Category: Blog

San Francisco is changing, but it’s still recognizable. The Victorians, The Edwardians, and The Queen Annes that played host to the summer of ’67 are still here, protected and grand, but that doesn’t mean that the city should be frozen in time. There is a new urbanism, a new spirit, and a new industry, but the form and fabric of the old city remains.

In an era of housing shortage, rising rents and climate change, urbanism is the answer. It’s time to expand upon all that is good about San Francisco.

San Francisco architecture has always shifted with the demands of time. We’ve responded to earthquakes, housed soldiers, and been an example of tolerance and progressive thinking. In the context of 21^st century America, California, and the San Francisco Bay Area, the Contemporary Architecture that is being created is, just like its Victorian grandparents, uniquely San Franciscan, suited to its place, climate, and the urban fabric. It’s the current interpretation of “place,” but just as native as its precedents.

In this moment, the eclectic blend of classic and contemporary architectural styles, and their mutual influence on each other, what are the benefits?  Here are some examples.

Creates A Better Urban Experience

Architecture plays a vital role in defining local culture. It gives a particular sense of place that becomes more and more vital in today’s homogenized, corporatized world.

Many urban theorists believe the only hope for density is verticality. They, rightfully, sing the praises of skyscrapers in reducing traffic and urban sprawl. San Francisco will add housing and office space in these types of structures, and indeed a great build up of residential and commercial space is underway around the new Transbay Terminal, but it must also add space at the neighborhood scale.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sheds some light on the matter. The study concludes that cities with the most diverse range of buildings create the best urban experience. The way forward would be to integrate classic architecture in San Francisco with modern updates. When created carefully, sensitively, contemporary buildings add a layer of diversity and interest to the old city, while respecting and enhancing it.

Historic Buildings Attract Creatives

Artists and creative types are notoriously averse to sterile, placeless designs. If San Francisco modern architecture hopes to draw, and captivate, the creative class, it needs to build on its heritage and legacy.

Nearby Silicon Valley attracts plenty of business people, software developers, and entrepreneurs.  The resulting innovation takes place inside of the labs, think-tanks, and VC firms, but outside there is an equally bleak reality marked by repetitive and generic sub-urbanism, the antithesis of a vibrant artistic culture.

If San Francisco hopes to maintain its position as a haven of innovation, builders should be keeping 1968 in mind as well as 2018 and 2050.

Preserves Local Identity

San Francisco is full of memorable, distinctive architecture. It’s one of its most noteworthy features, right along with its rolling hills and functional cable cars and trolleys. It’s like no other place on Earth, having weathered serious disasters, it’s resilient and has a quickly-shifting culture. Architecture in San Francisco needs to reflect that.

Consider the recent renovation of San Francisco’s Ferry Building. The 104-year old building was converted into public space, featuring a 5-story atrium. The Ferry Building’s design is a testament to the creativity that can come from honoring the historic with a modern sensibility. This famous San Francisco building will live on, repurposed and ready for the 21st Century.

Updating San Francisco’s architectural heritage for modern times will help preserve its past and ensure its future.  Modern architecture is one of San Francisco’s most relevant cultural exports.  Working in this rich environment, San Francisco architects are envisioning futures across the globe. We need to do more of it here.

Looking For Architectural Services In San Francisco?

At Levy Art + Architecture, we’re passionate about both the past and future of San Francisco architecture. We love San Francisco’s history and mythology.

We’re committed to bringing that heritage into the future. If you’re looking for architectural services in or around San Francisco, contact us today.

Based in San Francisco, California, Levy Art & Architecture specializes in commercial and residential projects, with the goal of creating an innovative architectural design consistent with the client’s vision, sensitive to the context and the environment.  A  team of professionals with extensive experience and multi-disciplinary backgrounds handles a wide range of project at every scale.

Environmental sustainability has never been a more critical issue for humanity. With building, and building operation, contributing nearly 50% of global C02 emissions, the role of sustainable architecture has never been more important. As more people realize the importance of decreasing their carbon footprint, green design and construction are projected to become one of the fastest growing markets worldwide.

The good news is that with such a high demand, and progress in building and material science, there are a number of easy to implement and inexpensive approaches you can take to incorporate sustainable design features into your new or renovated home. In this article, we’ll look at 6 great ways you can integrate eco-friendly design in your home construction.

1. Work with the Environment, Not Against It

One of the most direct ways to construct green buildings is to keep the natural conditions of your building site in mind, what is called “passive design.” When optimizing natural light, heating, and cooling, the orientation of your house is vitally important.

In the Northern Hemisphere, south-facing windows will collect natural heat from sunlight in winter.  Avoiding or providing exterior shades for west-facing windows will help keep your home cooler in the hot summer months. Strategically placing windows throughout the house will allow for cross-breezes and natural ventilation, saving on energy usage. Yards without fences will allow for local wildlife to move freely.

An experienced green architect will design a building based on these principals and the specifics of the shape of the land, prevailing winds, and existing vegetation for your future home. This will make it genuinely “of its place.”

2. Purchase Sustainably Grown and Harvested Lumber

Forests are carbon sinks and provide habitat for all variety of wildlife. From the rainforests of South America to the arboreal forests of Canada, forest management is a critical issue worldwide. We have seen the increase of wildfire and devastation in the American West.   Traditional clear-cutting of old growth forests does irreparable harm to the ecosystems and the watershed. These are a non-renewable resource that must be protected for the “ecosystem services” that they provide.

We, as consumers, need to vote with our pocketbooks. Sustainably grown lumber is “certified” by either the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or Green Cross rating systems. Engineered lumber products, large dimension pieces made up of factory assembled small diameter logs, work and act better than sawn timber while leaving large trees standing. Check to make sure that your forest products are certified and that engineered products are manufactured with non-toxic adhesives.

3. Install Green Insulation

Insulation is especially important in green design. Great insulation reduces the amount of energy needed to heat or cool your home. Placing weather resistant, insulation on the exterior of the structure helps to reduce “thermal bridging,” where heat is transferred through the structural elements.

Some insulation companies create insulation out of recycled materials, generally recycled cotton denim from jean manufacture, or recycled newspaper known as “cellulose.” Others are working with bio-based foam from mushrooms. These are the preferred selections since fiberglass insulation can lead to long-term health issues for installers and is oftentimes manufactured with formaldehyde. With green insulation, you can reduce your home energy usage while keeping usable materials out of the landfill.

4. Specify LED Lighting

LED lights are extremely energy efficient. They use significantly less power than regular incandescent bulbs and last up to 40 times longer. Their longer lifespan means less electronic waste.

They also create virtually no heat, meaning that they won’t warm up your home in the heart of summer. Even better, they are small and bright.  With advances in color rendition, they offer a new set of design opportunities.  You can work with an architect or designer to get creative with new ways you incorporate LED lighting into your home.

5. Design with Water Saving Fixtures

There is a large selection of plumbing fixtures that reduce flow, while providing improved water pressure, mixing balance, and scald control.  Horizontal axis washing machines use less water and get clothes cleaner. In California, where water is a perennial issue, these types of fixtures are required by law, partly to save water, partly to address the “water energy nexus.” Fully 20 percent of the energy that we use in California is for moving and purifying water. Even if you live in an area where water is abundant, using less of it will save money and reduce environmental pollution.

6. Cap it with Solar Panels

Solar panels are another staple of sustainable architecture. Prices have dropped precipitously as demand has risen and production has grown. Since they collect energy from the sun and convert it into electricity, they can significantly reduce your reliance on power from the city grid. There are more and more options for battery storage, fueled by the electric care industry.

In fact, solar panels are regularly used with advanced battery technology to create net zero energy homes, where the only power used is created sustainably, locally, and without any reliance on utility provided energy.

Wrapping Up

When building a new home, it is easier than you may think to incorporate green design elements. From water saving to solar panels, the sky, or the ground, is the limit. You can have the home you want and feel good about it while helping to preserve and enhance the environment for future generations.

Want to find out how your new home can be built sustainably? Contact us to learn more.

Based in San Francisco, California, Levy Art & Architecture specializes in commercial and residential projects, with the goal of creating an innovative architectural design consistent with the client’s vision. A team of professionals with extensive experience and multi-disciplinary backgrounds handles a wide range of projects of every scale.

By Ross Levy
Principal

We are all aware of the issues with housing in California. It is hard to find and expensive once you do. That is enough of a challenge for most of us, but there is a larger and more nuanced set of issues that are intimately related to what we build, where we build and how we build it.

The underlying issue is that sprawl consumes viable natural land, land that sequesters carbon in the subsoil micro-biome. Compounding that problem, this type of development reinforces auto-centric patterns of living that lead to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change.

Impact on the Environment

Buildings, their construction, and operation, constitute nearly 50% of our global Co2 emissions. The challenge of our time is the climate. We need to make the most of existing infrastructure by leveraging it, creating more density while at the same time envisioning more livable cities.

This is a big part of what The Greenhouse gas legislation, CA AB32, signed by none other than Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was intended to address.  Following along have been further administrative actions, most recently and quite controversially, SB 827, sponsored by The Assemblyman from San Francisco, Scott Wiener, that will provide for “as of right” entitlements for high-density development along transit corridors.

Architects as Environmental Protectors

As architects, we are public artists. Our designs are reviewed and criticized by government agencies and by the public at large. We work in “contexts”; natural, urban, rural, sub-urban, dense and sparse, all of them unique and all of them sensitive.

In the context of San Francisco, a city with a rich history and strong sense of identity, how do we grow responsibly while maintaining our character and integrating new environmental technology? This is a uniquely architectural problem. It demands design solutions that are of the highest caliber, addressing a number of complex problems at the same time.

The first is the form of The City.  We can create “new” architecture that is compatible with the “historic fabric” if we first consider mass and modulation.  By this, we mean that the City, each block, has a definable rhythm of shapes and forms. Recognizing that, we can design to create and support that pattern, while also integrating design that is relevant to our age and our environmental evolution.

Our society, its built remnants, has been produced by a process of accretion, built up over time.  We work in this continuity of time to produce structures that solve today’s problems; structures that are “net-zero” or “net-positive” energy generators, buildings that are carbon sinks rather than carbon emitters, and forms that support the historic or natural environment.

That seems clear enough, but there are a variety of opinions about “context” and “contextual.”  Unfortunately, public agencies, such as San Francisco Planning, do not always share our vision of progressive architecture. To be fair, they, like any public agency, have multiple constituencies that they serve, and many political masters. We have always, and will always, work with our colleagues in public administration to, not only build a better city and a better planet but also to educate the public and to influence the Building and Planning Codes so that they are more closely aligned with the realities of our day.

Taking Action

I have personally been serving on a committee, The SFAIA PPAC, and its affiliated organization, SFDAG, in the interest of this ongoing dialogue.  We are grateful to SF Planning for their time and open minds.  It is this kind of approach that has yielded some success and respect for the work that we do.  We have every intention of continuing.

Contact us to learn more.

Based in San Francisco, California, Levy Art & Architecture specializes in commercial and residential projects, with the goal of creating an innovative architectural design consistent with the client’s vision. A  team of professionals with extensive experience and multi-disciplinary backgrounds handles a wide range of projects of every scale.

Our Russian Hill Residences project was written up on the January issue of San Francisco Magazine.   Check it out and some of the other articles about our city.