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Mass timber multifamily housing building with trees and people walking.

Timber Town

Timber Town is holistic in its problem-solving approach to the effects of gentrification, low affordable housing stock, high construction costs, systemic racism and the Covid-19 pandemic in San Francisco.

Location
San Francisco, CA
Client
Practices
Architecture
Size
Year
Awards
Buildner San Francisco Affordable Housing Challenge - Green Award, PCBC Gold Nugget Awards - Merit Award - Innovative Housing Concepts, San Francisco Design Week Awards - Honorable Mention - Architecture

Timber Town is holistic in its problem-solving approach to provide affordable housing for San Franciscans. The effects of gentrification, low affordable housing stock, high construction costs, systemic racism and the Covid-19 pandemic have created a public health and humanitarian crisis in San Francisco leaving our most vulnerable citizens without shelter and services. Using a factory town as its model, the proposed development provides prefabricated mass timber housing, community infrastructure, and economic opportunities for its residents by repurposing an existing automotive facility for onsite housing production. The development is a framework for regenerative living.

3-dimensional site plan showing Timber Town programming.

The transit rich project site harnesses the edges of neighborhoods adjacent to the Central Freeway overpass. An on-site mass timber prefabrication facility provides the means for expanding housing. Aiming for low first and operational costs, the kit-of-parts approach utilizes a 12’ x 12’ grid as the basis for the housing modules, which can be configured to accommodate diverse households. The 12’ wide breezeway also provides an urban porch condition that allows for physically distant circulation.

Diagram showing sustainable elements of Timber Town.
Diagram showing affordability of Timber Town.
Diagram showing prefabrication of Timber Town.
Diagram showing decarbonized Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing components of Timber Town.

Community modules are designed to foster gardening, responsible gathering, communal kitchens, childcare and co-living activity space. On-site urban farming provides healthy food access, creates job opportunities, and supports early education about connection to food and environment.

Mass timber multifamily housing buildings separated by trees and a garden.

Timber Town is a comprehensive solution for the affordable housing crisis. Modeled after the factory town, it proposes a self-sustaining economic and wellness model that encourages participation among residents and promises economic empowerment. The submission communicates above all that 'sustainable design' can and should extend well beyond the use of green construction materials, to become a means for implementing a holistic infrastructure that supports long-term affordable and healthy living, both for individual residents and for the wider urban community.

Juror Comment, Buildner San Francisco Affordable Housing Challenge

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Additional Credits

Landscape Design: April Philips Design Works

Structural Engineering: DCI Engineers

MEP Engineering: Point Energy Innovations

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