In examining the question of whether a new high rise development in San Francisco achieves success at street level, John King picks up an age-old, but always relevant, debate.
John King, urban design critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, reviews the Lumina development in the quickly growing neighborhood of Rincon Hill.
King's main concern is that this "vertical neighborhood" managed to improve life at the street level. The summarized assessment: "Now Lumina is complete, and the ground-level moves aren’t nearly as seductive as those in the air. But they’re a strong addition to their surroundings, and likely to get better with age."
At the street level of this pair of 37- and 42-story high-rises and two eight-story buildings: "a parking garage, and the amenity spaces for residents of the 656 condominiums include a climbing wall, a soundproof music studio and a plush screening room."
"Two essential pieces were missing until last month," writes King: "a 9,500-square-foot grocery store, at the corner of Folsom and Main, and a mid-block plaza between Lumina’s south edge and the Bay Area Metro Center. The latter, home to several regional government agencies, occupies a surprisingly inviting remake of an industrial block by Perkins + Will."
King provides an account of the human experience at the street level of the new development, while the development is a relatively new addition to an urban district in the making.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research