Month: April 2018

The Department of Public Works (DPW) is conducting a competition to redesign San Francisco’s on-street public toilets and kiosks to replace the existing JCDecaux units. The public is invited to share your opinions on the three finalists’ proposed designs.

DPW, in partnership with the JCDecaux outdoor furniture company, is embarking on a once-in-a-generation replacement of San Francisco’s on-street public toilets and multi-function kiosks. After an invitation-only design competition among San Francisco architects and industrial designers, three finalists have been chosen. “The trio of conceptual designs will be on display for community input on how San Francisco can re-envision these public amenities to meet the functional needs and aesthetics of our 21st-century iconic city,” said Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. The following three firms are the finalists: SmithGroupJJR, Min Design and Branch Creative.

The finalists’ designs will be on display through April 30, 2018, at the Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, in the ground-floor rotunda. Members of the public can submit a comment form at these locations, online or by email to beth.rubenstein@sfdpw.org. The deadline for submissions is 10 a.m. on Monday, April 30. The comments will help inform the design competition jury’s decision.

As a vibrant and dynamic city, San Francisco has a variety of public spaces, from Union Square and The Embarcadero to Mid-Market and the Castro. In order to keep our public spaces safe, clean and welcoming for residents, workers and visitors, it’s imperative that public amenities, such as toilets, are a priority. Since 1995, San Francisco has benefited from a collaboration with JCDecaux in providing 25 accessible public toilets and 114 kiosks. These compact structures are spread throughout the City, though concentrated along Market Street, downtown and in popular tourist destinations.

Last year, DPW entered into exclusive contract negotiations with JCDecaux for new public toilets and kiosks, which the Board of Supervisors is expected to consider in September. The current contract expires in October 2018. Mirroring our current agreement, the public toilets under the new contract would be self-cleaning, accessible to people with disabilities and connected directly to City sewer, water and electrical lines. JCDecaux would cover the cost of the construction, installation and daily maintenance. The company also would fund staffing of the toilets at select locations under the City’s Pit Stop program. The advertising kiosks, which also would house micro-retail establishments such as newspaper stands and coffee vendors, would offset costs for the toilets.

The design competition addressed the new contract with JCDecaux and the needed replacement of all existing toilets and kiosks, which were installed two decades ago and are showing their age. The competition focused on the exterior designs, as the interior and mechanics of the structures are designed by JCDecaux. The winning entry will serve as the design concept to be refined and implemented with JCDecaux.

The following local firms were invited to participate in the design competition after soliciting recommendations from the field: A+D, Architecture + Design; Atelier Cho Thompson; Branch Creative; CCS Design; Iwamoto Scott Architects; Jensen Architects; Kuth Ranieri Architects; Min Design; Paulett Taggart Architects; Pfau Long Architects; SmithGroupJJR; and Studio Vara.

The competition was “blind” so that entries were anonymous to the jurors, and the jurors were unknown to the entrants. The design competition jury members included City staff from San Francisco Public Works, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Historic Preservation Commission and the Port of San Francisco, and the following outside experts: Yakuh Askew, Y.A. Studio; Laura Crescimano, SiteLab Urban Studio; Joshua Aidlin, Aidlin Darling Design; Jon McNeal, Snøhetta; Maryam Rostami, TEF Design; and Nataly Gattegno, Future Cities Lab.

The City’s Civic Design Review and Architectural Review Committee will hold a joint hearing in June to consider the proposed design.

The Barbary Coast Neighborhood Association supports California Assembly Bill 2578, sponsored by David Chiu, which will provide an estimated $250 million toward efforts to address urgent seismic and flood risks posed by the current state of San Francisco’s Seawall. This bill would authorize the city to use various mechanisms to address those risks by financing improvements to the Seawall. This measure is critical to us as our neighborhood lies on the waterfront and adjoins the Embarcadero Seawall.

We support AB 2578 for the following reasons:

• The city needs to start addressing the two significant risks now. A major earthquake could occur at any time and is highly likely to occur within the next 30 years. The City also faces flood risk today which will dramatically increase in the future as sea level rises.
• This bill will significantly help the effort to address the threat of earthquakes through upgrades to the century-old Seawall. The Seawall was built before engineers understood how to design against earthquake risk. It could settle into the Bay by up to 5 feet in a major earthquake. This threat puts people’s lives and $100 billion in economic activity in great jeopardy if there is no action.
• This measure is also needed to help make waterfront infrastructure more resilient to flooding. Without upgrades, a 100-year flood could damage critical utility and transportation infrastructure for BART and Muni as well as the downtown.
• It is in the State’s interest to provide financial support for upgrades to the Seawall. The Port currently manages State tidelands on behalf of the people and State of California. Financial aid is consistent with the State’s role.

Read our letter here.