San Francisco/New York

1234 Howard Street • Stanley Saitowitz, architect

Back in New York, I just want to point to two urban infill projects in the Bay Area that I took quick snapshots of. While I was photographing David Baker's 8th and Howard project I came across the building above. I wasn't sure who the architect was, but found it interesting, and took a picture. Looking it up later, I see that it's by Stanley Saitowitz, a prominent Bay Area architect. He's, perhaps, best known for the Yerba Buena Lofts on Folsom Street. Like Baker, much of his work is in the South of Market area of San Francisco.


Blue Star Corner • Emeryville, California • David Baker, architect

On my way to the airport I stopped by Emeryville to see another David Baker project. It's 20 townhouses built around the block from an earlier loft complex that I photographed. The project is in a hodgepodge area of warehouses, big box stores, shopping malls, and highways. Down the street is Pixar, the animation studio, which hides behind a screen of fencing and lush landscaping.

Baker's houses face onto landscaped courtyards–he calls it mews housing–and each unit has a garage. Baker and the developer based the townhouse concept on similar housing in the Eastern Docklands of Amsterdam. The idea is to establish, or re-establish, dense urban structure in places like Emeryville. The small unit footprints, and varying facade treatments produce a richer, less monolithic appearance.

Saitowitz and Baker have very different approaches to the urban environment, but both, in my opinion, lead the way in reinventing the city in the 21st century.