CCA Faculty and Alumni Take First Prize in Octavia Boulevard Housing Competition
San Francisco, June 13, 2005
CCA faculty member Douglas Burnham and alumni Robert Pei and Chris Weir, of Envelope A+D Architects in Oakland, received one of two $10,000 first-place prizes awarded today for their Octavia Boulevard housing design proposal. The prizes were given by the San Francisco Mayor's Office and San Francisco Prize. The winning project team also included Michael Cotton and Tolya Stonorov.
San Francisco Prize conducted the Octavia Boulevard Housing Design Competition for six parcels that front San Francisco's newly constructed Octavia Boulevard to generate creative housing ideas for those and other sites formerly occupied by the freeway.
"The removal of the Central Freeway has given us a unique opportunity to think creatively about new housing opportunities," said Mayor Gavin Newsom. "The housing design competition and the winning designs should encourage innovative, cutting-edge architecture for in-fill housing throughout San Francisco."
The Envelope A+D team submitted a proposal for Parcels M and N, which are on Octavia Boulevard and are only 15-feet deep. The competition jury selected the glass and steel design because the architects took maximum advantage of the proposed zoning for the area, creating an active street level, innovative unit types, and a dignified living place, all on a very narrow lot.
While construction of the winning designs is not guaranteed, the competition sponsors will encourage developers to team up with designers of the winning entries to bring architectural distinction to the boulevard.
The winning designs were selected by a jury of architects and urban design professionals from among 167 anonymous entries from around the world. The jury awarded six prizes: two first-place winners, a second-place winner and three honorable mentions. The jury also noted several community design ideas from other entries that could be incorporated in future housing developments. Complete descriptions, along with images of the projects, are available at www.sfprize.org.
An exhibition of all the entries will take place June 13–19 in the Nave at the California College of the Arts San Francisco campus, 1111 Eighth Street. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Hours are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information on the exhibition, please contact 415.703.9562 or architecture@cca.edu.
Sponsors of the Octavia Boulevard Competition included the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Economic Development, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, the San Francisco Planning Department, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR), the American Institute of Architects San Francisco Chapter, San Francisco Beautiful, California College of the Arts, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Hayes Valley neighborhood representatives, Lennar Communities, the Gap, A.F. Evans, Tandoori Grill, Absinthe Brasserie and Rene Netter.
