily," the studio added.

Franchise Freedom, a video of a performative sculpture premiered at the 2017 Art Basel in Miami, is also on exhibit. It shows video footage of flying drones that mimic the flight patterns of birds.

"This performative sculpture translates the majestic flight patterns of birds, both as singular animals and as a flock, into sweeping movements of a fleet of autonomous drones, inviting viewers to experience the natural phenomena of birds in motion through a 21st-century lens," Carpenter's Workshop Gallery said.

DRIFT: About Nature, Technology and Humankind is on view from 17 January to 30 April 2020 at the Carpenter's Workshop Gallery in San Francisco. The exhibition also features works by Maarten Baas, Aldo Bakker, Sebastian Brajkovic, Johanna Grawunder, Joris Laarman, Mathieu Lehanneur, Robert Stadler and the Verhoeven Twins.

"DRIFT: About Nature, Technology and Humankind seeks to identify and learn from the underlying mechanisms of the natural world in an effort to reconnect humanity to the environment it inhabits," Carpenters Workshop Gallery said.

"In an era when environmental concerns are top of mind, this exhibition brings together artists who, in the words of historian William Meyers, 'make an effort to understand and materialise the nature of nature.' "

Studio Drift was founded by Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta in 2007 and is located in Amsterdam.

It has completed a number of works that explore the link between nature and technology – including an installation of 3,000 blue blocks that represent the plastic used to make a single grocery bag and an artificial tree that responds to the movements, heartbeats and brain activity of visitors.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery was founded in London in 2006 by Le Gaillard and Julien Lombrail in a former carpenter's workshop.

The San Francisco space, which opened inside a former church in 2018, forms its fourth outpost, following other locations in New York and Paris.

Recent exhibits at the international gallery have included a presentation of furniture by French-Swedish artist Ingrid Donat in San Francisco and a modular sofa that references Brutalist architecture by fashion designer Rick Owens displayed in Paris.

Photography is courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

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A canyon-like tower by MVRDV and a twisting structure by Studio Gang are among the buildings to be revealed for a new San Francisco development.

MVRDV, Studio Gang, Henning Larsen and WORKac make up the four practices that have teamed up to design buildings for a new neighbourhood called Mission Rock.

The development will be located in the Mission Bay neighbourhood, on 3rd Street in between Terry Francois Boulevard and Mission Rock Street. It will span a 28-acre waterfront site on San Francisco Bay that is currently used as a parking lot.

Rotterdam firm MVRDV has proposed mixed-use tower, Building A, that features a 23-storey construction with box-shaped units that project out to form a pixelated effect.

It is nicknamed The Canyon because MVRDV referenced California's mountains when designing, with the intention to bring back the city's hilly topography missing on the flat asphalt plot.

"We wanted to establish a dialogue between the waterfront, the ballpark, and the robust Californian rock formations," said MVRDV co-founder Nathalie de Vries.

"Those formations inspired The Canyon's architectural form: steep rocky walls with a narrow valley running between them, thus creating a mix of apartments of different sizes, roof terraces, and lush public spaces which feel welcoming to all."

The project comprises a central tower as a "canyon" that will "fracture" the north-east podium to make a building form of its own and also a lush space at ground level. Another volume, known as the "annex", will contain a separate lobby on the east side of the building.

At the base of MVRDV's tower is a podium with a similarly faceted, red exterior. Located here will be retail, office and commercial spaces.

The building will scale 240 feet (73 metres) and contain about 285 residential units. Mechanical equipment will be housed on the roof in an additional 14-foot (4.3-metre) volume, and a rooftop patio, partial basement for bike parking, and space for the District Energy System round out the design.

US firm Studio Gang, meanwhile, has conceived a 23-storey tower with floors that twist away from one another to create inlets for planted terraces. Ceramics will clad each floor to offer varying hues.

"Building F will be at the heart of Mission Rock, housing amenities for the entire neighbourhood that overlook a new public plaza and vibrant streetscape," said Studio Gang's founder Jeanne Gang.

"For the residences, we designed a tower inscribed with terraces, extending this indoor-outdoor living and offering views amidst elevated bio-diverse gardens."

Similar to MVRDV building, Studio Gang's project will accommodate residences, shops and commercial spaces.

Danish studio Henning Larsen Architects and New York firm WORKac have both created office buildings for Mission Rock.

Like MVRDV, Henning Larsen Architects has taken cues from San Francisco's hilly terrain for Building G. The lower floors are stepped to create terraces for planting, drawing similarities to Studio Gang's structure, while the gridded facade extends at the top to form a balustrade around a rooftop garden.

"Contrary to the contemporary trend of sleek all-glass commercial towers, the aesthetic of Mission Rock reflects the historic architecture of industrial San Francisco where tactile materials bring an inviting, comfortable environment and deep facades create a dynamic play of light and shadow throughout the day," said Henning Larsen partner an design principal Louis Becker.

"An active ground plane with diverse retail programming and engaging streetscape design will define the success of Mission Rock as a new, yet authentic San Francisco neighbourhood," added Henning Larsen design manager Kelly Holzkamp.

WORKac has created a more linear office building with volumes that form a pixellated exterior. The protrusions are also used to create outdoor areas.

"We thought we could take advantage of all the setbacks at the different levels by carving new openings down the face of the building," said WORKac co-founder Dan Wood.  "That way every floor has a garden, open to the sky."

"This a building that reflects the city's embrace of the outdoor life so that no matter where you are, you have access to workspace outside," he added.

Mission Rock as a whole encompasses 12 plots – seven for residential, four commercial and one for parking – with a plaza at the centre.

The firms worked in unison to "collaboratively design the buildings," according to a project statement, and teamed with local architects. MVRDV worked with Perry Architects, Studio Gang with Quezada Architecture, and the two office buildings were created in collaboration with Adamson Associates and YA Studio.

Construction is slated to commence in early 2020.

The masterplan also includes the rehabilitation of San Francisco's historic Pier 48. A new park will also be included at the north of the property – China Basin Park. It will be designed by New York landscape architecture studio SCAPE with local firms Miller and Company and Min Design.

Across the water from the park is the home stadium of American professional baseball team the San Francisco Giants, called Oracle Park. In 2010 the Giants won the rights to develop the area, currently known as Seawall Lot 337. The team will develop Mission Rock property in collaboration with Tishman Speyer.

Currently, San Francisco is undergoing expansion across its skyline. Several other buildings are proposed for the city, recently completed, or under construction. Examples are The Avery glass tower by OMA, Studio Gang's spiralling Mira building that topped out in April and Pelli Clarke Pelli's monolithic Salesforce Tower that completed in 2018.

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Northern California's coastal landscape and foggy weather influenced the design of the latest office by Canopy, a co-working company founded by designers Yves Behar and Amir Mortazavi, and entrepreneur Steve Mohebi.

Located in the San Francisco's Financial District, the new Canopy office occupies a five-storey building dating back to 1890. The ground floor contains commercial space, while the upper levels offer a total of 32 private offices of varying sizes. Tenants have access to communal amenities such as conference rooms, lounges and kitchens.

This is the third location for Canopy, described as a "forward-thinking, elevated workspace for accomplished professionals and entrepreneurs". The company's first location opened in 2016 in Pacific Heights, and the second debuted last year in Jackson Square.

All of the projects have been created as a collaboration between Canopy's three founders – Yves Behar, head of design studio Fuseproject; Amir Mortazavi, who leads the development company M-Projects; and entrepreneur Steve Mohebi.

In Canopy Financial District, each floor has a different layout to accommodate a range of member needs. Floors three and five are full-floor offices, which have already been rented by Intertrust and Bond Capital.

The interior design is meant to respect the original architecture and offer a "serene, distraction-free environment for members to concentrate, connect, and do their best work". The team intentionally avoided trendy elements like foosball tables and neon signs.

"Centred on the premise that where you work affects what you do and who you are, Canopy is void of trivial distractions and is focused on innovative features, anticipatory services, and access to iconic neighbourhoods," the team said.

Drawing upon the city's iconic fog and coastal terrain, the designers incorporated shades of silver, blue and tan. Ample use of Douglas fir – for flooring, wall siding and cabinetry – adds lightness and warmth. Daylight flows in through large windows on three sides of the building.

Original brick walls were painted pale grey to help create a calming atmosphere. A slate-blue glaze was added to walls, evoking "the colour of the water after a wave has broken and the foam has subsided, when the sun shines upon the Pacific Ocean".

Glass walls delineate the individual offices, which can seat anywhere from one to 10 workers. The Modernus partitions are made of high-tech glass that helps block noise. For those who need extra privacy, the building has sound-proof phone booths by Room.

The work areas are furnished with pieces from Herman Miller, including sit-to-stand desks by Brian Alexander and Sayl office chairs by Behar.

Each floor has communal tables made of aluminium and blue calcite marble, which were designed M-Projects. Suspended above the tables are bespoke lighting fixtures that also were created by M-Projects, in collaboration with local studio MaryMar Ceramics.

Other furnishings in the communal areas include whimsical, Smile lounge chairs by New York's Studio Giancarlo Valle and chunky, Roly Poly chairs by British artist Faye Toogood. Planters and waste bins made of distressed stone add a rustic touch.

The kitchens feature blue marble and ceramics by Year & Day, a Canopy member. Bathrooms are adorned with blue terrazzo tiles, Japanese bidet toilets and watercolours by Joe Ferris that were inspired by the sea.

On the building's ground level, the company has opened a shop that sells office, travel and lifestyle products curated by Monocle. Several of the offerings were created by Canopy members.

Membership at Canopy Financial District starts at $2,000 per month (£1,616).

Canopy is part of Global Collective, an alliance of workspace operators that "share a passion for thoughtful design, upscale amenities and curated programming." Members of Canopy can get free access to other Global Collective spaces, including Fosbury & Sons in Brussels, which occupies a 1970s concrete building that was designed by architect Constantin Brodzki.

Photography is by Ben Kist.

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San Francisco's Carpenters Workshop Gallery is staging an exhibition of works by French-Swedish artist Ingrid Donat that includes furniture detailed with interlacing loops and lines influenced by tribal patterns and 1920s Art Deco.

Rituals documents the 30-year-career of Donat, who got her start making lamps for friends and family and now creates tables, chairs, cabinets and shelving units.

"This exhibition will show the variation in her sculptural designs and the wide range of materials and techniques that are employed in her oeuvre," said Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

The exhibition's name comes from the artist's approach to her designs. "I envision my work as a ritual, a structured repetition in time and space from which an energy emanates," said described.

Among the exhibit is a series of bronze works that Donat created using a method called lost-wax casting. The process begins with a sheet of wax that the artists shapes and carves to create a mould for metal works. Molten metal is poured into the cast and left to cool.

Donat then engraves the bronze, paints the upholstery and treats the wood herself to match.

The artist's work features elements from her family’s roots in La Réunion, France. The intricate decorations etched into many of her pieces are reminiscent of tribal tattoos from the area, and scarification, a tradition that involves cutting and burning patterns into one's skin.

Donat works with a variety of materials that also emulate the textural designs of pieces by 1920s Art Deco designers Pierre Legrain and Aramnd-Albert Rateau. Like Rateau, who used animal, flora and fauna patterns in his pieces, Donat creates metal etchings that are evocative of fish scales.

"The motifs she engraves recall the animal and fish skins Art Deco artists incorporated into their works to add texture," the gallery added.

Repeating circular shapes in a variety of colours, green, brown, gold, interlace on Cabinet Klimt, a bronze cupboard Donat designed to appear like lace.

Curved table legs are inlaid with etched bronze to accent the walnut surface of Table Tribal, while black bronze is paired with panels of red parchment to comprise Bibliotheque Murale en 5 éléments, shelving unit.

Other pieces in the Rituals show include an aluminium chair and matching ottoman, titled Fauteuil Ohio and Repose Pieds Ohio, and a variety of stands, coffee tables and buffet counters, which are all intricately carved with interlocking circles, loops and lines.

Rituals is on display in San Francisco’s Carpenters Workshop Gallery 18 September to 20 December.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery was founded in London in 2006 by Le Gaillard and Julien Lombrail in a former carpenter's workshop.

The San Francisco space, which opened inside a former church last year, forms its fourth outpost, following other locations in New York and Paris.

Recent exhibits at the international gallery have included a presentation of fashion designer Virgil Abloh's sinking furniture collection in Venice a series of lacquered tables and seats by Aldo Bakker in New York.

Photography is by Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

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Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has installed five reflective spheres at a plaza adjoining a San Francisco waterfront sports arena.

Seeing Spheres was unveiled this week at the city's Chase Center sports complex. It is Eliasson's first permanent public work on the west coast, and his largest public work in the US.

The installation comprises five globes made of polished hydroformed steel. Each is 15.5 feet (4.7 metres) high, with a diameter of 15.5 feet (4.8 metres).

Arranged in a circle, the orbs enclose a concrete square at the east entrance plaza of the sports arena, which is home to US professional basketball team the Golden State Warriors.

"Seeing Spheres offers a place to pause, where you see yourself from the outside, as a participant in society," Eliasson said.

Each orb is also fronted with a flat circular mirror ringed by LED lights that Eliasson has arranged to face inwards. When lit up, the lights are reflected in the surrounding circular faces and create the appearance of a tunnel.

"Seeing Spheres is a public space that contains you and contains multitudes," Eliasson continued.

"We often think of public space as empty, negative space in the city, viewed from a car or crossed on the way to somewhere else."

Seeing Spheres launched ahead of the opening of Chase Center on 6 September. Architecture firms MANICA Architecture and Gensler teamed up to design the complex to host a basketball arena and a concert hall.

In addition to Eliasson's installation Seeing Spheres, Chase Center also commissioned 33 artists to create works for display inside the arena. A mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder and Isamu Noguchi's Play Sculpture will also be loaned to Chase Center.

Local visual artists Hughen/Starkweather and Oakland painter David Huffman will also create site-specific works, as commissioned by San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

Eliasson's installations often play with cognizance, with examples including an immersive light installation at Frank Gehry's Fondation Louis Vuitton building in Paris that aimed to skew viewers' perceptions of space.

He is also currently showcasing nearly 40 pieces of work in a major Tate Modern exhibit in London, Olafur Eliasson: In Real Life.

In interview with Dezeen earlier this year, the artist discussed how pieces such as the water-and-rainbow filled rooms are intended to prompt visitors to look at the world from a different angle.

Photography is by Matthew Millman.

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A $100 million alteration designed to prop up the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower in San Francisco has been approved as tenants reach a tentative settlement with its developers.

Independent experts have endorsed the plan to fix the 58-storey luxury condominium tower, which has sunk 18 inches (45.7 centimetres) and tilted 14 inches (36 centimetres) since completion in 2008, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.

The "perimeter pile upgrade" solution, led by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger principal Ronald Hamburger, involves drilling 52 new concrete foundation piles down from the basement to the bedrock.

It is estimated to cost $100 million (£81.8 million), which will be paid for as part of the insurance settlement.

Repairs result of year-long legal battle

News of the approved upgrade comes as a tentative settlement is reached between the building's homeowners association, developer Millennium Partners and Transbay Joint Powers Authority, following a year-long legal battle.

While the settlements are not disclosed, all 400 tenants are expected to receive compensation for the tower's sinking.

Attorney Niall McCarthy, who is representing 125 tenants across 88 units, told the San Francisco Examiner that it included individual lawsuits for roughly 250 tenants, and a class action lawsuit for the remaining 150.

"Because [the] settlement is tentative we can't discuss [the payments] but they are very significant payments for individual unit owners," said McCarthy. "The clients are all extremely happy."

Millennium Tower is tallest residential building in San Francisco

Designed by Handel Architects, the Millennium Tower is currently the tallest residential building in San Francisco, and the city's third tallest overall. Its sinking was first discovered in 2016 through a study produced by engineering firm Arup.

Millennium Partners blames Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) in part for the the tower's subsidence, claiming that the construction of the nearby Transbay Transit Center is adding to the issue. TJPA said it bears "no responsibility for the tilt and excessive settlement" of the Millennium Tower.

The tower's movement caused further concern in 2017 when engineering company Allana Buick & Bers found that it had dislodged the curtain wall away from the main structure, leaving a gap where smoke and fire could quickly spread.

Photograph is courtesy of Shutterstock.

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A screwdriver, drawer knobs and a pipe are among the objects that Berkeley studio Envelope A+D has used as beer taps in this industrial-style restaurant in San Francisco.

Radhaus is a beer hall and Bavarian restaurant located in the Bay Area's historic Fort Mason Centre for Arts and Culture, which formerly housed a military base.

The project, which is longlisted for this year's Dezeen Awards, involved the renovation of an Army marine machinery shop, and demonstrates the revitalisation that is occurring in the neighbourhood.

Envelope A+D's design preserves a number of existing details in the space, including the exposed steel roof trusses, which are painted a bright white to match the walls.

Existing polished concrete on the floor was preserved where possible and then teamed with a new aggregate, creating a patchy effect.

The entry is emphasised by a pair of large steel and glass pivot doors with red-coloured frames. Restored tall, steel sash-windows offer extensive views of the bay to create an interrupted connection between the hall, street and waterfront.

Also playing on the theme of reuse are a number of objects that the team repurposed to complete the eatery's decor. These include the bar and seating banquettes, which were salvaged from wind-fallen Ponderosa Pines in the Western Sierras.

The benches were crafted by Evan Shiveley, a tree specialist who works for wood supplier Arborica.

"The massive logs, take on a visceral presence; their scale and rawness set against a backdrop of polished concrete, the tile-clad 'beer organ' and panoramic views prompt a sense of awe," Envelope A+D said.

The centre of the beer hall is marked by this so-called "beer organ" – a structure covered in white tiles that is used to provide refrigeration for the beer kegs.

A series of taps, which are designed to change with the menu offerings, line the structure. The handles are made with found objects, that include a screwdriver, drawer knobs and a pipe.

This playful element follows droog style, an aesthetic that makes use of found objects.

"Conceptually, it is the ice-cold hearth of the space while, functionally, it is the back bar with an array of taps, storage and display of all bar glassware," the studio added.

Building and historic preservation codes required the team to conserve the facade and roof, so the kitchen's mechanical equipment, including the range hood and refrigerator are situated inside a large white "shed" designed by Envelope A+D for the space.

"It is intended to evoke the kind of ad hoc structures that get constructed for office and storage uses in big open bay structures such as this," lead architect Douglas Burnham told Dezeen.

Its plain detailing and "matter-of-fact painted wood" give it an antique appearance.

Rising three storeys, the gabled volume houses a kitchen on the ground level featuring a floor covered in a matte-black textured ceramic tile.

Space for storage and offices is located on the second floor, with room for the mechanical and air-conditioning equipment on the third level.

Other projects in San Francisco's Bay Area include a restaurant influenced by the vibrancy of the Caribbean created by Emily and Hannah Collins, sisters who jointly run Roy, a studio specialising in service hospitality design.

Photography is by Matthew Millman.

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Deserts, forests and mountain peaks inspired the design of tech company Slack's 10-storey office in San Francisco, which is meant to embody "the similarities between hiking a wilderness trail and working".

The Slack Headquarters is located within a 16-year-old building in the downtown district, near gleaming new skyscrapers such as the Salesforce Tower by Pelli Clarke Pelli and The Avery by OMA.

Rising 10 storeys, the Slack building is leased by the tech company, which was founded in 2009 and offers cloud-based tools, like messaging, for collaboration.

While conceiving the interiors for the 300,000-square-foot (27,871-square-metre) office building, Studio O+A took inspiration from Slack's CEO, Stewart Butterfield, an avid hiker who goes off grid every year to spend time in wilderness.

The design, which has been longlisted for a 2019 Dezeen Award, specifically draws upon the varied landscapes that define the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,653-mile (4,270-kilometre) trail that stretches from California to British Columbia.

Within the building, each level is assigned a topographical theme, beginning with a desert plain on the first floor and culminating with a mountain summit on the top level.

"O+A's concept was to create a floor-by-floor evocation of those landscapes — in effect, to turn a trip up the elevator into a virtual trip from Baja to the Pacific Northwest," the team said. "The idea was to not only suggest a variety of topographical and botanical contexts, but also to capture the similarities between hiking a wilderness trail and working."

The experience begins in the "base camp" lobby, where workers can hang out in triangular seating enclosures that recall tents.

The next few levels feature desert-themed finishes and decor, such as a potted cacti, terracotta blocks and furniture in muted colours. In one room, black was used for the walls, ceiling and lighting fixtures to induce a sense of nighttime in the desert.

On the fourth floor, the experience transitions to a mountain theme. Spaces are filled with elements that recall old-growth forests, streams, volcanoes and glaciers.

Among the features are plant-covered walls, birch wood trunks and graphics derived from wilderness photography by Slack employee Adam Torres. In one area, a corridor is lined with dichroic glass panels that take cues from icy terrain.

Distributed throughout the building are unexpected moments that allude to the experience of exploring the wilderness.

"As with any good hike, there are scenic surprises – a 'starry night' lounge or a wall installation that replicates Lake Tahoe's topography," the studio said.

Beyond the earthy atmosphere, the team ensured that all levels offer flexible working conditions.

Employees can set up camp in a range of areas, from private cubbies to comfy living rooms and cafes. A space dedicated for design offers pin-up walls, mobile white boards and a custom table with a paper roll.

In addition, workers have access to a range of special amenities, including a tea lounge, an edible garden and a top-floor lounge with beer on tap.

Started in 1991, Studio O+A has an extensive portfolio of projects for tech-oriented companies. Others include office designs for Facebook, Yelp and Evernote.

Photography is by Garrett Rowland.

Project credits:

Client: Slack
Interior design: Studio O+A
O+A team: Primo Orpilla, Dan Kretchmer, Dani Canepa, Millie Kwong, Brianna
Bernstein, Amy Kwok, Nikki Hall, Marbel Padilla, Amy Young, Chase Lunt, Elizabeth Vereker, George Craigmyle, Emily Cano, Samantha Calabrese, Alex Bautista
Structural engineering: Holmes Structure
MEP: ESD
Acoustics: Salter
Lighting: Niteo
Landscape architect: Habitat Horticulture
Custom graphics and signage: Andresen, Ferrari Graphics
General contractor: SC Builders
Electrical contractor: Decker Electric
Permit expeditor: Gary Bell & Associates
Mechanical: CMI
Audiovisual: AVDG
Millwork and specialty finishes: Commercial Casework, Northwestern Design, Superfab

Key suppliers:

Furniture: Pair, Andreu World, ICF, Naughtone, Stephen Kenn, Sandler Seating, Senator Group, Gubi, Muuto, Menu, Hay, Offect, Corral USA, Hay, Geiger, Bolia, Softline, Bludot, Hay, Paulistano, Bernhardt, Hem, Eric Jorgensen, Lignet Roset, Council Design, Stua, Sossego, Kettal, Cassina, B&B Italia, Herman Miller, Enwork & Humanscale, Alexis Moran, SuperFab, Northwood, Woodtech
Lighting : Allied Maker, Boca, Fluxwerx, Hunza, Iguzzini, KKDC, Lithonia, Lucifer, Lumen Alpha, Lumenpulse, Luminii, Ravenhill, Rich Brilliant Willing, Roll & Hill, Vode
Flooring : Junckers, Shaw, Interface, Tandus, Mannington, Modulyss, Crossville
Wall tiles: Crossville, DalTile, Bizen, Ann Sacks, Cle, Fireclay, Heath, Spec Ceramics, Mutina
Textiles: Maharam, Kvadrat, Moore & Giles, Edelman, Fairfield Martexin

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