…the more we can create sociable environments for communities coming together, the better social environment we're going to have.
For Jeffrey Miller, landscape architecture is more than just plants, waterfalls and decorative rocks. For Miller, the founder of San Francisco's Miller Company Landscape Architects, it's about uniting living spaces and bringing people together.
"My impetus to be a landscape architect came out of a question - how to design social and public space so that there were better relationships between people," he said. "It wasn't a nature-based beginning, it came from more of a sociological perspective."
Take Pacific Cannery Lofts, for example. The development, which is built around an old cannery warehouse, has a dining room entry court and a living room courtyard with two large U-shaped seating arrangements. A linear garden grove runs between the condo units in the cannery building and the three-story townhouses that were built just to its east.
"That grove is sort of a garden street extension of Pine Street into the project," said Kevin Wilcock, a partner with David Baker + Partners architects, which designed Pacific Cannery Lofts. "The units are accessed off of that grove, and people hang out on the raised porches there, and its setup really encourages interaction and circulation throughout the complex."
"I think landscape architecture is just as important as good architecture as far as I'm concerned, especially here in California," said Rick Holliday, founder and president of Holliday Development, which has worked on a handful of projects with Miller over the last two decades. "You know, if we were in Manhattan, it probably wouldn't matter; you'd just have put some plants in hallways. But here, you really want the outside to come inside and the inside to come outside. People want to have a relationship with the outside in Northern California, and doing that well is critical to doing good infill housing." [Complete Story]
I was there on Friday night, at the Fire Arts Festival put on by the Crucible in West Oakland. This was a celebration of creativity through fire and light.
This scorching showcase of fire performance is the largest collection of fire and light installations on the West Coast. The Fire Vortex by Nate Smith, pictured here, was a stream of fire spun around by well placed fans reaching up towards the height of the BART tracks. I kept wondering what the people riding BART were thinking as they looked down on this fire vortex and all the other blazing pieces of art. The proceeds from the festival provide critical funding for the Crucible's arts and education programs for all ages from 8 up. Classes include anything from blacksmithing and ceramics to glass, foundry, jewelry making and working with neon and light. You can find out more about this incredible art opportunity at www.thecrucible.org. Check it out!
You may have seen a young Brazilian woman carrying a tripod and camera bag around the Pacific Cannery Lofts lately. She is Carmen Campos, a masters student at Academy of Art College in San Francisco. She is "shooting" the lofts inside and out and we will be displaying her work on our website gallery once she is finished.
Carmen comes from Sao Paulo, Brazil where she completed her undergraduate degree in advertising at McKenzie University and a graduate degree in Film and Television Business at Fundação Getulio Vargas-SP. Keep tuned for her images popping up her and there.
The cafe — it hardly resembles one — is one block from the University of California, Berkeley, campus at the corner of University and Walnut. Seeing it for the first time, your immediate thought will be: How did it ever get a building permit? For its architecture is impossible to describe — sort of a shack or a hut or a fort.
But Berkeley is strange, so the cafe fits the city perfectly.
However, if you want genuine Brazilian food, you don't have to go to Rio de Janeiro. Just drive over to Pedro Robin's funky food palace, with the American and Brazilian flags flying above the roof and place your order.
Figuring what to eat will be challenging. The cuisine is quite good and quite varied. Thus making a decision will be harder than doing the samba.
What a trip! I was at the Temescal Farmers Market this past Sunday and the first booth I saw had a young woman seated at an old fashioned foot powered sewing machine creating colorful clothing. Interested in photography, I bent down with my camera and took a picture of the brown boot working the pedal, (this image will appear on our photoblog 1/19-20) but eventually I grabbed a business card from the artist and saw the words COMMUTER BICYCLIST CLOTHING. How cool is that? Nan Eastep, a local Bay Area mother, clothing designer, textile artist and urban farmer created Joy Rider clothing as an attempt to support bicycle and pedestrian culture. You can get more information on Joy Rider at http://www.joyriderclothing.com/ or visit Nan at the Temescal Farmers Market at the Claremont DMV on Sundays 9am - 1pm. Or you can email Nan at info@joyriderclothing.com.
We're excited to have just launched the Pacific Cannery Lofts "Photo of the Moment." One of Nancy Holliday's many talents is photography, and now she's taken to the Pacific Cannery Lofts and surrounding neighborhood to create an online photo-journal.
The photography is updated daily and viewable at the Pacific Cannery Gallery. Discover the neighborhood and see the Pacific Cannery Lofts unfold by following her latest shots.
Last week Jeff Miller – Pacific Cannery Lofts’ landscape architect and landscape sub contractor – salvaged the historic ice making equipment that will become a feature piece at the west entry to the building. Jeff describes the process:
“Thought you would all be interested in our underground work to capture the ice making equipment from the dungeon of the Icehouse building.Quite the task indeed, but very exciting to handle such tonnage... The wheel is cast iron and I estimate its weight to be 4000 lbs.The motor seems to be just about 2500 lbs itself. My thought at this time is to assemble a single large wheel and its motor in north side of the west entry ramp.The wheel will be mounted on its stainless steel axle set on a concrete base at the bottom of the ramp and the engine will sit on a concrete plinth at the top of the ramp. We will use all of the original mounting structures and bolts in the reassembly.This arrangement resembles the original positioning - the wheel sat in a channel pit in the floor of the basement. My thought is that we will gain ground space on the low end of the ramp, much like the channel pit.The diameter of the wheel is 8'-0" and it will be quite an imposing sculptural element - the motor is impressive as well and will project 5'0" into the ramp area.
Since the room that they have been living in is quite small, my assumption is that they were possibly installed first and then the building was constructed around them... I can't imagine how they got in there otherwise...It has been quite the struggle to move them out of their habitat...”
Urban Designs, the design center for the Pacific Cannery Lofts, is looking to add a techie touch to their custom upgrade options. Check out Thomas & Nancy describing this box, the new home for their flat screen tv...
Clearly we take our pets very seriously at the Pacific Cannery Lofts, and we're most excited about our dog washing station, where residents can easily wash and dry their dog without covering their bathroom in dirt and fur or spending $15 to do it at the pet store (which is what you see to the left with my dog Tucker). It also gives a great space to meet other neighbors and dogs.
So naturally we were very excited to come across more pet lovers at Happy Hound Doggy Daycare - a dog paradise located just a few blocks away from the Pacific Cannery. We grabbed some clips of this doggy paradise/chaos, which you can see below:
At our Pacific Cannery Lofts design meeting, Nancy Holliday talks about public and private space in a live/work environment. Watch her talk about turning the upstairs mezzanine into a functional, comfortable living space...perfect for entrepreneurs and small business owners looking for a dual-use in their home.
Crashing the Design Meeting - the New Urban Flat Model
I crashed the Pacific Cannery Lofts design meeting to get the latest project updates. Our Design Director Thomas Jameson and Creative Director Nancy Holliday are working on the model for our New Urban Flat. The floor plan they are working on is a well designed 1 bedroom + den, 1 bath flat that sits on the main courtyard. Here is a sneak preview of some of their design ideas, which I can't wait to see as a finished home...
San Francisco magazine has made these assertions in their current issue regarding development in and around downtown Oakland. I couldn't agree more with SF magazine's assessment. Seven years ago I bought the main Oakland Train Station and 25 acres of vacant land that surrounded it. When I bought the site I decided to delve directly into the neighborhood and learn more about the hopes and aspirations of the residents. I spent time in the local barbershop where I heard many stories of the rich history of the area. I also became aware of a very deep frustration with the lack of progress in getting new buildings and new residents to the area....the neighbors were saying that "It's Oakland's Turn"....isn't it??
One of the most interesting people I met in the early days is my counterpart in the photo above. his name is Marcel Diallo and he shared his vision for bringing back the neighborhood by organizing creative young folks like himself....he's was in his middle 20's at the time......and getting them to focus on a few blocks in West Oakland known to locals as the "Lower Bottom". His vision is to create an opportunity for entrepreneur's like himself to re-create the lost culture of the Black community.
As a 54 year old "white guy" I was intrigued at how we might work together to start the process of re-building this amazing neighborhood. This blog is designed to tell our story in real time as the buildings come to life. Our first building ...the Pacific Coast Cannery is scheduled for completion this spring 2008. I hope you find this story interesting and compelling and that you participate in Marcel's and my effort to redevelop this special neighborhood the right way....by reaching out and including ALL interested parties and blending ALL of their hopes and aspirations. This is the Bay Area's oldest neighborhood...the Station was the end of the trans-continental railroad in 1870...it has been called "Ellis Island West" by local historians as it was the landing point for all new residents to Northern California. I will post at least once a week to update you on our progress.
