This project by a team of young designers explores the concept and potential of adaptive post-occupation of unused infrastructure in the city of San Francisco. Using a parking garage to create a scenario, the scheme proposes to convert the “found” structure – an “objet trouvé” in the city, so to speak – into a public building hosting a range of cultural activities.

The stacked floors of the garage and its circulation ramp are literally re-used to accommodate new functions. Additionally, new architectural elements are introduced, such as a performance hall which acts as cultural beacon on top of the garage, and an open air atrium cut through the slabs as public space. Adaptive reuse is here perceived as a strategy to reduce material flows in the city, using its material stock as opportunity for further development.

Read project feature in 4th Holcim Awards 2014/2015 (flip-book)

“Next Generation” 5th prize-winner “Evolutionary Infrastructure: Adaptive reuse of a parking structure for cultural activities, San Francisco, USA” takes a fallow parking garage that is re-used for cultural programs.

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The winning projects of the Holcim Awards 2014 for North America are at the cutting edge of efficiency and innovation in sustainable construction. The top prize went to a water supply and flood mitigation project in Las Vegas designed by Amy Mielke and Caitlin Taylor. BIG’s urban flood-protection concept for lower Manhattan was conferred the silver Award, and a zero-carbon compostable structure recently on display at MoMA New York designed by David Benjamin received bronze.

The jury applauds the intrinsic ideological stance and ethical posture underlying the design proposal. Rather than view the garage as obsolete, the authors recognize its inherent qualities in order to create a spatial and social interface between the city and its inhabitants. Specifically valued is the team’s intention to rehabilitate an abandoned structure with minimal means and to revitalize a neighborhood through the provision of new activities – transforming technical infrastructure into social infrastructure.

This project by a team of young designers explores the concept and potential of adaptive post-occupation of unused infrastructure in San Francisco, USA. Using a parking garage to create a scenario, the scheme proposes to convert the “found” structure – an “objet trouvé” in the city, so to speak – into a public building hosting a range of cultural activities. The stacked floors of the garage and its circulation ramp are literally re-used to accommodate new functions.