Tag: Projects

ProNet Client Project Profile: 8 Washington (San Francisco, CA)

By Lynda

San Francisco’s waterfront is ready for a new kind of upgrade. The proposed 8 Washington development was the combined vision of Landscape Architect Peter Walker of Berkeley-based PWP Landscape Architecture (a/e ProNet client) and Architect Craig W. Hartman of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. More details about the project can be found at 8washington.com.

The following is an excerpt of an article published in December by the World Interior Design Network (WIDN).

“[The 8 Washington Development] will lead to creation of pedestrian corridors which will connect Pacific Avenue and Jackson Street with The Embarcadero, a play space for children with interactive sculptural gardens, as well as an expanded health and aquatics centre. There will also be creation of cafés, restaurants and retail units, and centralized underground public parking lot for the Ferry Building Waterfront Area. The overall public open area and parks constructed as part of the project will extend over 30,000 square feet while an extra 40,000 square feet private recreation zone will be built inside a new fitness and outdoor aquatic centre.

The existing surface parking space will be transformed into a public park spanning 16,740 square feet as part of the project. Pacific Park will comprise a play garden spanning 4500 square feet. The garden will sport climbable art sculptures and interactive water features. There will be three separate zones consisting of play areas for different age groups. The look of the Park will be complemented through installation of various public artwork.

The Park will further feature rolling lawns which can be used as a play area for kids and a lounge area for adults. A cafe comprising outdoor seating will be located adjacent to the Park. There will also be additional rooftop café seating.

The park will encompass the fitness and aquatic centre through an expanded and upgraded Drumm Street Garden Walk and links south to the proposed Jackson Commons pedestrian corridor. The corridor will connect Jackson Street with The Embarcadero. The project will widen Jackson Commons. There will be creation of 6650 square feet of landscaped area which will feature cafes, restaurants, and retail units in its northern and southern portions.”

To read the full-text article please visit the WIDN website.

WIDN is a new information resource focused on the global interior design community. Its aim is to provide a free source of intelligence and inspiration to the industry, as well as to act as a hub for World Market Intelligence’s premium databases, software tools, consulting and research services which are aimed at industry professionals. Free-to-access services available at WIDN.com include daily news, newsletters, comment, opinion and project studies as well as an extensive database of products and suppliers.

Skyscrapers

By Lynda

Ten years ago, the tallest buildings in the world were The Petronas Towers in Malaysia. Measuring 1,482 feet (including their decorative spires), they eeked out the top spot in 1998, beating Chicago’s Willis Tower (then Sears Tower) by just over 30 feet. While the record was controversial, the sparkling towers dominating Kuala Lumpur’s new skyline reminded the world of something significant:

You can’t keep a good industry down.

Since then, the record has been broken twice. In 2003, construction was completed on the 1,671-foot tall Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan. Just over six years later, Burj Khalifa rocketed through the record, rising to 2,723 feet above the streets of Dubai, UAE.

Unfortunately, the completion of Burj Khalifa coincided with the crash of the global economy. Today, the massive building is about half empty. Dubai’s government even had to seek a bailout from its neighbor, Abu Dhabi. And yet, for many, the world’s most-skyscraping skyscraper remains an emblem of optimism.

In a global economic climate which has rendered so many industries sedentary, those in the design community have been far from immune, but architects, engineers, and their fellow consultants have found themselves in a unique position. What they produce is visible, tangible, and permanent. And we, the people, going about our lives and succumbing to the struggle, cannot help but notice the product.

Buildings ascend from the concrete, sleek and shining and reflecting the sky. Parks sprout in the midst of concrete chaos, a breath of cool, green air. Bridges span dark waters and bring cities together. The news on TV and the radio and the internet may be bad, but when we see the steel skeleton of a new building coming together down the street, men in yellow hardhats operating heavy machinery, it’s hard not to hope the tide is turning.

Theatergoers paid a total of $31.3 million last weekend to watch 49-year-old Tom Cruise choose to accept his fourth mission as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. This time Agent Hunt is in Dubai and, in a much-talked-about sequence, he scales the flat, glass walls of Burj Khalifa, dangling more than a thousand feet above the ground. While audiences hang on tightly to their popcorn, their hope pushing Agent Hunt to the top of the tower, they will also see, possibly for the first time, that imposing architectural and engineering marvel, the tallest building in the world, an impressive bit of reality playing backdrop to Hollywood’s thrill ride.

That reality is also a reminder for everyone that it’s okay to ask, “What’s next?”

Architects and engineers may not be racing for the sky in 2012. Rather, some trends point to a renewed desire to practice locally, finding beautifully pragmatic solutions which benefit their own communities. It’s a foundational move, something strong to support a hopeful and enterprising future.