Project: Franklin Street Residences
Architects: Michael Hennessey Architecture
Structural engineer: One Design
Surveyor: Bay Area Land Surveying Inc
Title-24 energy consultant: EnergySoft
Sustainability consultant: Healthy Building Science
Location: San Francisco, California
Year: 2020
Photography: Adam Rouse
The Franklin Street Residences occupies a slender lot in San Francisco’s Marina District. This two-unit residential building proposes an alternative to conventional building strategies found throughout San Francisco. At the front elevation, a modern bay window is employed, contributing to the scale and rhythm of the more traditional bay windows found on this street. Floor-to-ceiling glass and a minimal butt-glazed corner gives direction to the bay window towards a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as, maximizing natural daylight within the living spaces of both residences. In addition, the front elevation contains small horizontal porcelain tiles at the front elevation to relate to the proportions of the surrounding brick facades of neighboring buildings.
At the interior of each residence, obscure glass located at vertical light wells is a strategy employed on this narrow site to bring natural light deep into the heart of the building. These light wells create especially dramatic lighting at the floating tread staircase. Master bedrooms at the rear of the building have low windows to direct the gaze down to the lower garden and to create visual privacy from an adjacent apartment building behind the site. Walnut is used as flooring and cabinetry at the interior to bring visual warmth and color to an otherwise restrained interior material palette. Simple daylighting strategies and purposeful proportions create a unique response to a typical building typology within San Francisco.
