As part of the Dogpatch mixed-use waterfront development, Foster + Partner's Power Station extension has finally broken ground. The master plan will create multiple new residential, commercial, and recreational spaces, honoring its industrial past and reconnecting the community with the San Francisco Bay waterfront. The architecture firm's 2-building proposal provides the neighborhood with an ideal urban framework to help create a vibrant, healthy, and inclusive community.
Foster + Partners has designed two residential-led mixed-use buildings at the center of the site that provide an inclusive and diverse live/work community. The ground floors in both buildings are dedicated to shared social spaces and co-working areas, built around a central open courtyard. The design team implemented this central green space in reference to the area's traditional courtyards and alleyways. Pedestrian and cycling routes are stitched within the masterplan, creating new connections with the neighboring areas.
The buildings' design is based on a series of interconnected two-story elements and spatial flexibility. A modular organizational grid is implemented in the architecture of both buildings, creating a dynamic assembly of geometries. The apartments have been designed to maximize air flow, natural light, and access to the landscaped terraces. These terraces travel up through the building, reaching the garden roof terraces that overlook the bay.
The former industrial site is bordered by the Dogpatch neighborhood on one side and the waterfront on the other. The Power Station plan is San Francisco’s most extensive development project to date and will feature housing, retail, office spaces and outdoor areas, creating a new mixed-income neighborhood on the city’s waterfront. Other buildings within the development are designed by Herzog & de Meuron and LMS Architects.
Foster + Partners have recently shared the design for a residential-led masterplan on the outskirts of Bangkok. Titled The Forestias, the project includes a large forest at its heart to address the growing disconnect between contemporary city life and family traditions. The Forestias proposal focuses on promoting multi-generational family co-living and new models of urban life in Thailand.
