Castro Commons
May 18th, 2010The Castro Commons was created through the city’s Pavement to Parks program, run by Andres Power, urban designer at the Planning Department. The Pavement to Parks projects seek to temporarily reclaim unused swaths of concrete and quickly and inexpensively turn them into new public plazas and parks.
Last year, Public Architecture designed a plaza for the confusing and dangerous intersection where Castro, Market, and 17th streets all meet. The plaza was installed for the minuscule budget of $20k. The materials used were all selected to define the space as cheaply as possible. The plaza was an instant hit.
This is the original incarnation fo the Casto Commons as designed by Public Architecture.
To define and green up the space, Public Architecture used sonotubes as planters: a great idea for temporary design on a dime.
So last year Seth Boor (of Boor Bridges Architecture, the designers of our nursery) began a redesign that would make the plaza a little more permanent. With a financial crisis in full effect, there is no way the city can spend the millions that would be required to rework this intersection completely, so our task was to create a more permanent-feeling space, still working with a very, very tight budget.
The space has a ton of limitations, more than you can see by just looking at it. There are setbacks for the trains, access requirements for the wires overhead, and the necessity to retain passage for decommissioned train tracks that run through the space in case of an emergency in the Twin Peaks Tunnel. In the final design, we have covered almost every inch of space that was not off-limits for one reason or another.
It was clear to both Seth and me that we needed mass. Although people were happily sunning themselves in the plaza whenever they could, all agreed that there was still the feeling that you were just sitting in the street. Part of the appeal of the site is that you are indeed in the middle of an intersection, making it a great people-watching or meeting spot. But the site felt exposed and you couldn’t escape the feeling that you should not relax entirely.
Also, being in the middle of an intersection, you are surrounded by concrete and hardness on every side, and so I felt that introducing some real earth into the plaza would make it feel more relaxing. In the Showplace Triangle Plaza that Rebar designed for the Pavement to Parks program they used discarded granite curbs to build raised beds and filled them with grass. These little chunks of earth give a real feeling of life to that plaza.
This is the park Rebar Group designed for the Showplace Triangle Pavement to Parks project. They used decomissioned dumpsters and planters -- they can later be dragged away. Genius! They also built beds using discarded granite curbs and filled them with grass. I love the effect of these little meadows.
Seth’s design for the concrete planters uses them to define the edges of the space and create seating. Seth designed the planters so that they are higher where they face the street and lower on the inside of the plaza. This feature makes the planters seem even bigger.
Voila - the latest version of Castro Commons
There are two more phases of this little park at Castro and Market that we will add in the next few weeks so stay tuned…Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures below of the updated plaza, starting with the shot with the Castro Theater marquee.
