Spring 2021
Urban Studio: Common Ground
Taught by: Christopher Roach and Julia Grinkrug
Group Member: Maria Ramirez
San Francisco's known Japantown is located in the Western Addition between Geary and Sutter St. Today, a typical walk through Japantown’s historic six blocks contains spacious sidewalks, vibrant signage, and smells that range from savory to sweet. The open courtyard plaza with a striking five-tiered Peace Pagoda hosts events year round.
Moving forward into the future, our vision for Japantown wishes to provide a networking platform for the local business, while creating meaningful spaces for community empowerment. The project aspires to achieve this goal through:
1. Business assistance providing financial and networking support.
2. Implementation of art incubators and workshops can stimulate the cultural presence in the area.
3. Activation of public space provides more green access and intimate places of pause for contemplation, conversation, and people watching.
Japantown Event Calendar
The Triptych Section is divided into three scenes (left to right) Software, Hardware, Orgware
The proposal consists of ‘three grounds’, the lower parking, the commercial street and the urban roofscape. These represent unique sectional conditions because the existing site is on a slope so the grounds encounter moments where they merge.
The three levels share a dialog both visually and programmatically, creating enough space for commerce and community. The porosity of the plans challenges the modes of ownership with designated space for collaborative and temporal use.
The implementation of pop-ups, wayfinding, and microevents transforms the six blocks into a dense social network. Anyone can experience the five senses of Japantown through works of art, food, music, language and green access.
The reconfiguration of the mall utilizes a circle grid to break down the hierarchy. This allows for the creation of more nodes within the network and fosters more multi-use spaces. In addition, the porosity of the plan encourages the public to explore the other blocks of Japantown.
The existing history walk is designed as a self guided tour that includes 17 spots of historical and cultural significance for the Japantown community. The proposal utilizes colored brick paths as a wayfinding method, making the existing history walk more visible.
Assistance through the Cultural Economy Office
Collaborative Pop-market during an event
The vision collage represents the history, present and potential future of Japantown.