Size: 303 acres / 123 hectares
AIA National Honor Award, 2004

After 30 years of unrealized plans for this industrial waterfront area just south of San Francisco's downtown, we were asked in 1997 to develop a plan and lead of a team of architects, landscape architects, and engineers through the maze of public meetings and approvals. We came in with a fresh look, collected the salient information, gathered active participants, and began the intense series of open planning sessions that turned the tide. From our first day on the job - touring the site on bicycles with local residents - through to the final approvals, we carefully built a rich and informed support for our plans and guidelines. The plans include 6,000 new residential units, 4.4 million sf of office/life science/technology/commercial space, a new University of California research campus, 800,000 sf of retail, a 500-room hotel, 49 acres of public open space, a 500-student public school, a public library, and a new fire and police station.

Since the completion of the plan, our architects have been called in to design a number of the buildings, including the first residential building and several of the private research buildings. Today, much of the plan has been realized, including 5 buildings of the University of California San Francisco medical research campus, over 3,100 residential units, 1.5 million sf of commercial office and biotech lab space, and 11 acres of park. Just a ten minute trolley ride from downtown San Francisco, the area is swiftly becoming a desirable new neighborhood. Our Mission Bay plan stands a shining model of success for large scale urban brownfield redevelopment, and community involvement in a planning process.