Mission Bay and San Francisco’s Future
THE DESIGN OF PARKS AND OPEN SPACE
“The challenge designers face over the length of such a complex and market-driven redevelopment project is to be both torchbearers of the design vision and repositories of the institutional memory of the original vision, especially as the project matures and key individuals disengage. A . . . transformation of this scale requires . . . constant attentiveness to the project’s integrity . . . and an understanding of the inter-connectedness of its many parts.”
Marta Fry, “Transformation”, Topos magazine, #63/2008
In 1998 Marta Fry Landscape Associates (MFLA) and the Olin Partnership received the commission for developing the entire Open Space and Streetscape master-plan for the 303-acre Mission Bay redevelopment area shown above. In addition to the landscape design and guidelines the task included the selection and general specification for all site materials including paving, site furnishings, lighting, and signage. Since the new infrastructure for improved streets, sidewalks, traffic and street lights, sewer and water systems, and open space had to be in place before construction of the buildings could begin, the designers had to work closely with civil, structural and traffic engineers to achieve a comprehensive implementation of the streetscape and open space designs.
(The new infrastructure’s cost was about $400 million. Its construction was financed through a combination of tax increment funding generated by projects in the area and special Mello Roos taxes paid by private property owners in Mission Bay.)
Other challenges included collaborating with the architects for the individual projects, the difficulties of building in a congested site, and conflicts with existing utilities and participating government agencies.
Shown above is a view from the creek of the Esplanade, part of the eight-acre Mission Creek Park North, which MFLA designed during the last ten years.
The likelihood of visitors to the park or residents of the neighboring buildings having any knowledge of the site’s history or what happened beneath the ground under their feet is small. Nor is there much evidence of the lengthy and demanding design and construction process that produced what they see.
The Esplanade, which extends along Mission Creek from Fourth to Sixth Street, is mature enough now to give the impression that it was always there. Far from true. For decades the creek flowed through the tidelands that were left from the gradual filling of Mission Bay. All kinds of detritus from vehicle tires to large appliances were dumped into it along with chemicals and other pollutants.
The result was a low-lying industrial brownfield that was frequently flooded during the rainy season with storm water overflows that washed over the land and drained into Mission Creek. In its undeveloped state the flooding was not problematic, but the area’s new residential, office, and commercial development required mitigation against the storm water flows. Therefore, according to Fry, the park was envisioned as a primary means of intercepting, filtering, and reducing storm water flows from the surrounding development areas as well as from the city’s overall drainage system.
Views of the creek banks on the north side before and after the reconstruction of the channel. The banks were planted with a variety of sedges, wetland grasses and native plants that can survive the varying tidal water levels, and provide habitat for native water fowl. Geoweb, a cellular confinement system was used to stabilize the bank and hold planting soil.
The Esplanade is paved with high quality “Hanover” concrete unit pavers and planted informally with wetland vegetation, ornamental grasses, and poplar trees.
To mitigate the effects of storm water flows through the park, materials were selected to slow their velocity and promote sediment settlement and bio-filtration before the water’s eventual discharge into Mission Creek. The materials included a series of grass swales and cobble weirs placed at the overland water flow channels.
