Vacant City: Re-imagining Downtown San Francisco as a Modern Mixed-Use Neighborhood

Downtown San Francisco knows it needs to get back on its feet. Conceived as a well-connected and dense central business district, the neighborhood has since followed the booms and busts that outlined the region’s economic history. After the dot-com bubble burst, San Francisco emerged as a hub for tech firms, attracting startups and large companies to its ample downtown offices. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this trend as tech workers adapted to remote work, leading many tech companies to question the need for physical office spaces. Millions of square feet of retail and office space are now unused, raising critical questions about the district’s future.

The studio will formulate a multi-scalar approach to address downtown issues through synthetic design and planning. Acting as a multi-disciplinary Urban Design team, we will propose a near-future scenario that envisions a downtown where less than half of the district’s total floor area is allocated to office, with the remainder programmed for residential, cultural, institutional, and retail uses. The studio will explore opportunities to vertically retrofit existing buildings and provide housing and other non-commercial programs. Simultaneously, we will enhance the streetscape to improve ground-floor retail, create walkable sidewalks, and ensure accessible public spaces. By integrating emerging legislation, building code changes, and tax policies into practical strategies, we aim to galvanize energy toward a better future for downtown. This approach uniquely allows us to address both the vertical and horizontal planes alongside policy, finance, and construction considerations.

The course will begin by understanding the lay of the land. Why is Downtown San Francisco the way it is in its tangible manifestation and operations, and how does it compare to other business districts worldwide? A studio trip to San Francisco will allow the studio to understand how downtown San Francisco functions by experiencing the context first-hand and meeting with local architects, planners, developers, organizers, and policymakers to understand the district’s challenges.

In the second half of the studio, specific teams will address the range of conditions and scales for operation. Some teams may address how existing architecture should be adapted to accommodate new programs, considering structure, heritage, and appearance. Other groups will address how these evolved buildings connect through interior and exterior public space. Others may consider how a re-programmed downtown should be planned towards more seamless mobility, greater affordability, and a more present natural environment in coordination with the rest of the city and region. Projects will be conceived independently while complementing each other to achieve a better integrated and balanced district.

To approach the challenge from various perspectives, the studio welcomes students eligible to undertake option studios across the Urban Design, Urban Planning, Landscape, and Architecture programs.

The first day of classes, Tuesday, September 3rd, is held as a MONDAY schedule at the GSD. As this course meets on Tuesday, the first meeting of this course will be on Thursday, September 5th. It will meet regularly thereafter.