The 1 Burrows Pocket Park, located in the diverse, working-class neighborhood of Portola in San Francisco, will transform an underutilized cul-de-sac into an attractive, green public plaza.
Running east-west, Burrows Street is nearly one-mile long and abuts the retaining wall of US Highway 101 on the eastern edge, where this project is located. To date, the project site and surrounding area have been a dumping ground for rubbish and gathering spot for vandals and illicit activity, creating an unsafe environment for neighborhood residents and students at the Martin Luther King Middle School less than two blocks away. The project is part of an on-going effort to revitalize and stabilize Portola's commercial corridor by increasing cleanliness, working with property owners to fill vacancies, providing support to existing merchants, promoting the shopping district, attracting resources for physical improvements and by building community pride and empowerment.
The pocket park is a working blueprint of a comprehensive, community-led effort for revitalization and will set a precedent for future public space improvement projects for underutilized spaces throughout the City of San Francisco. This greening project will offer a lasting and significant legacy and contribution to the people of San Francisco.
The support of the following organizations will help ensure that the project is environmentally and financially sustainable:
Portola Neighborhood Steering Committee, a group of neighborhood merchants, property owners and residents of Portola.
The landscaping plans of the project have been the outcome of a direct collaboration with the Portola Garden Tour Association. This non-profit group holds an annual neighborhood garden tour.
Herrero-Boldt and Arup Engineering are providing professional pro-bono services.
The project has received support and endorsement of the City of San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
San Francisco Department of Public Works
Caltrans, the state agency that owns the land on which the project is to be built.
Architecture for Humanity San Francisco believes access to quality design is a right. We practice design activism by working collaboratively to engage individuals, non-profits, business and government to provide strategies and solutions for the built environment that become assets for the built environment.
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Since being founded in 1999, Architecture for Humanity has emerged as both an organization and a movement, inspiring architects, designers, planners, and other like-minded professionals to engage their communities and provide design to those who need it most (but can least afford it). Architecture for Humanity San Francisco is proud to be part of this movement and hopes to help the organization expand the definition of architecture and demonstrate the relevance of the design professions to more communities around the world.
