Built Project:
San Jose Ave. & Guerrero St. "Guerrero Park"

Location:
San Jose Avenue at Guerrero and 28th Streets.

Opening Date:
September 14, 2009

The stub of 28th Street was closed for this project. San Jose Avenue, previously a one-way northbound street, was closed at its intersection with Guerrero Street and is now a two-way “cue street,” providing local access to residents along the block. The design of the resulting space was developed by Jane Martin of Shift Design Studio who provided her services free of charge to the City. Raised planters, made of reclaimed logs from Golden Gate Park and featuring native and drought tolerant plants, are placed along the edge of the plaza facing Guerrero Street, creating a comfortable place for relaxation, contemplation, and more active uses. Reclaimed segments of stainless steel ducting are filled with soil and plants in order to further demarcate the plaza space from the adjoining vehicular roadways. The soil used at this site is made in San Francisco by combining landscape clippings from parks and horse manure from the Police Department’s stables. Café tables and chairs are brought out in the morning and taken in at night. Future plans for the plaza include a children’s play structure.

For a conceptual plan of the plaza, please click here.

Donations:

Major Donor:
California Pacific Medical Center (St. Luke’s Hospital)

Other Donors:
Monetary: Safeway, Mitchell’s Ice Cream
Materials: Bamboo Sourcery (bamboo), A to Z Tree Nursery (apple trees), La Hue & Associates (signage), Sunset Concrete (concrete demo)

Monitoring & Evaluation:

The City is closely monitoring the success of the plaza at two months and six months after installation and will decide, based on this evaluation, whether to extend the run of the plaza installation.

Before & After:

TOP ROW: The plaza location prior to Pavement to Parks improvements. ABOVE LEFT: Volunteers help install the landscaping. ABOVE RIGHT: A close-up of the “red” planter bed.

images above courtesy Bkuser Flickr

 

Links:

Shift Design Studio

PlantSF

Media Coverage:

SAN FRANCISCO STREETSBLOG

• San Jose and Guerrero Plaza Could Mark Triumph Over Deadly Traffic (7/17/09)
  
• Construction Starts on Two New Pavement to Parks Plazas (8/25/09)
  
• Eyes on the Street: Timber! San Jose/Guerrero Plaza Gets Tree Stumps (8/31/09)
  
• San Francisco’s Two Newest Trial Plazas Nearly Complete (9/8/09)

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

• Odd places turn into public art spaces in S.F. (9/18/09)

NEW YORK TIMES

• Pavement to Parks (9/22/09)

THE ARCHITECT'S NEWSPAPER

• Planting in the Streets (5/15/09)

NOE VALLEY VOICE

• A Refuge from the Road (10/2009)

MISSION LOCAL

• Guerrero Park Blossoms in a Sea of Concrete (4/13/2010)